Page 5 of Edinburgh Escape
“Again, I don’t know what you want me to do about it?” Cal shoved a hand through his hair, sleep the furthest from his mind, the nightmare still lingering.
“What Sadie wants is for someone to follow her friend and make sure she doesn’t get lost or that no one exploits, manipulates or abuses her, including her relatives in Scotland.”
“Has she had a falling out with her Scottish kin?” Cal asked.
“Not that we’re aware of,” Sadie said. “She only just discovered she has relatives in Edinburgh after taking one of those online DNA tests. After contacting her half-brother, he invited her out to meet the rest of the family. She doesn’t see where anything could go wrong or pose danger to her, but I’d feel a whole lot better if someone was looking out for her.”
Cal sighed. “And you want me to be that someone? Why not someone she knows?”
“Everyone she knows is here in Montana. Most of them couldn’t afford to travel to the UK, and Sadie’s friend could barely afford her own trip and certainly couldn’t afford to pay for someone else’s,” Sadie said. “I was supposed to go with her, but my baby isn’t feeling well, and I couldn’t leave him.”
Cal pushed to a sitting position, his back against the headboard. “Why not one of the other members of Hank’s international team?”
“There’s a reason Ace was recruiting you,” Hank said. “Every one of his team has a current assignment. He needs more protectors to handle the workload. You don’t have to commit to being a member of the team immediately. You could consider this a one-off request to help Sadie’s friend. We’d pay you, of course.”
“Would you do this for me?” Sadie asked. “Please?”
Cal’s first inclination was to say no. He wasn’t ready to face the world. The recurring nightmares kept the deaths of every member of his team fresh in his mind, not allowing him to let go and move past the grief and feeling of failure. However, staying in the hotel room he’d lived in for the past couple of months wasn’t helping him get on with life. Though he didn’t want to get involved, a change of scenery might help. “How long will she be in the UK?” Cal asked.
“You’ll do it?” Sadie asked, the excitement and relief evident in her tone.
“I will.” How hard could it be? Following a woman around for a couple of weeks might help get him out of the rut he’d landed in when he’d left the military. And it would force him to go home to Scotland, something he’d avoided since Smudge’s death. He might find the courage to go to Smudge’s family home on the Isle of Lewis and let them know how brave their son had been and how much he’d meant to Cal and the rest of their team.
Well, maybe not. He wasn’t sure he could face Smudge’s mother. Why had they killed Smudge and not Cal? Could he have done more to stop them from slitting his friend’s throat?
“My friend has to be back in two weeks to start the new school year,” Sadie was saying. “She planned on spending at least a week in Edinburgh to meet the blood relatives and see the sights there. Then she wants to see more of Scotland. She’s not used to driving on the opposite side of the road, and she can’t afford to hire a driver, so I assume she’ll be doing most of her touring by train.”
“Is she expecting someone to meet her at the airport?” Cal asked.
“No,” Sadie said.
“Sadie’s friend considers herself a strong, independent woman. She doesn’t think she needs anyone to have her back.”
“Everyone needs someone to have his or her back,” Cal murmured. Too bad he hadn’t had Smudge’s and Rook’s.
“Agreed,” Hank said. “That was the first lesson we learned in BUD/S training. We look out for each other. Work as a team. Point is, she didn’t want me to assign one of my guys to provide her with protection.”
Cal shook his head. “Then why are you asking me to do it?”
“She doesn’t have to know you’re actually there to protect her,” Sadie said. “I would feel better knowing someone is looking out for her. She’s one of the nicest people I know, and I don’t want anyone to hurt her.”
“So, let me understand,” Cal frowned. “You want me to stalk your friend without her knowing I’m there to protect her?” His mind churned through the possible outcomes. “She might call the police if she suspects me of following her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Sadie said. “I did secure the room on the sleeper train adjacent to hers. The London-Heathrow airport is large. You could easily tail her there, and she’d never know. Same with the train going from the airport into London. And you’ll both have to be at the Euston Station by ten-thirty to board the sleeper train. I can email or text all the information I have on her flight, the train and the address of her relatives in Edinburgh, along with a recent photo of my friend.”
The thought of stalking a preschool teacher who’d never been out of her home country sounded about as boring as it could get.
Brilliant. He might be able to handle that, since he hadn’t had the desire to do anything else since leaving the military. He hadn’t really considered joining the Brotherhood Protectors. What good would he be in his current condition? Maybe easing into what sounded like a simple job would get him back on track or at least headed in the right direction. Falling into a bottle of scotch each night certainly wasn’t the answer.
“Are you in, McCall?” Hank asked.
Cal sighed. He might regret it, but at least he would check out of the hotel and be forced to do something other than wallow in grief and an endless wallow of self-loathing. “I’m in,” he said, already regretting his decision.
“Thank you,” Sadie gushed. “I’ll feel so much better knowing someone is looking out for her, especially since she thinks she doesn’t need it.”
“Send me the information and the photograph,” Cal said.
“Thanks, Cal,” Hank said. “She’ll probably be fine with or without you along, but she jumped into this visit before we could run the data on the family. We know nothing about them, and neither does she.”
