Page 47 of Callahan's Haven

An alarm sounded on the phone Garrett held in his other hand, his eyes widening as he dropped his gaze to it. He swiped a finger over the screen, a slow grin spreading over his face as he raised his head and met Cal’s eyes.

“I’ve got her.”

It didn’t take long to process out after that.Processing outbeing a relative term when what he’d really done was quickly put on his clothes and head for the nearest exit. He was pretty sure everyone had gotten a good look at everything he had, but he didn’t care.

The doctor had called in several staff to try and waylay him and explain the dire consequences of not staying, but he’d focused on getting the hell out there.

He’d barreled through them with his small group surrounding him, only stopping when some papers were shoved in his face they insisted he sign—something to the effect that he wouldn’t hold the hospital responsible for anything that happened to him since he’d left against medical advice. He’d signed the damned things to keep from punching someone instead.

The next thing was to get Hope and Destiny to keep their concerned selves out of the way. They loved Haven. He got that. But there was no way he was going to take two civilians along for the ride into a situation where one of them could get hurt. He didn’t need to have to worry about them—nor did Garrett and Declan.

“Your pretty ass is going back to the campus where youwilllock yourself in your suite until further notice,” Declan informed a slack-jawed Hope when they got outside. “You got me?”

Destiny fisted her hands on her hips. “You can’t tal—”

“Yes. He can,” Garrett said, cutting her complaint short. He gently took her shoulders and crouched low to meet her eye to eye. “You and Hopewilldo what Declan has said.” Cal couldn’t remember a time when he’d seen his friend so serious—and he’d seen him in a lot of tense situations. She opened her mouth but Garrett headed her off again, quietly saying, “Haven would want you out of harm’s way.”

Destiny glowered at Garrett for several seconds before letting out a huffing sigh and throwing hard looks where he held her until he let go and backed away.

“All right, but you had just better bring her back.” Destiny met and momentarily held Cal’s gaze before turning her attention to the other members of his squad. “And that means all of you.” She gave Garrett one more tight-mouthed look with her chin raised, and then grabbed Hope’s hand. “Let’s go,” she said, pivoting around in her unbelievably high heels and then stalking off across the brightly-lit parking lot. She didn’t spare them a backward glance, although Hope did look over her shoulder a couple of times before they got to their vehicle.

Cal and his team took the few moments needed to make sure the two young women got safely inside and drove off before going to Garrett’s truck.

“Okay,” Cal said, once they were all seated and buckled in, his pulse racing. “Where are we going?”

* * *

“You havegotto be kidding me,” Solace said close to Cal’s ear as she peered over his shoulder a little more than an hour after they’d left the hospital.

“Well, it’s definitely not the cliché abandoned warehouse I was expecting,” Garrett said, sitting in the driver’s seat.

“A church,” Declan said on a short laugh from his place next to Solace. “I hope they’re prayed up.”

The four of them sat in Garrett’s truck in the copse surrounding the abandoned church, where the signal continued to beep from its original location, and put in their comm links.

They were dressed and loaded for bear after stopping at their hotel to gather weapons and suit up in black tactical gear. Cal had had a hell of a time putting on everything and had needed Declan to help him pull up his pants and strap him into his ballistic plate carrier. And if that didn’t humble a man, nothing did.

Afterward, they’d followed the GPS coordinates to the outskirts of Middleburg and this isolated but unlikely site.

Cal carefully moved his body around in the seat so he could look at his team while Garrett clicked the overhead light to keep it from coming on when they got out. “I’m not going to be any help.” And didn’t that just piss him the hell off. “But I need you three to take the building fast and hard while it’s still dark.” He checked his watch. “We’ve got maybe an hour before sunrise.”

He glanced at Solace, her bandaged head covered in a black knit cap and her face concealed by black grease paint, matching the rest of them. “Reconnoiter the area for guards. If you can get close enough to look inside any windows, do it.”

Solace nodded, slipped out of the truck, and left the door slightly ajar before disappearing.

“Declan, take up a position close by where you can get a good look at that steeple and the front door. Once I give the signal, take out anyone you see up top or coming out the front.”

“You’ve got it.” Declan grabbed his night-scoped sniper rifle from the rack behind him and left from his side of the vehicle.

“That leaves us, Garrett.”

“Where do you want me?”

“Have you turned those on yet?” Cal indicated the comm link control.

“No.”

“Good.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not staying back. I can’t. I also know I’m a liability.”

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