Even as she got the keys in her hand, still clawing at the man’s arm with her free hand so he wouldn’t notice what she was doing, Callan arrived. Eryn saw him from the corner of her eye, and she’d never seen a look so stony and cold before in her life.
Chapter 13
Instead of declaring his presence or his intentions, Callan stepped in beside the big man and punched him in the neck. The blow jarred the bartender’s head and he staggered sideways. His free hand snapped to his throat while he coughed and spluttered.
Thankfully, the massive hand around Eryn’s throat slipped away and she could breathe. She stood on trembling legs as adrenaline flooded her body. For a moment she didn’t know if her knees were going to hold her, but she locked her knees and stayed upright, leaning against the counter behind her.
The bartender swung around, yelling hoarsely through his injured throat. Bar patrons surged back like a retreating wave. Some of the women screamed.
Callan didn’t give the bartender time to recover. Without hesitation, Callan broke the man by slamming his own forehead into his opponent’s face. Blood gushed from the suddenly misshapen nose and the bartender had to take two quick steps back to keep from falling. Callan followed more like a predator than a combatant, slamming the palms of his hands against the bartender’s ears. Turning sideways, Callan launched a side kick that bent the man double. The bartender’s breath exploded out in a bloody froth. Callan’s next kick, delivered by the same foot without touching the ground, looking as graceful as a dancer, caught the man in the face hard enough to lift him from his feet.
The bartender hit the floor hard on his back.
By that time, the three bouncers arrived.
Coolly, Callan turned to them with his hands spread at his sides. His voice was even when he spoke. “This doesn’t have to be hard.”
One of the men pointed at the downed bartender. “What you did to Bobby was harsh.”
“He shouldn’t have put his hands on her.”
The three bouncers held back for just a moment, tense as bowstrings, and Eryn knew they weren’t going to back down. They couldn’t. This was their home turf and they had to look good in front of the locals.
One of the men vaulted over the bar with obvious martial arts experience. Eryn tensed, certain she and Callan were about to get beaten within an inch of their lives. And arrested. Worst of all, they wouldn’t be there to look for Daniel Steadman.
Before the leaping man landed, though, Callan stepped forward and caught him with a sweeping forearm blow that caught him in the face. The impact didn’t stop the man, but it altered his course, flipping him backward enough that he landed on his head on the floor with a heavy thud. As the bouncer struggled to get to his feet, Callan kicked him in the temple and he stretched out limp on the floor.
The second bouncer came around the bar with an extending baton in his fist. Smoothly, as if the man was in slow motion, Callan reached out and grabbed hold of the baton, then stepped forward at the same time to slam his forearm into the man’s head and turn him aside. Still holding on to the baton, Callan twisted the man’s arm and made him flip to land on his back on the floor. While he was there dazed, Callan put a foot against his throat and turned to face the final bouncer with the baton in his fist.
“Your choice. You can back off standing up or I’m going to put you down.” Callan spoke easily, and he wasn’t even breathing hard. “But this time I break something that will take a while to heal.”
The bouncer stopped himself short and raised his hands in surrender. He backed away hurriedly and slipped a cell phone from his belt.
Eryn had no illusions about whom that phone call was going to.
Turning to face her, but not completely facing away from the bouncer, Callan looked worried for the first time. “You okay?”
Eryn tried to speak, but her voice was a rasp that didn’t carry over the sound of the heavy metal music. Instead, she nodded.
“We need to go.” His mouth was set in a grim line.
Clearing her throat, Eryn pointed at the bartender, who lay docilely on the floor with one hand pinching his nose. Blood streamed across his lower face and bubbled from his nostrils. “He knows the guys at Invincible Security.”
Callan strode over to the man and fisted his shirt. He lifted the bartender from the floor. “Where can we find Invincible Security?”
The bartender shuddered and tried to draw back. The lack of coordination left him scratching at the floor with his heels and not getting anywhere. “I don’t know.”
Callan shook the man.
Eryn watched and felt certain she was going to hear sirens at any minute. The bouncer was calling 911, and she would have bet that everyone else in the club was making the same call. With that many people calling at one time, response was going to be rapid.
Slapping the man on the cheek hard enough to sting, Callan gazed at his captive without speaking.
Weakly, the bartender shook his head. “I don’t know where they are. They’re either at their office, on some job, or they’re bar hopping. This place is just a stopping point for them.”
“Where’s their office?”
“I don’t know. Check the Yellow Pages.”
The Yellow Pages didn’t list an address, only a phone number and a website.
Eryn plucked three of the pictures from the mirror. She moved over closer to Callan and the bartender. She still wasn’t walking smoothly and her breathing was still strained. Swaying, she held out the pictures. “Who’s the dark-haired girl?”
The bartender struggled to make his eyes focus. “My cousin, Gina. She was the old lady of one of those guys. She started bringing those guys in.”
“Where can we find her?”
“I don’t know. She moves around a lot. I haven’t seen her in here in a month or more. She broke up with the guy she was dating. Or he dumped her. Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“Give me an address.”
The man shook his head, then winced in regret. “We’re not that close.”
“But you put her pictures up on the mirror?”
“I didn’t do that. One of the other bartenders did. She’s the one who took the pictures. She has a thing for the Invincible crew.”
“Where can I find the bartender?”
“She quit three weeks ago. Didn’t leave a forwarding.” The man grimaced and glared at Callan. “You busted me up for nothing, man. I don’t know anything about those security guys.”
Callan looked at the bartender dispassionately. “I busted you up for touching my partner. That’s not allowed.”
For a split second, Eryn glowed at the referral to her as partner. Then she realized that was as about a sexless term as she could imagine the way Callan said it. Immediately after that, she wondered why that bothered her and got irritated with herself because she had been bothered and because she didn’t have an answer.
The man was trouble. And he had definite bad taste in women.
Gazing at the shocked faces on the other side of the bar, Eryn plucked the bartender’s phone from his belt. Then she reached for Callan’s arm and pulled on it. “We need to go. The police are going to be here soon.”
He continued to stand there and she saw the emotion and helplessness knotting him up. She knew he wasn’t in the bar anymore. He was trying to explain himself to Jenny.
“Come on, Callan.” Eryn pulled at him again. “We’ll find them. They’re not here. We’ve got other places to check.” She knew that wasn’t true, though. The news would spread, and even if the bartender didn’t have his cousin’s address, he probably knew her phone number. Or he knew the friend of a friend. Either way, word would get around that someone was searching for Invincible Security and they would know it.
She didn’t know if that would place Daniel Steadman in any more danger than he already was.
“Callan. The police will be here soon. If we’re here when they arrive, that’ll be the end of it. Game over.”
He blew out a breath, then looked up at her and nodded. “All right.”
As they headed for the door, Eryn struggled with the dizziness that continued to swim inside her head. She stumbled just for a second, then Callan’s arm was around her waist, pulling her close and giving her strength.
Inside the Challenger, Callan drove purposefully and tried to keep himself calm. Saying that things hadn’t gone well at the club was a massive understatement. The episode had been an epic failure.
He also felt guilty about his reaction. He’d gone into the club with the intention of keeping everything cool, giving himself good odds to get Daniel back. It hadn’t worked out. Things in his business sometimes didn’t. A soldier accepted that and moved on.
Except this mission involved Jenny’s happiness and her future. Callan couldn’t accept losing that. He wouldn’t.
“We have options.” Eryn spoke softly from the passenger seat.
Callan worked his fists on the steering wheel. He didn’t have a definite place to go, but he drove like he had no time to get there. He bobbed and weaved through traffic like a boxer ducking punches. In the passenger seat, Eryn strained against the seat belt and watched traffic with dread anticipation.
“Are you listening?”
He didn’t want to answer, but he did. “Yes.”
“Do you think Invincible Security is behind Daniel’s kidnapping?”
“Maybe.”
“I know we don’t have any definite proof, but the tattoo link is enough for the police to work with.”
Callan glanced at her. “Do you think the police are going to have any better luck finding them than we are?”
“They’ve got more manpower.”
“Sometimes that only confuses the situation. There’s a reason special ops groups tend to work in small units. They can move fast and work better under concealment.”
“That confrontation at the club wasn’t concealed.”
Callan looked at her.
An expression of guilt flitted across her face but she quickly hid it. “Of course, I wouldn’t have liked it if that ape had beaten me half to death, either.”
“That wasn’t an option.”
“I’m glad.” She pulled down the visor and checked her reflection in the mirror.
Even in the neon glare streaming through the window, Callan could see the dark purple bruising surfacing under her soft, smooth skin.
“Well, that’s going to leave a mark.” Eryn folded the visor back up. “We can go to the police and tell them about Invincible Security. The picture is pretty convincing.”
Callan forced himself to relax. He took his foot off the accelerator and allowed the Challenger to slow. “These guys will have someone watching the police. If we let the police know about the Invincible Security guys, they could kill Daniel and cut their losses.” He shook his head. “The odds are better if we keep what we know to ourselves.”
“So they can kill us?”
“If they try to kill us, they’ll have to come after us. I can live with that.”
“You’re a scary guy, Callan.”
“Natural talent.”
“I thought you were going to kill that bartender.”
“If I’d wanted him dead, I’d have killed him before he even knew I was there.”
Her expression in her reflection in the windshield let him know she hadn’t wanted to hear that. She wrapped her arms around herself, wincing a little as she turned her head.
“So what are we going to do?”
“We keep looking.”
“If Invincible hasn’t gone into hiding already, they will after they hear what happened at the club.”
Callan knew that was true, but he didn’t have another plan. His cell rang. He checked the number and saw that Koenig was on the line. “Yeah.”
“Dude, Jenny’s blowing up your phone.”
Callan frowned at that. “How is Jenny calling my phone? We destroyed it.”
“Koenig cloned the number.” Eryn turned her attention to the phone in her lap.
“I cloned your number. Maybe you can’t take calls at that number anymore, but I can. I thought I’d keep it open in case she called.”
“I don’t have anything to say to her right now.” Callan’s stomach cramped at telling Jenny how badly he might have screwed things up.
“She needs to talk to you, dude. She sounds pretty desperate.”
“Talk to her, Callan.” Eryn flipped through the cell phone she’d taken from the bartender.
Callan didn’t like the fact that they were in agreement. It wasn’t their sister calling. It wasn’t their mistake that had jeopardized Daniel. Then he realized that Jenny might be calling for another reason. His throat tightened. “You’ve been monitoring the news?”
“Like a hawk, dude. Ear to the earth.”
“Anything about Daniel being found?” Callan couldn’t bring himself to add dead.
“No. And I’ve penetrated the LVPD’s communications systems and am listening in. If anything bad had happened to your future brother-in-law, someone would have said something. You should talk to her. She’s there in the midst of strangers going crazy. The two men in her life that she trusts aren’t there for her.”
“If I call her, the police can track this phone.”
“Dude, that’s why you have me. I can connect her phone to your phone and no one listening in will be able to tell where the call is coming from.”
Callan took a breath. “All right. Put me through to her.”
“Here you go.”
A series of clicks, sounding far away and scratchy, cycled through Callan’s hearing. A moment later, he heard Jenny’s voice, breathless and filled with anxiety. “Hello?”
Callan steeled himself and focused on being calm. “Jenny.”
“I’ve been calling and calling.”
“I had to go off the grid. I’m fine.” Callan stopped at a red light and watched as a line of revelers stretched drunkenly across the street.
“The police still want to talk to you.”
“I’m still not ready to do that.”
Beside him, Eryn flipped through the cell phone’s controls. Screens flashed across the viewing area
“Hold on, Callan. Someone’s calling.”
Methodically, Callan took his foot off the brake when the light turned green. He eased into the traffic and kept moving. He didn’t have a destination, but it felt better to be in motion.
A moment later, Jenny was back on the phone. “What have you done?” She sounded near to tears now.
“What’s wrong?” Callan struggled to make his voice come out calm.
“Somebody just called me! They told me to tell you to stay away or they’re going to hurt Daniel!”
“Jenny, stay with me.” Callan forced himself to be calm.
“I’m right here, Callan! You’re the one that’s somewhere he’s not supposed to be! What did you do?”
“I followed a lead that turned up. I think I know who has Daniel.”
“Who?”
Callan ignored the question. “Did you recognize the caller’s voice?”
“Who called me, Callan? Who has Daniel?”
Staring into the red taillights of the car in front of him without really seeing, Callan maintained his control with effort. This wasn’t like any mission he’d ever been on, but it reminded him of a lot of them that he’d been assigned to. Not all of them had ended well, and those were the circumstances flashing through his mind now. He felt Eryn staring at him, but he wouldn’t acknowledge her gaze.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“You mean you won’t! Callan, this is Daniel!”
Voices suddenly erupted in the background. At least two men called Jenny’s name.
“Stay with me, sis.” Callan spoke as calmly as he could, but he felt the strain in his voice. This suddenly felt as bad as when he’d gone to tell Jenny that he’d joined the army and was going away. She’d cried and screamed during that con
versation, then she’d beat his chest with her small fists for only a moment before grabbing onto him and clinging tightly. In the end, Callan had had to peel her off him and leave her behind. The foster parents she’d been living with at the time had done nothing to help.
“Tell me.”
“I need you to focus, Jenny. You didn’t recognize the man’s voice, but that’s okay. Did you hear anything in the background? Passing cars? Voices? Did the voice echo like the speaker was standing in a large room?”
“No, Callan! What I heard was a man telling me that unless you backed off, they were going to kill Daniel.” Jenny spoke more slowly now, but it was only because she was having trouble talking.
“Listen to me.” Callan focused on his words, wanting to get them right. He wanted desperately for Jenny to believe him. “They’re not going to do anything to Daniel. Do you hear me? They’re not going to hurt him.” He hoped that was true. “Those people are looking for a payday. They know they won’t get it if Daniel gets hurt.”
At the other end of the connection, Jenny cried softly.
Unable to listen anymore and knowing that all he could do was prolong the pain for both of them if he continued the conversation, Callan closed the phone. He glided to a stop at the next stop light, then leaned forward and rested his forehead against the steering wheel. With the jet lag, the anxiety of being part of Jenny’s wedding, of seeing his sister start a new life that would probably take her even further from him, he felt almost overwhelmed.
But it was a feeling, chemicals, that slammed into him. It wasn’t reality. Reality was in what he knew he could do—if he could just catch a break.
“Are you all right?” Eryn sounded hesitant.
“Yeah.” Callan forced himself to sit up. The light turned green and he got moving again. Only this time he felt guilt and fear dogging his footsteps in a way that he’d never before experienced. Bad things were close now. He’d had that same feeling when his parents hadn’t gotten home when they were supposed to. That same feeling had plagued him when the foster care case handlers met to decide to split him and Jenny apart because she still had a chance at getting an adoptive family.
Best Man for the Job Page 14
