Page 45 of Callahan's Haven

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“Lay your ass back down!”

“They have her, Garrett.” The pain running through various points of Cal’s body as he tried to get up from the hospital bed was nothing compared to what was going on in his heart. “We have to find her.”

Cal had awoken over an hour ago in a hospital bed with a haggard-faced Declan sitting next to him and his abdomen, bicep, and side of his head aching. Garrett had stood at the foot of his bed staring at him with a drawn, solemn expression, while an investigator waited to ask questions.

But none of that mattered, only the lingering image of Haven’s anguished expression dimming as he’d blacked out.

According to Garrett, it must have been theonlything on his mind, even as he’d started to come out of the anesthesia. It seemed Cal had caused enough of a commotion in recovery, the charge nurse—dubbed Nurse Ratchet by Garrett—had threatened to sedate him again. Garrett had said it had taken all of hischarmto get her to lethimhandle the situation.

Cal didn’t remember any of it.

“Haven?” he’d asked, groaning and trying to sit up, only to have both of his friends shake their heads after glancing at the investigator. They’d waited until the officer had gotten all the answers he could out of him, which wasn’t much with the little intel he could share, before Cal had feigned exhaustion to get him to leave.

Declan had waited until the three of them were alone, and that’s when his worst fears had been confirmed. Haven was gone. To compound matters, Colonel Sheppard was unreachable. They’d had to assume he had been taken as well because no way in hell would he have ghosted on them.

“You gave her the bracelet,” Garrett said, pulling his attention to him. “You said she knows how to use it. Give her time to activate it.”

“It’s been almost four hours.” Cal gritted his teeth to keep from screaming out his frustration. “Haven already should have.”

He leveled his stinging eyes on his friend. Time had been wasted with the events following the shooting. But even if they had been able to follow up on anything, they had no leads. The longer they’d had to wait, the more he’d let his imagination take him to the unthinkable of what might have happened to her.

“What if she can’t.” Cal cleared the emotion from his throat. “What if…” He couldn’t make himself finish the thought.

“No what ifs,” Solace said, walking into the small room they’d moved him to, her face marred by a bruising eye—the white of it blood red—and a bandage covering part of her forehead. “Damned investigator kept me tied up after they finally took care ofthisin the ER,” she said, pointing to her face.

She came to the opposite side of the bed from Garrett and Declan and gently pushed Cal back down before leaning over him. Her pained gaze held his as she lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “We’re not going to believe anything has happened to her. Just like nothing’s happened to Dun…” She took a shuddering breath. “I mean Colonel Sheppard. You know they have to have both of them alive to do whatever it is they need him for.”

He held her gaze until she shuttered her expression and stepped away. Was there something more than just concern for the Colonel he’d heard in her voice and seen in her face?

“Dammit,” Declan exclaimed, pounding a fist on the equipment tray and nearly knocking it over. “This is my fault.” He turned his tortured blue eyes to Cal. “Thirty seconds. One fucking half-minute too late. If I’d been closer…” His friend looked at him, then Solace, and winced before pacing the limited confines of the room. Declan’s long-legged stride made it about three steps one way and three back.

It wasn’t Declan’s fault. Cal had learned the man had done all he could, giving chase in his vehicle while Garrett had called for an ambulance for him and Solace. Declan had almost caught up with the kidnappers when the fuckers had thrown out tire spikes. He’d said he’d barely managed to keep his truck from flipping after his tires had blown.

If the fault lay with anyone, it was with Cal. He’d allowed himself to become too complacent thinking they had it all under control—too focused on Haven as the woman he wanted rather than the woman he was supposed to protect. Because of his failure to pay attention to their surroundings, Haven had been taken.

“No,” Cal said, shaking his head. “I should have had my comm in. If I had, I’d have at least had a few seconds to react when they blitzed us.”

“If we’re passing blame,” Garrett interjected. “Don’t leave me out of it. I was closer when Solace came up on the shooter. I rushed to her instead…” He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, man.”

Cal looked up at the faces almost as familiar to him as his own—each one meaning more to him than his own life. “You did the right thing. All of you.”

They fell silent until Garrett reached over the bed and touched Solace’s chin, turning the damaged side of her face to him. “Bastard really did a job on you.”

Cal still couldn’t believe someone had taken out Solace. It was almost an impossibility and something he could imagine she was probably still pissed over.

“Well, the butt of a twenty-two to the face does have a tendency to leave a mark.” She grabbed Cal’s hand and furrowed her brow at him. “At least it made Woosley rush and kept him from steadying his aim before taking the shots. I’m sure they were on some kind of timetable once you guys left the dorm.”

A heavy silence filled the room for a heartbeat.

“Wait! Woosley?” Declan said on a growl. “The jackass from Celeski’s team?”

Solace nodded. “Him and another guy.” She shook her head. “I guess I was stunned at seeing him holding the gun and I missed the fact he had backup. I was hit from behind and that’s when Woosley clocked me with the butt of his gun while I was on the ground. Fucker made sure to give me a big smile when he did it too.”

“So, what?” Garrett said, grimacing. “We’ve been looking in the wrong direction all this time? Shit!”

“It looks like it,” Solace said, pulling a chair over and collapsing in it. “So now the question is, who’s actually behind this clusterfuck?”

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