by Liz Lee
She knew then. Knew they were hiding the truth. Just like everyone else in her entire lie of a life, they were protecting her from some ugliness, and she couldn’t take it. If Riley was hurt, she had to know.
But when she started fighting, starting crying, begging, pushing them away, one of the workers held her arm and the other injected her. Within seconds everything faded to black.
Chapter Fourteen
“You go in there, talk to whoever the hell you have to talk to, and let them know, I’m done waiting.”
“Sir, you need to realize, Ms. Crenshaw’s in shock. She’s suffered an incredible…”
“I don’t give a flying flip.” Riley pushed past the man blocking him and into the emergency room where Callah lay too pale, too still. Scratched and bloody. Her cheek bruised. Tear streaks running through the black marks on her face.
Alive.
That was the only thing he cared about.
Walking to the side of the bed, he touched her hand gently and closed his eyes. Relief rushed through him, and he thanked God. She was alive and that was a miracle.
He’d never forget the sound of that trigger, never forget moving forward, knowing he was too damn late, and then all hell breaking loose.
In the end, Callah’d been right. He hadn’t been much good to her with his notebook and his pen. It had taken a mother she didn’t even know and a hell of a lot of luck to save her life.
That and a quick thinking cop who’d pulled her out of the car and slammed her to the ground before bullets started flying.
And still he couldn’t stay away.
Her eyelids fluttered and he pushed her bangs off her forehead, waited for her to see him there. When she did, she started to smile then groaned at the twinge from her busted lip.
“Riley.” She clutched his hand hard in hers, closed her eyes then opened them again. “I thought you were hurt or dead. They wouldn’t let me see you. They gave me a shot.”
Even groggy she sounded outraged. Bruised and battered and beautiful as ever. He smiled. “Yeah. They told me about it. I guess you nearly knocked a couple people out trying to get away.”
“You’re alive, Riley.” She said the words and started crying and all he could think was he didn’t deserve her tears because he’d been completely useless.
But he didn’t say that. Instead he kissed her unbruised cheek softly, and repeated her. “I’m alive.” And then, “You’re going to be okay, Callah. The doctor said you’re going to hurt, but the stitches will dissolve and then you’ll be good as new.”
She didn’t say anything, just turned her head away, and he knew she was thinking he was wrong. That she’d never be good as new again. Not now.
So he gave her the one thing he thought might help.
“She saved your life. She’s out there now. Waiting. She’d like to see you.”
Pulling her hand from his, she turned her face toward him and frowned. “I can’t, Riley. I can’t talk to her.”
Riley couldn’t let this go. Not when he knew Callah needed answers. That she needed peace. “You can try.”
She didn’t try to disagree, didn’t tell him no again. Just said “I’m glad you’re alive, Riley. So glad.” And then she closed her eyes.
Amber Jackson met him in the emergency waiting room. No notebook that he could see. No camera either. Not that it mattered.
“Will she be okay?”
Riley didn’t answer the question, just pointed to the door. “You need to leave, Amber. You don’t want to be here.”
“Come on, Riley, I’m just doing my job. I’m not a bad person, and I’m a damn good reporter.”
“Now.” He pointed to the exit again and something in his voice must’ve made an impression because she started toward the door.
He waited for her to leave, waited for the outside automatic doors to swoosh shut before crossing to the woman who sat alone in the hall leading to another part of the hospital.
Olivia Duncan’s face showed a woman who’d led a hard life. A life she’d more or less given up to keep Callah safe. But Callah wouldn’t hear that and he couldn’t change her mind. Not yet anyway.
He didn’t have to say a word. He saw the resignation in her eyes as she sighed. “No luck?”
“Give her some time. This is all new.”
Olivia smiled sadly, nodded and brushed her hands on the knees of her black pants. “Logan tried to tell me, but I’m stubborn. Looks like he was right.”
“I think she’ll change her mind. Eventually.”
She shrugged and took a deep breath, blew it out and closed her eyes, looking so much like an older version of Callah, it broke his heart.
“I wouldn’t let Logan come in with me,” she said, and when she opened her eyes, the sadness was gone. Riley wondered if she’d always lived her life like this, pushing away emotions, refusing to feel. “He’s probably somewhere outside the hospital doors. I know you can’t leave now, but I’d like to talk to you later.”
Riley didn’t know. As much as he wanted to talk to Callah’s mother, he knew Callah wouldn’t be happy if she knew. Still, she could say something that might help. And Callah needed to know the truth. If she wouldn’t talk to Olivia, maybe she’d listen to him.
“I’d like that,” he said, but then, just to make sure she understood, he added, “talking to me won’t change anything, though.”
“You love her.”
Her words shocked him. He hadn’t thought of what he shared with Callah as love. He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I wrote her story. Tried to keep her safe. Nearly got her killed.”
“Come now, Mr. Sorensen. I was there. I stood next to you when Vince McBride held that gun to her head. You love my daughter. And you’ll do what’s right for her. That’s the only reason I want to talk to you now.”
No more hiding. Riley almost laughed. Because she was right. He did love Callah. He just wasn’t sure it mattered.
Later that night Callah sat in Riley’s truck and tried not to care when she saw more media vans around her house. God, she was so sick of them.
Somehow Riley seemed to read her mind. “My place?”
She nodded, then leaned her head back, closed her eyes.
Her father was on base, and she wanted to see him, to talk to him, to ask why he’d lied. But not yet. She wasn’t ready.
Any more than she was ready to talk to Olivia Duncan.
At least she didn’t have to worry about talking to Agent McBride. No one did because he was dead.
And she was alive.
Riley turned onto the dirt road that led to his house, and she remembered how afraid she’d been when they’d run for their lives from her house. They were running again. Running from reality this time.
And that was okay.
For one more night, she’d avoid life. Tomorrow, things had to change.
The next morning Callah woke to the scent of bacon and coffee. She ran her hand over Riley’s soft sheets and laughed when she saw a king-sized Dove extra dark chocolate bar on his pillow.
She bit into the candy, let its smooth, semi-sweet richness melt in her mouth, chase all the bad thoughts away, but it didn’t quite work. The pain in her cheek, chin and eye radiated over her face, but that was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.
Riley had held her all night. Nothing else, just pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her and settled her against his chest. Surprisingly, she’d fallen asleep to the steady beat of his heart. But even that hadn’t chased the pain away. The knowledge, the betrayal, the confusion. Not even chocolate could fix this. Sighing she wrapped the chocolate back up.
Beams of sunlight played along his wood floor and she knew it was time to face reality. Slowly she forced her aching body out of the bed, slid into the shorts and shirt he’d laid out for her, and then walked barefoot across the floor and opened the door. Riley’s voice carried across his small kitchen as he talked to someone on the phone, but he smiled when he saw her, waved her to th
e breakfast bar and poured her a cup of coffee.
“Yes. No. Mack, I’m on it. I know. She made that clear. Me. No one else. No, dammit, do not send Jackson…”
He slid a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her and told his boss he’d call him later then sat on the stool across from her. “How do you feel?”
Truth or not. Callah decided a little of both. “Awful. I think an army rolled over my face.”
“You have one hell of a shiner.” His words were teasing, but his touch was tender as he reached out, pushed her hair out of her face.
Enough of that. She took a bite of egg. “You don’t have to babysit me anymore, Riley. I’m fine, and I’m ready to go home. You need to get back to work keeping Burkette on the straight and narrow, and I need to figure out what’s next.”
As much as she appreciated Riley’s breakfast, she couldn’t keep eating. Her stomach was a mess, her brain full of questions she didn’t want Riley trying to answer. Because the one thing she’d figured out over night was that Burkette wasn’t home. Not any more. Maybe not ever.
Thirty minutes later Riley walked Callah to her back door and tried to fight the fact that suddenly this felt a lot like goodbye.
“You have my number if you need me.”
“I’m fine, Riley. Seriously.”
He started to touch her, to tell her to stop being so damn heroic, but she tensed when he raised his hand, so he dropped it to his side.
“The police will want to talk to you today, and so will the FBI. My brother volunteered to walk you through whatever you need.” He couldn’t just leave her alone. Not yet. Not when she had no one to lean on, to depend on, to trust.
She unlocked her door, turned to face him, forced a smile. “Go to work, Riley. I can take care of myself. I promise.”
“I’m not worried about you taking care of yourself, Callah. You’ve proven you can do that. I just want to help….”
She leaned up on her tiptoes, kissed his cheek softly, then let herself in the door after telling him what he already knew. “You can’t help this, Riley. No one can.”
Callah logged on to her computer and searched through the university’s list of majors. She’d dropped out of school in California a year before graduating when Charlie’s career had taken off. All she had left to earn her teaching certificate was practice teaching and three classes. Of course that meant going back to California, finishing school there. Leaving Burkette.
She ignored the pang in her heart at the thought. But the pain was proof leaving was the right thing to do. She’d grown dangerously close to Riley far too quickly. She couldn’t afford to lose herself in a man again.
Her cell phone rang and when she saw the familiar number on Caller ID, her heart tumbled to her toes. Opening it she told herself she could do this. She was strong. It needed to happen.
And then she made herself say hello.
A few minutes later her stomach tumbled again at the knock on her door. Peeking through the front curtain she saw the eyes she knew, the face she loved. She closed her eyes, counted to ten, took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Hello, Daddy.” He was. Even though she now knew the truth, this man was her father for all intents and purposes.
“Callah.” He stopped, cleared his throat, and she nearly cried at his obvious grief. “Thank you for seeing me.”
She stepped back and invited him in.
It didn’t take her long to have the answers she needed. Olivia Duncan had given her to him and her mother when she was almost four years old. They’d been neighbors for three years, and she’d warned him before leaving to never try to find her or her daughter would be in danger.
He’d known her mother and father. Understood their dangerous past even though he knew little of it. The murder of her birth father had sealed the deal. He’d made connections over the years, and he called on every one of them to keep her safe.
When he finished his story, he sat forward on her couch and took her hand in his, turned it over and stared at her palm, then said the words she’d desperately needed to hear.
“You’re not my blood, Callah, but you are my daughter. You have been for most of your life. I hope you can find a way to forgive my silence.”
Callah’s heart broke at his words, at the hope in them, and she knew the truth. Taking a deep breath she did what she’d been unsure of only minutes before. “You did what you had to, Daddy. I understand.”
Riley sat across the diner booth from Logan Douglass and Olivia Duncan and asked the questions he hoped would give Callah some sense of closure if nothing else.
“McBride killed Callah’s father why?”
Olivia answered. “We’d discovered an illegal arms ring, and we’d traced it back to military sources, but we weren’t sure who. McBride was our government contact. We were no longer active duty, but we still had a series of contacts to make if the need arose.”
“So you told McBride what you knew and…”
“And he was the military connection. We were too sure of ourselves, too excited about our lives outside the agency. We made a horrible mistake and we paid for it a thousand times over. I never knew McBride was the one until he made contact with Charlie Benson in California. I wasn’t even sure then. When Charlie died, I knew.”
They’d suspected McBride back then, and still, they’d let this happen. Riley tried not to hold that against them as he continued asking questions. “You gave Callah up and then continued watching her.”
Olivia nodded, and Riley couldn’t help but notice the way she gripped Logan’s hand. “I went into deep cover, but I stayed near Callah when I could.”
He didn’t say anything, just waited for her to fill in more of the blanks. She did, but not without considering her words and him for a long time. Finally she looked at Logan for some kind of silent reassurance before leaning forward and telling him more.
“You can’t write about this, Riley. But I’ll tell you because I think it will help Callah eventually.”
Her complete faith that Callah would be a part of his life was misplaced. Something in Callah had changed. She’d built a wall between them, and after all the crap she’d been through, he wasn’t sure how to tear it down or if he should even try. Trying to get her to talk about Olivia was definitely not the answer.
“I’ve spent the last two decades working deep cover domestic intelligence operations. Using my connections, I did everything in my power to keep Callah safe. I set up fake identities for her across the world. I planted a false obituary trying to draw out the mole. Logan stayed in contact with Colonel Crenshaw. When McBride showed up in LA, I made the call that sent Jen Danelley in. She watched and waited and then Charlie left Callah and McBride disappeared and I thought maybe it was over. But I’d learned my lesson and I kept watching. When Charlie’s plane went down, I came back to Burkette.”
“You let McBride get too close.”
She nodded. “I sent you the photos hoping to shake him.”
“It worked. And he nearly killed her.” Riley couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice.
“You’re right. I made a terrible mistake thinking I could control this, thinking I could keep anyone from knowing the truth. And Callah nearly died. Please believe me when I say I’m so, so sorry.”
“He wanted you all along. That’s what he said.”
She nodded. “If I could do it all over again, I’d have given myself up years ago, Riley. I should’ve. It was stupid to put Callah in that kind of danger.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Proof. I needed proof that he was the one. Not my instinct. Not my word. But cold, hard proof that he’d killed my husband, that he’d planned on killing me and my daughter.”
Still angry at how close Callah had come to death, Riley shook his head. “Well, you sure got it, didn’t you?”
This time Logan answered. His hard voice carried across the table, but Riley doubted anyone else could hear it. “She gave up her whole life to k
eep her daughter safe, son. If you get a chance, you make sure Callah Crenshaw knows that truth.”
When they walked out of the diner, Riley blew out a deep breath. He would tell Callah everything he knew and she’d be furious with him for interfering, but she had to know. Maybe knowing would give her peace.
Callah sat in her living room across from Riley and listened to him explain Olivia Duncan’s motivations, history, job description. When he was done, she tried to be angry. It didn’t work. She was too tired to be angry. “You’ve got yourself a great story, Riley.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed, but that was the only proof that she’d ticked him off. “This isn’t about a story, Callah. It’s about you.”
He could tell himself that all day. Eventually he’d prove her right. “I heard you say that this morning, Riley, and really, it’s fine. She talked to you. You told me. Now go tell the rest of the world.” Her words weren’t fair. She knew they weren’t, but she needed something to push him away. He was too close.
“Come on, Callah. You know me better than that.”
And there it was. The truth that would do the trick. She stepped back and said the words guaranteed to finally send him away. “We both know that’s not true, Riley. We spent a few days together, but we don’t know each other. None of this has been real.”
“We did more than spend a few days together, Callah.” His blue eyes blazed and she swallowed, balled her hands into fists to keep from reaching out to him. To keep from throwing herself in his arms and begging him to stay.
Shrugging, she answered, “I’ve read dangerous situations cause people to let down their defenses, do things they would never do in normal circumstances. We don’t know each other. I don’t even know myself. Not really.” And that was the truth. The reason he had to leave. The reason she had to leave.
Standing, she crossed the kitchen to her back door and opened it. Turning back to face him she tried to make him understand. “I really, really appreciate you, Riley. But I think it’s best for you to go now.”
His eyes bored into hers, and she forced herself to meet his gaze. When he slammed past her and out the door without a word, she tried not to cry, but it was no use.