Page 11 of Hero's Heart

The last thing she saw before the van doors slammed shut was the Eiffel Tower in the distance, its lights glittering like a cruel, unreachable beacon.

Chapter 5

Callum spent his day off the way he spent most of them: fishing. He cast the line out on the river from his small boat and sat back and waited. He knew the chances of his catching anything were pretty slim, and even if he did catch something, he was just going to throw it back in. Because that wasn’t the point.

Hell, he didn’t really even like fishing very much—it seemed like such an old-man thing to do. But he’d found out the hard way the first couple years of living here that if he didn’t fish on his days off, then people in Oak Creek usually tried to do something unbearable likeinvite him places. The utter audacity.

Fishing evidently was the activity that everyone universally considered acceptable as an isolated, manly activity.

Callum isn’t being antisocial, he’s just going fishing.He could basically hear the town’s older ladies’ voices saying the words.

At least it stopped them from trying to set him up with their daughters. He’d sit out in this boat and not catch anything for hours if it got him out of that.

Find someone else to love, Callum. I can’t stand to think of you alone, hiding that hero’s heart of yours for the rest of your life. Do it for me.

He scrubbed his hand down his face, thinking of one of his wife’s final requests.

He’d never considered it, not once in the time since Amelia died. He’d dated a little over the years. Had a few casual flings. But he hadn’t been interested in replacing Amelia in his heart. Wouldn’t ever be interested.

When the sun was fully above him, he took a snack break, grabbing the trail mix he’d packed. He was digging out the chocolate pieces when his phone rang. True days off were few and far between as Oak Creek’s sheriff, but he didn’t mind. Busywork kept him focused on the present. Some days, he needed that to ground him.

The bright Wyoming sunshine made it hard to see the screen, so he swiped without knowing who was on the other end. “Webb.”

“Callum. It’s Dustin Reynolds.”

Dustin Reynolds. The past came rushing back in waves—the missions, the adrenaline, the chaos of working together in federal law enforcement. He hesitated before answering, knowing that whatever Dustin wanted, it wouldn’t be good. They’d been colleagues but never friends.

“Hey, Dustin.”

“Still hiding out in Mayberry?” The other man’s voice carried a familiar dry edge.

“Still making jokes about my town?” Callum leaned back, adjusting his baseball cap against the glare of the sun. “What’s this about, Dustin?”

There was one thing Callum knew for damned sure: Dustin was not calling to catch up. They’d never had that sort of relationship.

“I have a mission I need you for.”

And there it was.

“And if I’m not available for missions?” At least, not for Dustin.

“Remember Budapest?” Dustin said, his tone dripping with implication. “Remember how you needed to get home to your wife, and I covered for you and ended up taking a bullet?”

Callum clenched his jaw. Dustin made it sound likegetting home to his wifehad been nothing more than avoiding being late for dinner, not getting home because they’d found out Amelia had terminal cancer. Dustin had stepped up to lead the team in Budapest, but when the mission went sideways, he’d taken a bullet. It had effectively ended his career as a field agent.

Callum had figured this moment would come, but part of him had hoped it never would.

“What do you need?” Callum asked, knowing he didn’t really have a choice. Both he and Dustin had gotten out of federal law enforcement not long after Budapest—Callum because of Amelia’s death, Dustin to pursue more lucrative options like private security.

“Good. I knew you’d see it my way.” The smugness in the other man’s voice made Callum’s blood boil, but he tamped it down. “One of my security clients’ daughters has been kidnapped. Name is Marissa Getty. She’s twenty-two, an American, and she was taken in Paris about thirty-six hours ago. She’s being held in Moldova.”

Callum frowned. “Eastern Europe? Why aren’t you talking to authorities over there?”

And what did any of this have to do with Callum? Moldova was half a world away from Wyoming.

“It’s not my first day, Webb, so yes, we are working with law enforcement there.” Dustin’s tone grew colder. “But as you know, it’s not the same there as in the US. Local cops can beeasily bought and we’re not sure who can be trusted, so we’re circumventing.”

“Fine. But what does any of this have to do with me? I know you have to have someone better than me for a rescue op. I’ve been out of the game for a while.”

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