Page 28 of Edinburgh Escape
The first time she’d been attacked, all that training had flown out of her mind. It hadn’t helped that the man had been so very much larger than her and that she’d been caught by surprise. But that was no excuse. She should have been able to break free long enough to get away.
Lesson learned.
She couldn’t let that happen again. Maybe she could use her self-defense training to fight alongside Callum.
These thoughts, along with a multitude of scenarios, ran through her mind like a horror film on fast-forward.
The thumping footsteps reverberating through the wooden floor faded. Silence and stillness stretched on for one minute...two...
After what felt like an hour, the latch on the metal door suddenly clicked.
Callum tensed and released her hand.
As the tall, metal door swung open, Callum sprang out and grabbed the man on the other side in a chokehold.
Maggie came out, ready to kick, punch and bite if necessary. When she saw a man’s bare knees and pleated kilt, she touched Callum’s arm. “Callum, it’s Angus.”
He must have realized who it was at the same moment. He immediately dropped his arm from around his friend’s neck.
Angus staggered forward, his face red, his hands rising to his throat. “I see your reflexes haven’t slowed a bit.” His gaze shifted to Maggie. “For a moment, I was worried they’d gotten to you before you could get to the safe room.”
“Sorry, old man,” Callum said.
“Better to come out fighting.” Angus stepped back, staring around the bedroom.
Maggie gasped.
It has been trashed.
The navy comforter had been ripped into several pieces, the cream sheets were in shreds and the mattress had a long, jagged slash down the center. Ripped from the wall, the lamp that had been on the nightstand lay shattered on the wooden floor. The nightstand drawers had been flung across the room.
“Oh, Angus,” Maggie said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Dinna worry yourself,” Angus said. “These are only things. What’s important is that you two are safe.”
“I thought you wouldn’t be back until later this evening,” Callum said.
“That was my plan until I received a call on my mobile from my neighbor on the second floor asking if I was having a party.” His lips pressed together. “I figured if there was enough noise in my flat to bother eighty-five-year-old, half-deaf Mr. Campbell, I might need to join the party. I called the police and arrived when they did. Four men exited the building at that exact moment. The police gave chase, and I came up to look for you.”
Callum gripped Angus’s forearm. “I owe you.”
Maggie moved toward the broken lamp, feeling the need to set the place to rights.
Callum’s hand shot out, grabbing her arm. “Don’t get any closer to the broken lamp. You’ll cut your bare feet on the shards.”
“Leave it,” Angus said. “That can wait until later.”
Callum placed a hand at the small of Maggie’s back and guided her toward the bedroom door. “What concerns me most about this incident and the one at the train station in Crewe is how they found you. I’ve been watching for anyone following us. I’ve seen no indication that someone has been lurking nearby. Not in London, not on the train and not on our way from the train station to when we arrived at Angus’s flat.”
Maggie walked with Callum into the living room, her heart sinking into the pit of her belly. Here, too, they’d destroyed every piece of furniture. Every drawer in the kitchen lay in splinters on the floor, the contents scattered. Across the wall in the living room, words had been painted in blood red.
GO HOME BITCH
Maggie pressed a hand to her mouth, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered.
Angus wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “They’re just things. I have insurance that will set this place to rights.”
Callum disappeared into the guest bedroom and came out carrying Maggie’s backpack. He unzipped the top and dumped the contents on the floor.
