by Sophie Oak
His old “friends” had sold out Zane. There was no way Nate would allow them to hurt Callie.
Chapter Fourteen
Callie pushed out on the bonds that held her hands together. The SUV she’d been shoved into moved through the night. Every second took her further away from Nate and Zane. The metal from the handcuffs felt cold against her skin, and they weren’t budging at all. She tried to twist her wrists, but that jerk Leander had put the cuffs on tightly around them. They bit into her skin. He hadn’t been willing to take any chances.
“You send the text?” Leander was driving the car.
“Yeah.” As Worthington said the words, there was a ping from his phone that let him know he had a text. “Looks like old Nathan is anxious about the girl. He says he’ll meet us wherever we choose, and he’ll bring Hollister with him. Maybe it wasn’t all for nothing.”
A low grumble came from Leander’s throat. “I don’t like it. I still think we should have taken Hollister out from a distance.”
“We don’t have that option now. That nosy bitch back there ruined everything. We can’t be sure Wright wouldn’t go ahead and call the agency to give them the account number. I’m sure he wrote the numbers down. He normally wouldn’t give them to the boss over the phone, but he might if he thought someone would get there first. Idiot. I thought Wright would be easy to turn. He lost everything. He needs the fucking money.”
“He needs Zane more,” Callie said. They had thought to turn Nathan Wright? They didn’t know him at all.
There was an irritated huff from the front seat. Even in the gloom of the car, she could see Leander’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Yeah, well, I never suspected those two were queer.”
“They certainly are not, though there would be absolutely nothing wrong with it.” The intolerance of some people constantly shocked her. “Both Zane and Nathan have a relationship with me. They are just very close friends.”
“I’ll say. Look, sweetheart, I don’t care about your perverted sex life.”
Callie heard an offended squeak come out of her mouth. She wasn’t sure why she arguing the point with them. Maybe because it was easier than thinking about how they would kill her. “It is not perverted. It is beautiful and loving. Maybe the reason you think everything is perverted is that you haven’t dealt with your own sexuality. A good therapist could help with that.”
Worthington leaned over. “Do you have anything we could use as a gag?”
Callie closed her mouth.
“Better,” Worthington muttered.
He pulled out a gun and checked the chamber. Callie wished she’d paid more attention when Rye, Max and Stef had taken her shooting. She knew her way around a rifle but not a handgun. If she’d paid them half a mind, she’d know what kind of gun was going to kill her.
Callie was surprised at how much she genuinely hated the two men sitting in front of her. They had ruined what could have been a perfect day. Nate loved her. Zane loved her. They were willing to give this crazy life a go. Callie felt her heart clench. She could be pregnant. She could have the life she always wanted, but she’d been an idiot. She should never have been alone when she knew people were after her men. She’d thought the only danger came from the bikers, but now she could see that these men had been the real snakes all along. Zane hadn’t screwed up. Zane had been betrayed.
“You outed Zane.”
“And you’re just Nancy Drew,” Leander replied. “Yeah, we gave up Zane. Nate was supposed to be gone that day. He’d told his handler he was working a deal out of Laredo, but he stayed in El Paso that day and fucked up everything. Ellis was going to pay us a million dollars for giving up the narc.”
Worthington’s laugh was like the cackle of a hyena. “Maybe we should thank Wright for screwing up that deal. Now we’re getting twenty million instead of a measly one, and we don’t have to worry about Ellis double-crossing us. What’s he going to do from his prison cell?”
The car swerved suddenly, and Callie was tossed to the side. She narrowly avoided hitting her head on the side of the door. She twisted her body up and tried to look out the window. She attempted to orient herself. Her eyes adjusted to the low light, and she could see aspens and evergreens. The car was moving at an angle. They were going up the mountain. Given the amount of time they had been travelling, there was exactly one mountain they could be scaling. She knew it well. Max and Rye lived on this mountain. Mel lived on this mountain. She knew this mountain like the back of her hand.
Callie’s chest hurt. She’d been so close to what she wanted. She’d almost had a life with both of them. When Nate had stood up in the middle of town hall tonight and declared himself, Callie thought her heart would burst. He’d stood up for her in front of everyone who mattered to her. Everyone in town knew that Callie Sheppard was loved and loved well. She’d sat by Zane in that meeting and watched Nate on the stage, and for the first time in her adult life, she hadn’t felt alone. She’d been a part of something. She had a little family.
God, she couldn’t die now.
“This better work.” Leander’s voice was slightly shaky. He twisted the steering wheel, trying to adjust to the winding road. “If he calls it in and we don’t get that fucking cash, we’re screwed.”
“I have the password.” Worthington bit the words out of his mouth. The two were starting to snap at each other like irritated alligators. “All we need is the actual account number, and we’re golden.”
“If the Barbarians don’t catch us. I really wish we’d done this before Ellis ordered the hit on Hollister.” Leander’s voice was tense and tight. He seemed more on the edge than his partner in crime.
“Yeah, well if he hadn’t, we still wouldn’t know where the damn account number was. We would still be working like idiots. I’m glad the bastard got anxious.”
“Yeah, it’s great that every asshole with a twelve gauge will be on the lookout for us. Once they find out Hollister is dead and the money is gone, they’ll be gunning for us.”
Callie had known that these men intended to kill Zane if they got their hands on him, but her heart skipped a couple of beats at the verbal acknowledgment of their plan. She couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that Zane might die. A vision of his big, beautiful body lying still on the ground swamped her senses, and she couldn’t stop the small sob that choked out of her throat. The men in the front seat didn’t seem to notice her distress.
“We’ll be on a plane to Shanghai before anyone knows what happened. No one even knows Sonny is dead yet. The last I heard, Ellis thinks he’s the turncoat. He put out a hit on him. Ellis thinks his own right-hand man turned on him and is planning this heist.”
Leander’s hand came out, and they shared an obnoxious high five. “Damn straight he thinks that. It’s what we told him. We didn’t mention that we killed the asshole ourselves, but only after he gave up the password. It’s too bad Ellis is such a paranoid bastard. If he’d just given Sonny the account number, we’d be free and clear by now, but no, he has to hide the account number in a tat. Who thinks to do that?”
Worthington shrugged. “Hey, it worked for the dude. He hid twenty million dollars right under the nose of the DEA. Our own agent walked around with the evidence on his chest for years. I kind of admire the guy.”
There was a long sigh. Leander’s head shook. “Why fucking China? Couldn’t we go to a country where they speak English?”
Callie knew the answer to that one. “China doesn’t extradite jerks like you back to the U.S.”
Worthington turned and winked at her. “The bitch is right. Just follow my lead, and we’ll be fine.” His hand moved down below the seat. He shifted as though he was shoving something into his pants. The gun. He nodded. “Turn here. The place Wright talked about in his report is just up the road.”
Callie’s mind raced. There were only three places Nate might have mentioned in a report about the attempts on Zane’s life. There was the biker bar, their cabin, and the campsite Mel
had discovered. She’d typed up the report for Nate. He’d taken careful note of the longitude and latitude of the campsite. It had to be where they were going.
Callie closed her eyes as the car turned. She visualized the land around Mel’s cabin. It was thick with aspens and firs, but there were several places that were clear. The campsite was one of the places with a bit of clear land. It was why Mel had designated it a potential landing zone. If it was a normal night, Mel would be on patrol. All she would have to do was find a way to let him know where she was, and Mel would take care of things. Despite his status as the town kook, Mel had spent time in the military, and he was beyond competent with a gun in his hands. Callie would pit Mel against these two any day of the week.
Unfortunately, Mel had been at the town hall. She was on her own until Nate and Zane showed up and walked straight into an ambush. She was sure the treasonous agents had promised to exchange her for Zane, but she was also sure they didn’t intend to leave any witnesses. Worthington and Leander would kill them all. It was up to her to stop that from happening.
The car stopped. The full moon lit the night. In the distance, Callie could see a set of caves Mel used to store some stuff she hoped Nate never found out about. She had to find a way to get to those caves.
She breathed deeply. Her hands shook behind her back as the agents opened the doors and slammed the front doors shut. She turned quickly when she realized the door to her left was opening.
“All right, sweetheart, let’s get this over with,” Worthington said.
As hard as she could, Callie kicked the door open. It hit Worthington squarely in the gut, and he went down with a shout. Callie scrambled out of the car and ran for the tree line. She heard a shout behind her and a loud pop. She stumbled as something hit her shoulder. It felt like her skin was on fire. Through her tears, she got to her feet.
“Damn it, we need her alive for now.”
Callie made it to the trees and was enveloped by the forest.
* * * *
Zane watched as Nate opened the locker containing the Bliss County Sheriff’s Department’s armory. He already had a Sig Sauer in a holster at the small of his back. Nate handed him a rifle and another handgun, this one a Glock. Zane checked each weapon carefully and forced himself to go slow, to be precise. What he wanted to do was grab whatever was handy and run as fast he could to bash in two fuckers’ brains and save his wife.
God, they had Callie. What had they already done to her? Was she scared? Of course, she was scared. She was probably terrified. Did she understand they would do anything to save her? Panic threatened to swamp him, overcoming every possible good decision he could make.
“Calm down, Zane. It’s going to be all right.” Nate’s voice was even and sure as he passed Stefan Talbot a rifle.
Nate’s eyes were as steady as his hands. His presence calmed Zane considerably. He’d never known anyone as calm under pressure as Nathan Wright. Despite Nate’s former ambitions to move up at the DEA, Zane had always known Nate’s true calling. He had been born to protect, to stand as a bulwark against violence. It was in Nate’s blood, and nothing could change that.
The small Sheriff’s Department was full of concerned townsfolk. The gleeful chaos that seemed to follow the citizens of Bliss had been replaced with a somber force of will. Zane looked around the room. The Harper twins were busy checking the rifles they had selected. Teeny was dividing her attention between Marie and Logan, both of whom seemed to be preparing for some form of warfare.
Rachel Harper walked up to Nate with Jen Waters in tow.
“I can use a shotgun or a rifle.” Rachel had pulled her strawberry blonde hair into a tight ponytail.
“I can learn really fast.” Mascara tracked down Jen’s face. She’d been crying from the moment she realized her friend was missing.
Zane saw Stef’s eyes widen at the statement. Zane quickly stepped between them. The last thing he needed was Stef to start yelling at Callie’s friend. Zane wasn’t sure what was going on between those two, but it was intense. It also had no place here. “Jen, why don’t you stay here and monitor the phone? We need someone to coordinate from here.”
She shook her head. “No, she’s my closest friend. Stella can answer the phone.”
“Not a chance, pet.” Stefan’s voice was a silky threat. “If you think for one minute that I will allow you to walk into an ambush, you don’t know me at all.”
She turned to face him. “You don’t own me, Stef. Hell, you don’t even like me. I don’t have to listen to a word you say. You want me to leave you alone? Well, I promise I won’t make a fool of myself over Stefan Talbot ever again. And you can’t tell me what to do.”
“No, but I can.” Nate stepped up. He nodded at the Harper twins. Max moved behind his wife while Rye strode to the single holding cell. He opened it and held the door wide. “Stef, if you would like to join Max and Rye, I believe there is plenty of room.”
Rachel Harper screamed as her husband picked her up and started carrying her across the room toward the cell.
“No way you’re going with us, baby. You can yell all you like and call me every kind of name, but I’m keeping you safe. And I won’t even try to blame the baby. I wouldn’t let you do this whether or not you were pregnant,” Max said as Rachel squirmed in his arms.
“Damn you, Max.” She turned her head to take in Rye. “And you, too. Fine. I’ll stay here. You don’t have to lock me up.”
“Yeah, I believe that one, Rach.” Rye’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “You would form your own little group and cause all kinds of trouble. In you go.”
Stef moved quickly. Jen was in a fireman’s hold over his shoulder before she could protest. She kicked and tried to scratch at his back, but she was in the cell when Rye Harper closed the door.
“I won’t ever forgive you, Stef. You have no right to make this choice for me,” she said through her tears. Rachel had her hands on the younger woman’s shoulders.
“Yes, well, at least you’ll be alive to hate me.” Stef’s eyes were hollow as he turned on Zane. “Is it you they want?”
Why hadn’t they just taken him? Why had they taken Callie? God, if he’d known that was the choice, he would have turned himself over. “Yes.”
Stef’s mouth tightened, and he nodded sharply. “You’re the bait then.”
“I’m not the fucking bait,” Zane said with savage intent. “Once we find these assholes, I’m giving myself up, and you guys are getting Callie the hell out of there.”
“I thought we knew where they were.” Rye Harper was pointedly ignoring his wife’s killer stare. “Didn’t Nate get a text or something?”
Zane’s attention swiftly focused on Nate. “He didn’t get anything, or he would have told me.” The words came out as a threat, and Zane meant them that way.
He knew in an instant that Nate was hiding something. His face had gone flat. Nate was an excellent poker player, but Zane had known him long enough to call his bluff. “You better spit it out now.”
Nate’s eyes narrowed. “I’d watch my tone, Zane, or you might find yourself in the cell with the women.”
“I’d like to see you try. You want to explain why you’re holding out on me?”
“What would you have done if I had given you the coordinates of the place where we’re supposed to meet with Worthington and Leander?”
Frustration made Zane’s fists clench. “I sure as fuck wouldn’t be sitting here. I would have gone there, and Callie would be out and safe by now.”
“No, you would have gone charging in, and both you and Callie would be dead.” Nate took the hat off his head and pulled out a Kevlar vest. He tossed it to Zane. “Put it on.”
Zane let the damn thing hit the floor with a thud. “Tell me where she is.”
Nate picked up the vest. “Put the fucking thing on, or I’ll taser you and handle this myself. If you want to have anything to do with this mission, you will put the vest on and you will follow my every ord
er. If you deviate from the plan, Logan is going to take you out.”
“Umm, boss?” Logan’s voice sounded reedy and thin.
“Don’t worry, Nate, if he steps out of line, Max, Rye, and I will take care of it.” Stefan held the rifle like a man who knew what he was doing. “I’ll make sure I don’t actually kill him.”
Zane’s chest felt heavy. He stared at the man who had been his partner for most of his life. “You can’t do this, Nate. You have to give me up.”
“So they can kill you and Callie? Not going to happen. Zane, leave this to me. I know I let you down before, but I won’t this time. I promise. I won’t lose you, and I certainly won’t lose our wife.”
The words made his heart seize. Their wife. They didn’t need a piece of paper to make her theirs. He didn’t need some marriage certificate to know that Callie was his. She’d given herself to him when she said, “I love you.” She couldn’t take herself back, and there was no way in hell he was going to allow some assholes to take her away from them.
His eyes held Nate’s, and Zane suddenly realized the real intimacy of this threesome he found himself in. It wasn’t about the sex. It wasn’t about getting her in between them. It was so much more. It was about sharing this life with Callie and Nate. It was about having another person who knew what it was like to love Callie. He could rely on Nate. Nate loved Callie, and, in a completely nonsexual tough guy way, Nate loved him, too.
Damn, Nathan Wright was his hero. Why hadn’t he seen that before?
He picked up the vest and fitted it over his head. He tried to close the straps around the waist. They locked together, but just barely.
“Damn big bastard. Who thought we should get such a fucking small vest?” Nate asked no one in particular. He walked around Nate, shaking his head at the fit.
“It’s a large.” Rye Harper shrugged as though apologizing. “And I had to fight for that one. This is Bliss, not the DEA. We don’t have a ton of money. I managed to get exactly one Kevlar vest out of the Chamber of Commerce. We’ve always known that if the shit hit the fan, Logan was going down.”