by Chant, Zoe
Ella glanced at Callan, who’d lowered his head to listen to the conversation. Anger had risen in his eyes as he’d realized who Ella was talking to, but as yet he’d said nothing.
What should I do?
Ella tried to signal the question with her eyes, and, to her surprise, Callan seemed to understand. He made a rolling motion with his hand that was pretty clearly supposed to mean Keep him talking.
“What are you talking about?” she said, trying to sound as clueless as possible. “All I know is you were coming after me. What was I supposed to think?”
“Cut the shit.” The man’s voice was hard.
It’s not working, Ella thought despairingly. He’s definitely not buying it.
“I’m at the end of my fucking patience, here. This has been a wild goose chase from start to finish – I need to get results, and I’m ready to start getting vicious about it.”
He sounded almost desperate, Ella realized. There was a definite strain in his voice. And she didn’t like the sound of vicious.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, you need to bring me whatever you have of that research of your dear old dad’s. On a USB, on a CD, on a fucking floppy disk for all I care. But you need to bring it to me. Tonight.”
Ella licked her lips, looking at Callan. He nodded.
“And if I don’t?”
It wasn’t exactly like they had a lot to threaten her with. She was here with Callan, safe on Hector’s family farm. They couldn’t get her here.
The man let out a low, cruel laugh.
“Well. In that case…” He paused. “You love your dad, don’t you? I mean, I know it’s been a while, but surely you wouldn’t want anything to happen to him, would you?”
Ella froze. Her throat felt too tight for her to breathe.
“W-what? What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. Bring the research, and nothing has to happen to him. But if you don’t… well. I’d prefer not to have to cut bits of him off and send them to you. Postage is expensive these days.”
No. No. No.
“You’re bluffing,” she said. But she could hear the shake in her own voice, and she was certain the man could hear it too. She swallowed it down, and did her best to sound callous. “Even if you weren’t, I haven’t seen my father in twenty years. What makes you think I’d care?”
Ella’s stomach churned as she said the words, but she knew she had to say them. The less the men thought they had over her, the better.
The man laughed, low and rattling. “Maybe you’d care, maybe not. Blood’s thicker than water, but I guess not everyone finds that important. I suppose if you really don’t care, then there’s nothing we can do about that. But as for being a bluff… well, let’s put him on and see what dear old dad has to say about that.”
There was a shuffling sound from the other end of the phone. Before Ella had even had time to process what the man had said, she heard a rough, indistinct bark of command, a few moments of silence, and then: “Ella?”
Her heart stopped.
I know that voice.
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t heard it in twenty years, she still knew it. She was immediately transported back to her childhood, to an airport terminal, to the last time she’d ever seen her father.
“I –”
She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think.
“Ella, I’m so sorry. I never wanted this to happen to you. I never wanted you to have any part of this.”
Ella knew that if Callan’s arms hadn’t shot out to hold her up, she would’ve sunk to the floor. But he kept her upright, kept her supported. He reached for the phone, his eyes signaling his clear intent to take it from her and deal with the rest of the call if she needed him to, but Ella shook her head.
It’s my father, she thought, knowing that Callan would understand her. I have to know. And I can deal with it.
Callan nodded, though she could still see clear concern in his eyes.
“Ella, don’t let them – no matter what they threaten, no matter what they do, Hargreaves can’t get hold of this research.”
Doctor Henry Woodson’s voice was harsher than she remembered it being, more cracked with age. But it was still unmistakably him. The man wasn’t bluffing.
“No, I can’t just –” Ella started to say, only to be cut off.
“This is more important than my life, Ella.” Her father’s tone was uncompromising. “It’s bigger than that. Remember that. And remember that I lo–”
His words were abruptly cut off by a cold, cruel laugh.
“Yeah, so, that’s the situation. You can bring us the research your dad tried to hide, or you can wait and see what happens next. But I warn you, I’m not really that patient of a person, and neither is my boss. I’m not a complete arsehole though, so I’ll give you ’til… say, eight o’clock to think about it. And before you get any ideas – the only person we’ll deal with is you. You come alone, or not at all. You try anything, and you’ll see what happens. You got it?”
Ella’s eyes shot to Callan. His eyes told her that he trusted her to know what to say.
“Fine,” she said. “Where exactly am I even supposed to meet you?”
“I’ll text you an address,” the man snapped. “You make sure you bring those documents. And don’t keep me waiting.”
The call abruptly ended. Ella stood on shaky legs, clutching the phone to her ear, feeling utterly frozen.
My father… he’s…
Ella hadn’t realized she’d begun to sink to the floor until she felt it against her legs. Callan’s arms were still around her, guiding her down.
“Ella – Ella –”
His voice brought her out of the trance she’d drifted into, soft and deep.
She shook her head, taking a deep breath.
“I’m all right,” she said, forcing the words out of her mouth. She wasn’t sure if that was true, but, she decided, she’d make it be true. She couldn’t afford for it not to be.
“I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now,” Callan said, holding her. “Ella, if I’d known, I never would have –”
“Stop.” Ella shook her head. “I’m not that fragile. And you know if you’d taken the phone off me, he probably would’ve just hung up.”
“I suppose so,” Callan acceded. “Still, I wish there’d been another way.”
There hadn’t been though, and now that her brain wasn’t frozen in shock, Ella knew they’d have to start moving, and moving fast.
“Okay,” she said, sitting up and looking Callan in the eye. “So, what comes next?”
Chapter 14
“All right, the situation’s changed a little,” Callan said as together, he and Ella returned to the dining room. Ella still looked pale – he could remember the exact moment in the conversation when all of the color had drained out of her face – and he could feel her trembling slightly, but Callan also knew how strong she was.
Nonetheless, part of him – a big part of him – wanted nothing more than to sweep her up in his arms and take her away from all of this. From worry, from stress, from everything.
We should do it, his diprotodon insisted. We should keep her away from all this. Our mate should never be frightened, never be scared.
It’s more complicated than that, Callan told it. She has a right to be involved in this. To know what’s going on. She’s made her wishes clear, and we can respect them while making sure she doesn’t get hurt.
“What’s up?” Hector asked, frowning. “Who was on the phone?”
“The men who attacked us,” Ella said, her voice quiet but firm. “And they have my dad. They say they’ll… torture him, or kill him I suppose, if we don’t give them the research notes we have.”
Callan watched as Hector, Trent and Euan exchanged a brief glance. They knew who Ella’s father was, of course – what kind of man he was, and the work he’d done for Hargreaves. As touching as his coded message to Ella had been
, they still didn’t know the purpose behind him hiding his research notes.
“I… I get it,” Ella said after a moment, apparently reading the mood of the room. “He’s not a good guy. I know I can’t ask you to – to save him when –”
“What?” Callan looked down at her in horror, suddenly realizing where her thoughts were going. He stood in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye. “No, no, no. Of course we’re going to save him. He’s your father, Ella. And besides which, he clearly hid these research notes for a reason. I don’t know what it was, but it’s obvious he didn’t want Hargreaves to have them.”
Ella dropped her eyes, looking at the floor. “I can’t ask you to put yourself in danger for him. Or for me. You’ve done so much for me already.”
“Hey, did you forget the part where that’s my job?” Callan asked, hoping the weak joke might make her crack a smile – and to his surprise, he did see the tiniest hint of one tugging at the corner of her lip. “I mean, I might have helped you out anyway, but you know this is what I’m paid for. And the same goes for your father. Look, if you have to think of it this way, know that I’d be doing this even if I’d never met you – even if you weren’t my mate. We all would.”
“Too right,” Hector said, strongly. “Aside from anything else, it seems like there’s two guys roaming around out there who’re in sore need of a good kick up the arse to teach them some manners.”
“And we need to know what this research is all about,” Euan broke in, voice low. “Whatever happens to your father, we need to know. So it’d be better if he was alive, since he can tell us more about it.”
Callan shot Euan a dirty look for sounding so callous, even as he knew he spoke the truth. The Agency probably didn’t care much about his bond with Ella, or that the man in danger was her father. But it would care about the knowledge Doctor Woodson could share with them – and why he’d tried so hard to keep it from Hargreaves.
“All right, well. Rescue mission, then,” Trent said, rubbing his hands together. “I guess we need to run this by Robb?”
“Yeah, I think he’d want to know about this,” Callan said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “There’s one catch though, of course. Hargreaves’s agents are saying they’ll only deal with Ella. If they get any kind of sense that any of us are around, they won’t like it. Obviously.”
“Well damn, there goes my plan of us charging in there and grabbing the guy,” Trent shot back. “If we’re going to be so obvious, maybe we’d like to take a stroll around Darling Harbour in our shifted forms? Go for a little surf at Bondi, maybe? Make a special guest appearance in a fucking Coldplay video?”
Callan felt his diprotodon rising up, a snarl on its lips, a red mist of fury descending over his senses. He bunched his fists, fury surging through him.
Does he think it’s funny? Our mate’s father is in peril, and he makes jokes?
He took a step toward Trent before he knew what he was doing – and then Hector’s arm came down across his chest, stopping Callan in his tracks.
“Shut up, Trent. You’re not funny or smart,” Hector growled. “Keep your fucking trap shut unless you have something constructive to say. Callan, you come with me.”
Callan still wasn’t out of his rage, but he allowed Hector to drag him off to the loungeroom. Ella wasn’t far behind them.
“Callan, calm down.” Hector’s voice was low and urgent. “Trent was being a bit of a dick, but you need to keep a clear head, all right?”
Callan took a deep breath, and felt some of the red rage that had covered his senses subsiding.
“Sorry,” he said, glancing at Ella. “I don’t know what happened.”
“It’s all right,” she said. “Please, don’t worry about it.”
“You didn’t do anything,” Hector said. “And believe me, I know how it feels. I had to force my griffin not to tear some bikies limb from limb when they got too near to Myrtle. But Trent’s not threatening anyone, he’s just got a big fucking mouth he needs to learn how to control. Save it for someone who deserves it.”
Callan nodded. “You’re right.”
What Hector said was probably true, and it was just his diprotodon’s protective urges going into overdrive now that he’d found his mate.
And her family is in trouble, and right now, I can’t do anything about it, he thought, a wave of frustration rolling through his chest.
“I never thought I’d see the day when I’d have to be the one holding you back from a stupid fight,” Hector laughed, glancing at Ella. “Don’t worry – he’s not usually so childish. He’s supposed to be the sensible one.”
“Yeah, I’d gotten that impression,” Ella said, a small smile on her lips. She looked at Callan. “And I just want to make this clear now – whatever you need me to do, I can do it. I’m not scared of those guys, and you heard what they said. It has to be me.”
Instinctively, Callan tensed. His stomach roiled at the thought of her anywhere near danger.
“Ella –”
But Ella was already shaking her head.
“You heard what they said. You’re at least going to have to convince them I’m there to make the trade. Pretty hard if I’m not actually there.”
“We’ll… have to look into it,” Callan said. “It might be that we don’t even need to convince them. We might just be able to storm it without having you there at all.”
“Well, in that case, that’s peachy,” Ella said, her voice steady. “But just know that I’m prepared to do whatever it takes.”
Callan believed her.
Beautiful, smart, and brave.
She was everything he’d ever wanted. He had to resist the urge to sweep her up in his arms right there and then. But he knew anything like that would have to wait until later. Right now, he had a job to do.
“Hector, we need to go and call Robb and explain the situation to him,” he said. “Ella, I’ll – I’ll keep in mind what you said when I’m explaining things to him. I’ll let him know you’re willing to help.”
The words almost stuck in his throat, but he forced them out. The more primitive, protective side of his shifter nature was at war with respecting Ella’s intelligence and bravery.
“Thank you,” Ella said, her eyes shining.
Callan nodded.
And I promise you, Ella, he thought, as he followed Hector out of the room, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to save your father, and keep you out of danger.
Chapter 15
“That’s the location they texted,” Callan said, zooming in on it on Google Maps. It was a large, decommissioned industrial park about an hour outside of Sydney, with huge open spaces and few buildings. It was only serviced by one main road – not that they’d necessarily be travelling there by car.
“It’s an open area – you can’t approach it without being seen,” Hector muttered. “That’s going to make things difficult.”
“And those Hargreaves agents can both fly and move quickly on the ground,” Callan pointed out.
“And who even knows if they have another shifted form,” Trent pointed out.
Callan nodded, his heart sinking. It was looking less and less likely that he’d be able to keep Ella completely out of this. The men who had her father would most likely at least need to see her before they’d even come out of wherever they were hiding in the vast industrial estate.
Aside from looking at it on aerial view, Callan had also studied the estate’s schematics from files pulled from the Agency’s archives, and the whole place was an absolute maze of disused office buildings, empty warehouses, storage areas, and, he imagined, abandoned heavy equipment and possibly waste from whatever had once been produced there.
It wasn’t that he’d ever expected Hargreaves agents to behave like amateurs, but it was obvious this location had been chosen with a great deal of care.
But nonetheless, Callan and the others did still have one advantage.
“They must be desperate, if they’re calling Ella and demanding a swap,” Callan said, looking up at Hector, Trent and Euan. “I can’t imagine this was their first choice of actions.”
Hector nodded. “Of course not. Knowing what I know about Hargreaves, they demand results. It might be that they’re under pressure from someone above them to get this job done.”
“The one I spoke to did mention a boss, and said that he wasn’t a patient man,” Ella said. “So that would fit, too.”
“We have to think about the possibility that they have no intention of actually making the swap. They may be planning to kill him as soon as they have the documents,” Euan said, and again, Callan wished that he’d shut up, even though he was completely right in what he was saying. “If what’s in these documents is that important to Hargreaves and Woodson’s gone to these lengths to keep them secret, I can’t imagine they’re just going to let him walk out of there.”
“He has a point, as much as I hate to admit it,” Trent said.
Callan’s eyes flicked to Ella. He didn’t like it, but it was better for her to be aware of these things, especially if, as he feared, she was going to have to be involved in the operation itself.
She looked calm – and it was possible she’d even thought of Euan’s point herself. Callan knew that by now, she didn’t have any illusions about the kind of people they were dealing with. Hargreaves’s agents were ruthless.
“We haven’t gotten the list of approved agents from Robb yet,” Callan said. “Trent, Euan, I assume you’ll be coming, since you’re already here and know the situation.”
“Likely,” said Trent. He cracked his knuckles. “To be honest, I’ve been cooped up in the office for a while now. It’ll be good to get back out there.”
Euan, however, was silent. After a pause, he said, “I won’t be going. More likely Robb will pull Hector or Rhys out of leave and send one of them.”
Callan looked at him, confused. Pulling agents out of leave did happen, of course, but it was rare, since organizing it took a while and Robb was careful to avoid agents burning out. Pulling them out of leave should have been a last resort, and it didn’t make sense that he would do it if Euan was available. Which he obviously was, since he was standing here in Hector’s dining room.
