by Maddie Wade
“Fine with us,” Liam and Lopez replied.
Reid parked in the Old Market car park and retook her hand as he bleeped the locks on the car. His arm came around her as if he wanted her closer still.
Liam and Lopez were either side of them as they walked, and she felt a sense of protection once again and knew these men were all watching her back. She got the impression it was so ingrained in their psyche they had no clue they were doing it. Callie watched Lopez then Liam before her head tipped to catch Reid’s face. His head was in a constant movement as he watched everyone around them, looking for a threat.
Seemingly satisfied, he glanced down at her. “What’s on your mind, sunshine?”
“You’re constantly working.”
Reid frowned as he pulled open the door to the restaurant and let her proceed him behind Liam. “What do you mean?”
She waited until they were seated at a table before she answered, aiming her response at the table of men. “Even when you don’t realise it, you’re protecting me. Putting yourself between me and any danger.” She looked at Lopez and Liam. “You all do it.”
“It’s not work, sunshine, that’s just who we are. Protecting those you care for is as natural as breathing.”
“It is for you but not for all men. I’ve been shoved out of the way by men I’ve dated so they could get an autograph from another model.”
Reid’s face took on a thunderous expression. “Who the fuck did that?”
Callie shook her head. “That doesn’t matter. My point is that you guys are special.”
“Aww, shucks.” Lopez blinked and looked away pretending to blush.
“Can we order? I’m starved.” Liam picked up the menu and buried his head in it. Callie let it go and did the same.
She ordered an energy boost fruit drink and a chicken donburi. Famished, she wolfed down the lot. The men ate twice what she did, and she thought she could eat.
“So, tell us about the Princess, Liam? Reid says you saved her during a hostage situation.” Callie felt Reid’s arm come around the back of her chair and glanced at him.
Liam shrugged and tried to look nonchalant and failed. “She’s a pain in my arse.”
“Okay,” Callie said slowly. “I’ve met her once, and she’s very beautiful.”
Liam slow blinked and nodded his head before his eyes softened. “She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met.”
Callie wondered if there was perhaps more to his feelings than he was letting on. “Is it true she’s fallen out with her family?”
Liam’s jaw flexed as he clenched his fists. “The way they treated her they’re lucky she’s only just stopped speaking to them. They cut her loose to lunatics and did nothing to help her. If it weren’t for circumstance and luck, she would’ve been raped and murdered.”
Callie sucked in a breath, not just at his words but the obvious anger in them. “But she’s safe now?” Her hand slid to Reid’s thigh next to her own under the table and she felt the muscle and strength there. She felt safe, and the way his hand slid over hers and squeezed gently showed he knew how she was feeling. Her heart rate increased with love for this man.
“She is, and she’ll stay that way if she’d only start listening to her fucking security team and stop being a diva,” Liam said, his frustration clear in his tone.
Callie chuckled wanting to lighten the moment. “Sounds like you have your hands full.”
Liam made a non-response which said more than words ever could.
Callie twisted to Reid. “I need to use the restroom.” He immediately stood with her and they made their way upstairs to the public toilets.
“Let me just check it out.”
Callie gave him a long-suffering smile and shook her head. “Fine, go ahead.”
Callie watched Reid disappear inside the ladies’ room. She waited with her back to the wall and turned her head as she heard footsteps on the stairs.
A flustered woman around her age with a blonde child of about three in her arms advanced toward her. Callie offered her a friendly nod as the woman stepped around her and pushed into the ladies’ room.
Callie followed, wanting to stop the woman from freaking out when she found Reid inside and stopped dead.
“Callie, get out,” Reid shouted, but he was too late as the woman who faced them grabbed the young mother and her child, and pressed a gun against the little boys back.
Chapter Twenty
Reid gut tightened as he stepped into the ladies’ room and let the door close behind him. His instinct told him something was very, very wrong as he approached the last stall. He gave it a light push, and the door held.
“Hello, is someone in there?” He heard the toilet flush and stepped back, not wanting to frighten whoever was to death with his presence in the ladies’ toilet. He glanced at the door as it opened, and every breath in his body left him. “You!”
“Hello, handsome.” The woman advanced, her hand steady on the gun she aimed at him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Reid fought the desire to glance at the door, instead angling his body so he was between Sophia and Callie.
“I’m afraid playtime is over for you and Callie. I need her to come with me now.”
“Not a fucking chance in hell.”
Reid witnessed Callie’s agent’s face twist with fury, and her hand tightened on the trigger. He had zero doubt in his mind that she would shoot him. He also had no doubt whatsoever that he wouldn’t let this mad bitch anywhere near Callie.
He was about to overpower her when the door opened behind him and a young woman with a small child walked in. His nightmare became complete when Callie entered behind her.
He moved at the same time as Sophia did, but he dove towards Callie while Sophia grabbed the young mother and pressed the gun to the toddler in her arms. The air in the room seemed to go still for a second as if time froze. He shoved Callie behind him and faced Sophia, and felt Callie grip the back of his shirt.
Callie peered around his back, and his muscles tensed ready to run if he had too. “Soph, what is this all about? Let them go, and we can talk about this.”
The little boy whimpered as the mother cried and wriggled in Sophia’s hold.
Sophia shook her. “Keep fucking still. I don’t want to hurt you or your kid but if she doesn’t do as I say, I won’t hesitate.”
The mother looked towards them, silently begging them to help her. Reid had years of experience with hostage rescue, and he knew when a person was bluffing, and Sophia wasn’t.
“I’ll come with you, just let them go.” Callie pulled away, and he angled himself slightly to stay between her and Sophia.
“No, Callie. I can’t let you do that.” His eyes rested on her face, wanting her to see the truth and love he felt for her in them.
She glanced at the mother and child and back to him as she spoke. “I have too. I could never live with myself if a child got hurt because of me.”
He gripped her arms, almost bruising her in their grip before he swallowed. “Please, sunshine.”
Callie peered up at him with so much love and trust in her eyes he felt his chest tighten. “I have too, you know it and so do I.”
“Enough with the lovey-dovey shit.” Sophia waved the gun around before placing it closer to the child’s head. Reid knew hate, he knew what it was to want someone dead, but in that second, he had never wanted anything more than he did now. His eyes moved to the mother and toddler, and he knew Callie was right.
He needed to do something, anything so he could find her and fast once they left there. He knew Sophia wouldn’t let her keep her phone and bag, so that was out of the question. He would have to rely on old fashioned skill for this one. The one that meant the most and he was already failing her.
“I’ll find you,” he whispered, and she nodded, her face clear of any doubt.
“Let them go, and I’ll leave with you,” Callie demanded.
Sophia sneered. “What makes you t
hink you’re in a position to give orders? I’m in charge now, and you’ll do as I say.” She waved at Reid with the gun again. “Lie on the floor.”
Reid held his hands up as he went to his knees and slowly moved to his belly, his eyes never leaving Sophia.
In a swift movement, the crazy agent pushed the mother and child to the floor and grabbed for Callie, pressing the gun to her head.
“You, open that door and make sure the exit is clear.”
The mother did as directed, and Sophia backed from the small room looking triumphant. “Stay here, or I’ll splatter her pretty brains all over the floor.”
Reid clenched his jaw, rethinking every thought he’d ever had about hurting a woman and he knew at that moment if he ever got his hands on Sophia, she would die. Callie kept her sights on him until the door closed, leaving him, the terrified young woman, and her crying son alone.
He moved to her on his knees. “Hey, you’re safe now.” He looked to the door wanting to go but taking the extra seconds to reassure the traumatised mom.
“Go, get her back.” Her face was steady as she held her son to her chest and rocked.
Reid nodded and was moving before she finished speaking. He pulled the door and was at the top of the stairs when he saw Liam and Lopez racing up them.
“Sophia has Callie.” The words were bitter on his lips as he said them.
Liam looked towards the back hallway and staff door. “That way.”
The three of them took off as if the hounds of hell were behind them. They ran through the shocked group of waitstaff and down the back stairs toward the fire exit.
Reid slammed the door open and looked left and right. Seeing nothing, he looked again, trying to figure out which way to go.
Liam took over knowing the town better. “This way, she needs a car, and she won’t have paid for parking.”
His joke wasn’t meant to be funny, merely the truth. As a unit they ran towards the football ground where the car park had no barriers. Each man raced for different ends of ample space.
He dodged around families and students out for the day trying to spot his sunshine and couldn’t. His heart was hammering inside his chest as desperation built. He needed to get to her, to save her. Lopez jogged over to him from the far side and stopped; his breathing barely changed for his exertion.
“Nothing. She must have had a car.”
Reid nodded and took one more glance around. He couldn’t shake the feeling someone had eyes on him. He glanced at Liam as he stopped next to them. “You feel it?”
Liam nodded. “You think it’s Gunner?”
Reid scanned the area again and found nothing out of the ordinary. “Possibly.”
“Let’s get back to Eidolon and get a plan and search in place.”
Lopez clapped him on the shoulder, and he took one last look around before he dipped his chin and followed his friends, his mind on Callie and just how much he’d failed her—the one woman who held his heart in a way nobody else ever had. Maybe he was no better than his useless father after all. At least he’d had the decency to walk before he could fuck up.
As they make their way to his car, his phone rang and he snatched it up hoping to hear Callie’s voice, but it was his boss instead.
“Any reason the panic alarm Will gave your girl is blaring like a hungry new-born?”
Reid stopped dead at those words. “Alarm?”
“Yeah, Will gave her a new prototype that attaches to a person’s shoelace. It looks like any other lace and hers is going wild.”
“Sophia is the stalker. She took Callie.”
“Get back here now, and we’ll make a plan to end this in a way that keeps Callie safe.”
Jack hung up, and Reid walked faster. Hope surged for the first time since Callie had walked into the bathroom.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jack hung up the phone and looked at the electronic map mounted inside a glass desk. It had a 3D module that allowed him to see different angles and manipulate the view to give him an optimal advantage.
He was in the war room, the place he felt the most at home. The heart of any mission was here, and this silent one he fought with an unknown enemy was no different. He hit the module he required, bringing up the map that showed where Callie was headed. The laces had been the perfect place to put the tracker, but he knew even with that advantage they had a small window to safely extract her.
Jack recognised the location and had an idea of where her agent would take her. The large empty shops were mixed in with smaller ones that still traded, meaning there were enough people around to cause him a headache if he went in guns blazing like he knew Reid would want to do. Another of his men had fallen head-over-heels in love. He wasn’t sure if Reid knew it yet but it was a fact none the less. If there was one thing Jack was good at, it was reading people.
With his phone in his hand, he was about to dial his brother when a ripple of awareness slid down his spine.
An ingrained radar that had kept him alive more times than he could count kicked in. He palmed the gun from his hip and spun, raising it to the man who stood where he shouldn’t be. “Who the fuck are you and how the hell did you get in here?” Jack held his weapon on the tall, muscled man who faced him.
His expression one of calm, as if he had every right to be there. The man slowly raised his hands to show he was unarmed and meant no harm, but Jack kept the gun trained on him.
“You have five seconds to start talking, or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
The man must have sensed Jack would do precisely that because he finally spoke. “I’m here because we have a mutual acquaintance.”
Jack kept his eyes on him. “And?”
“I believe we can do business together.”
Jack sneered. “I don’t do business with people I don’t know.”
The man cocked his head. “Not even to save your friend?”
Jack clenched his jaw, the irritation of this encounter wearing thin on his already short patience. “Just spit out what you want, I’m bored and have things to do.”
“Ah yes, the model.”
Jack was across the room in a second, the muzzle of his gun in the man’s face, their eyes locked. His, the deepest sapphire blue and this man with his icy blues, the colour indicative of his ginger hair, which was cropped short.
The man didn’t falter or waiver in fear. His eyes were telling a story his mouth wasn’t. He was a warrior, the same as Jack and he didn’t fear death. He’d seen the horrors of this life and evil. Jack was undecided if this man fought against them or was the perpetrator of the atrocities. He quickly patted him down, making sure he was unarmed and was slightly surprised to find he didn’t have a weapon on him at all. He was either confident or had a fucking death wish.
“What do you know about her?” His jaw was hard; his teeth almost ached from the firm hold he had on his temper now.
“I know that she’s in grave danger, and there are sources at play beyond your control.”
“Tell me.”
The man’s voice was gravelly when he spoke again. “Gunner has been ordered to kill her and Reid.”
Jack’s insides went cold at those words, he didn’t want to believe a man he had trusted would do such a thing. “How is knowing that supposed to help me?”
“I can tell you where his sister is. Without that noose around his neck, he won’t follow through. In fact, I’m not sure he’ll go through with it, but he loves his sister so he may feel he doesn’t have a choice.”
“Where is she?”
“I need something from you first.”
Jack felt the sneer on his lip. “Of course you do. What is it you want?”
“One day I’ll need a favour, and you’ll give it to me without question.”
Jack stepped back, assessing the man who wore a black suit with a dark burgundy shirt and no tie, his shoes polished to a high shine. “I can’t say yes if I don’t know what it is you want.”
The
man turned on his heel. “Then she will die and so will your men, because the person who stalks you won’t stop.”
“Stop.”
The man turned back to him without a second of fear or feeling, his face a mask.
“Do you know where Gunner is?”
The man nodded. “I do.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” Jack watched him for even the slightest tell and found none. Whoever this man was, he was good.
“You’re a clever man, Jack. You know you can’t trust me, but you have no choice unless you want people you care for to get hurt.”
Jack knew he was correct, but he didn’t like it one bit. He thought through his options in record speed and found his only answer. “If you give me the sister and Gunner, I’ll agree to your terms.”
Cold blue eyes watched him carefully, and Jack held his gaze, refusing to show a second of weakness. “You would make this deal for him?”
“I would.” Jack didn’t say what was in his head, which was that he felt responsible for some of this. If Gunner had thought he could come to him, then he and his sister wouldn’t have become targets.
“The sister is at this location, the guard will be taken care of, but you must move fast before Gunner has the chance to follow through on his order.”
He passed Jack a piece of paper which he took, quickly scanning the address. “And Gunner?”
“I will deliver him to you once you have Milla safe.”
“You have him?”
“I knocked him out and put a tracker on him. He has no idea I can see his every movement.”
“Why are you doing this? Apart from the fact I’ll owe you?”
“People are rarely what they seem, Jack, and things are never black or white. I play in the murky grey.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re a man of honour.”
“And are you a man of honour?”
The man looked pensive for a second, his shoulders tensing just the slightest bit before he replied. “I was once.”
The man spun then, walking to the door before Jack stopped him. “Two things.”
The man turned and smiled a humourless smile. “You have a hole in your security, and you can call me Bás.”
