“Duct tape?” Eryn sounded as if she couldn’t believe it. “What are you going to need duct tape for?”
“I don’t know. Yet. But it’s been my experience that when you need it, you really need it.” Satisfied that he’d gotten everything he needed, Callan headed for the front of the store to pay. All told, they hadn’t been inside the bodega fifteen minutes.
Chapter 7
Callan carried the groceries and Eryn’s travel bag. Eryn carried her makeup case and had offered to help, but he’d refused. From that point on, she ignored the fact that the bags probably got heavy. He walked beside her as if he was an automaton operating on an agenda. He was watchful, though. He never stopped looking around, never dropped his guard for a moment, but he didn’t act like he felt threatened. He was totally in control of his surroundings.
She was surprised at how safe she felt with him. Her neighborhood wasn’t a bad area. Renee had made certain of that when she’d picked the apartment. But walking alone in the night with the neon glow of the Strip so very near made Eryn feel vulnerable. Walking during the day was different. Nights always seemed filled with danger.
Part of that threatening feeling came with the knowledge of the crimes taking place in the city. Vegas was a twenty-four-hour town. The entertainment and the gambling didn’t stop. Neither did the crime. But the darkness at times brought out darker predators. The violence done then wasn’t just about money or control. Sometimes it was just about the savagery.
Those cases, many of them against women, had worried Eryn when she thought about what Renee did.
At the apartment building, Eryn slid her key through the security door and they went inside. They took the elevator up to the sixth floor, then walked down to the apartment she shared with Renee and her son. As usual, several of Devin’s toys lay scattered around the room. Eryn resisted the impulse to clean up or apologize.
In the awkward silence, Callan stood in the hallway holding the bodega bags and the travel bag.
Eryn gazed at him and lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. “Coming in?”
“Yeah.” He stepped inside the room, held the bags in one hand and took the hat off.
The respectful way he conducted himself surprised Eryn. Most men didn’t bother to take their hats off inside these days. Her father did, but even he was a throwback to another generation. She wondered if Callan’s gesture was just military training, but her intuition was that the behavior that was something ingrained into Callan.
“You’re not a vampire, are you?”
Callan blinked at her in annoyance. “What are you talking about?”
“Vampires can’t enter someone’s home until they’re invited. Since I had to invite you in, I thought I’d ask.”
“No. I don’t like invading someone’s personal space.”
“Didn’t seem to slow you down earlier when you grabbed me.”
“I thought you had something to do with Daniel’s abduction. The rules were different then.”
Rules? Eryn didn’t know that if she liked that or not. Guys with rules had a lot of expectations and generally carried a lot of baggage. Then she grinned sourly to herself. She had a lot of rules, too.
He was still talking. “Somebody’s personal space is important. You don’t really appreciate it until you don’t get a lot of it.”
“You don’t get a lot of personal space? What about that waterfall you were telling me about?”
“I wasn’t telling you about the waterfall. I just mentioned it.” Callan glanced around the room. “Where’s your kitchen?”
Feeling a little put off, Eryn pointed ahead. “On the other side of the dining room wall.”
“I’m going to fix a meal for us. Why don’t you get cleaned up?” Callan took one long stride forward toward the kitchen.
Eryn wasn’t sure if she’d been insulted or not.
“Take the first-aid supplies I bought. If there’s something you can’t reach, let me know.”
No, that wasn’t going to happen. For a moment Eryn wondered if he was going to leave while she was in the shower. Then she remembered she still had the thumb drive and he hadn’t asked for it.
“You need to dress casual, but something that will stand up to some punishment. Those slacks won’t offer much protection. You’ve got jeans?”
“I know how to dress, Callan.”
The three-bedroom apartment came with two complete baths. Renee had been insistent on that. They had to pay extra for the second bathroom, but Eryn had readily agreed. Renee had done that more for Eryn than for herself. Devin was three, and he was a handful and a half. He also loved his bath time. Having two full baths helped keep the peace. Vegas was an expensive place to live and splitting bills between them worked out well.
Eryn went to her closet, selected a pair of jeans, a sturdy pair of boots she could spend hours in and a close-fitting dark red pullover that would keep someone from getting a grip on loose material. She did know how to dress.
Taking the clothing to the bathroom, as well as the thumb drive because she couldn’t help thinking Callan might choose that time to double-cross her, she started the shower and stripped. She examined herself in the mirror. Callan had been right about the scrapes and bumps. More of the injuries from the parking garage floor were showing up than she’d expected. Some of them were tender to the touch, and bruises were already dawning to fruition. She touched the one that Callan had found along her jaw and winced.
“Well, that’s going to look wonderful.”
Her cell phone on the counter rang and she knew from the tone that it was her boss at CyberStealth. She debated answering.
Paul Giles was one of the senior officers at the security agency and he looked out for her to a degree because he had daughters of his own. In his sixties, Paul was an old-school security agent.
She also liked Paul because he’d stood up for her a few times since she’d been hired by the company. Paul had a tendency to be overly protective in a good way, which also undermined her career there to an extent. In order to succeed, she needed to fight her own battles, but the network at CyberStealth wasn’t geared to let a woman do that.
The phone rang again.
In the end, she thought it would be best to know what the agency was planning on doing regarding her confrontation with the hotel security. She scooped the phone up and answered, leaning a hip against the counter. She tried not to feel uncomfortable standing there nude while talking to Paul. He would have died if he’d known. Feeling foolish, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself before answering. “Hello.”
“Hey, kid, how are you?”
Eryn took that as a good sign. If Paul had addressed her by her surname, she’d have known he was unhappy. “I’m all right.”
“Arthur called me just a few minutes ago and asked me if I’d get in touch with you. So I am.”
Arthur Briggs was the main executive, the firstborn son of the owner of CyberStealth. Arthur had Daddy issues and wanted to prove he was better than his old man. As a result, Arthur ran the Vegas office as a harsh taskmaster. The agency’s image meant a lot to him.
“Arthur was called by the security chief at Hanover Security. They’re saying you broke into their office and took some files. Naturally, Arthur is concerned. And, frankly, so am I.”
Eryn grimaced. It hadn’t taken Lazlo long to rat her out to his superiors. “I can explain that.”
“You can explain zapping a guy with his own Taser?”
“Yes.”
Paul chuckled easily. “Must be a great story, kid. Arthur wants you to come in and tell it so he can start doing damage control before the news hits the press.”
Eryn paused, knowing this wasn’t going to go well. “I can’t.”
“You can’t?”
“Not right now.”
Paul’s voice deepened and his displeasure rang clear as a bell. “This had better be good.”
“The guy I’m with—”
“You’re still with th
e guy who busted up those two guards?” Paul sounded surprised.
The fact that Callan was being credited for taking out both security guards got under Eryn’s skin. She supposed Arthur and his cronies would simply think she’d jolted Lazlo while Callan was holding him down. She shelved the anger and pushed it away. “Yes.”
“Where are you?” Paul’s tone was casual, but the interest was sharp in his words.
Eryn considered her options and knew there was no way to finesse this. “I don’t feel comfortable answering that at this time.” She hoped fiercely that she was right in thinking that no one at CyberStealth had her new address. The GPS locator on her phone was turned off at the moment, so they’d have a hard time tracing the phone as well.
“Arthur sent a couple agents to your old address. It appears you don’t live there anymore.”
That surprised her for just a moment, then she realized how adamant Arthur Briggs was about his company’s image. The effort to find her, then have Paul call her instead of calling her himself, also showed her how determined the man was to talk to her. Though Paul might have remembered her mentioning moving in with Renee, she hadn’t given him the new address. “No.”
Silence hissed on the line for a few seconds. Then Paul’s voice softened. “Tell me what you’ve gotten yourself into, kid.”
“The guy I’m with—”
“Callan Storm.”
Shocked that Paul already knew that, Eryn continued. “He’s the future brother-in-law of the man who was kidnapped tonight.”
“I see that. We’ve already got a file started on him. Did you know police are now concerned that he’s part of the abduction?”
“Callan didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“The police don’t seem to be as sure of that as you apparently are.”
“Then they’re already screwing up the investigation.” Just like Callan had said they would. The police were looking at the wrong guy. “Callan would have prevented them from taking his sister’s fiancé if he could have. The men who took Daniel Steadman knew about Callan. They put a guard on him. I thought he was going to get shot. Ask the other people that were in that room.”
“How do you know what happened in that room?” Paul’s words were soft, but they were sheathed steel. He was one of the agency’s best interrogators.
Too late, Eryn saw that she’d outfoxed herself. Knowing there was no way around it, she owned up to the truth. “Because I was there.” Part of the truth, anyway. She went on to explain some more of the details. But Paul wasn’t buying Callan’s intentions.
“Callan Storm needs to come in and answer their questions.”
“He’s not going to come in, Paul. He promised his sister that he’d look after her fiancé. He intends to find him and bring him back.” As she said that, she remembered the conviction Callan had put into the words. No matter what else she thought of him, and she was confused about that, she knew Callan didn’t make promises lightly.
“Then that’s his problem. You need to report in so we can clean up the agency’s involvement in this matter.”
“Callan doesn’t know the city.”
“That’s not your problem.”
Eryn gripped her phone more tightly and forced herself to relax enough to speak calmly. Her life, her world, was falling apart and to try to stop that, she’d have to turn her back on Callan. The thought of leaving him out there alone was unappealing.
“It’s not my problem, but I am going to help him try to find Daniel Steadman.”
Paul blew out a long breath. “Kid, I gotta tell you, you’re making a mistake here. A big mistake.”
“I got into security to make a difference, Paul. I wanted to help people. Not just put in hours and draw a paycheck. Not just hobnob with casino royalty.” Eryn paused, already fearful that she’d said too much. “I thought that was something you could understand.”
For a long moment, Paul was silent. Eryn considered hanging up. Paul was heavily invested in the company. His stock portfolio, his retirement, all of that was wrapped up into one little package dependent on CyberStealth. He’d told her that more than once while pointing out how good the agency was to work for. During those times he’d been encouraging her to stick it out and put up with the crap the other agents dished out.
“You know, kid, you’re right. And when you’re right, you’re right. But I gotta tell you something about this guy Callan Storm.”
Not believing what she was hearing, Eryn’s spirits lifted a little. Maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel after all.
“As soon as we got wind of your involvement in this, we did some background checks. All internet stuff the geek dicks pick up with a single mouse click these days. Daniel Steadman was easy. Scion of a pharmaceutical dynasty in Texas. Callan Storm is a bird of a different feather.”
The seriousness in Paul’s tone startled Eryn.
“You want my opinion, this guy’s a bagful of snakes. His parents were killed when he was sixteen. Nobody else stepped up to take care of him and his little sister.”
“Jenny.”
“Yeah. She was ten years old. He entered foster care and stayed in till he was eighteen. After that, Storm joined the Marines and started saving money for Jenny. When she turned eighteen, she had college waiting on her and her brother paid her way.”
“Not many guys would do that.”
“I know. Sounds like a storybook tale, don’t it? But while the sister was attending college and getting a degree in pharmacy school where she met Daniel Steadman, Storm ended up in Special Forces and went off the grid. For the past six years, his history is a sucking black hole of no information.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that he’s been operating off the books on black ops missions.” Paul sounded worried now. “I’ve seen guys like Callan Storm before, kid. They can look like they’ve got it together, that they’re handling everything, but that’s often a lie. These guys aren’t part of the civilized world anymore. They don’t trust other people, and if they get confused or hurt, they sometimes lash out. People around them tend to get hurt. That guy you’re helping is a walking time bomb.”
For a moment, Eryn stood there feeling stunned. In the back of her mind somewhere she thought maybe she’d had an inkling of what Callan Storm was, but she hadn’t known. Not for certain.
“Is she coming in?” Arthur Briggs must have been listening all along.
Paul spoke next. “Kid, it’s your call.”
“No!” Arthur’s voice rose to a near-scream. “No, it’s not her call! Get her in here!”
Closing her eyes, Eryn told herself it was time to cut loose. She could simply give Callan the thumb drive, get him out her door and wish him good luck.
Except that he didn’t know Las Vegas like she did. He would be more vulnerable and his chances of getting Daniel Steadman back alive—if that was still possible—immediately dropped. She told herself that the police and FBI could handle the kidnapping, but she felt the same way Callan did: those people were going to take too long, move too slow.
The ransom demand would come through soon, if it hadn’t already. Once the demands were met, or not met, Daniel Steadman would be dead. The Steadman family would put pressure on law enforcement to find the people responsible for the kidnapping, and if that didn’t work, they’d hire private entities like CyberStealth. The kidnappers couldn’t be sure that Daniel wouldn’t have learned something about them that would work to their detriment while he was with them.
Even as she was thinking about that, working through the logic in her mind, she thought about Megan again. People had known Megan needed help, but no one had lifted a finger. For a moment Eryn remembered what it had been like to walk through Megan’s blood, not realizing it till it was too late. Both of them had been fourteen at the time.
Shuddering, she closed off the memory.
“Kid, you still there?” Paul spoke softly this time.
“Yes.” Eryn
knew her voice was strained. She felt the tightness in her throat. “I’m not coming back in. Not till this thing is finished.”
“Sure. I understand.”
“What?” Arthur Briggs was almost shouting in the background.
Paul spoke calmly and rationally. “She’s not coming in, Arthur. She’s got things to do.”
“Things to do?” Arthur cursed. “McAdams, you get into this office now. Right now!”
“Good luck, kid. If I can help you in some way, if you think you’re getting in over your head, gimme a call on my private line. I don’t think Arthur’s going to let me take your calls.”
Despite the tension of the moment and the tears from the old horror lurking unshed behind her lids, Eryn couldn’t help smiling at Paul’s quiet aplomb. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. You just take care of yourself, kid. I want you back in one piece.”
The broken connection buzzed in Eryn’s ear. The phone started ringing again almost immediately. This time the agency number showed in the view screen. She ignored the call and stepped into the hot water of the shower.
A bagful of snakes.
As she stood under the hot needle-spray, Eryn knew she would have never thought of Callan Storm that way. Stubborn, obstinate and infuriating. Those would have been definite things she would have sworn to.
Except he was out there running into machine gun fire trying to get his sister’s fiancé back. That was impressive and stupid and maybe even endearing.
A bagful of snakes.
She couldn’t help wondering if Paul was right in his assessment. Over the two years she’d worked with Paul, she’d learned to respect his judgment of other people.
Eryn shoved her face under the spray and felt the sting of shampoo in the scrapes and cuts. The pain was slight, but it brought with it a sharper awareness. With her eyes closed, she thought of Callan Storm, how he’d looked, how he’d moved and she reached out to turn the water to a colder degree. Thinking about the man was way too easy and way too welcome.
Best Man for the Job Page 8
