Page 72 of Edinburgh Escape
“Wait,” Ewan said.
Callum stopped halfway out the study door.
Ewan went to a panel on the wall and pressed his finger to something. The panel slid back, exposing a large safe. He quickly rolled the tumbler right, then left and then right again, slowing to a stop. He cranked the handle and pulled open the door. Inside the safe was a collection of handguns in shoulder holsters, neatly hung on the back wall.
Ewan handed one to Atkins, one to Callum and took one for himself. He reached into a metal ammunition box and extracted several magazines filled with bullets and handed four to each man.
Callum slammed one magazine into the handle of his pistol and shoved the spares into his pockets. He shrugged out of his jacket, slung the holster over his arms and buckled it in place and then slipped his jacket over the holster and gun.
Once they had their weapons, they left the study.
Fiona stood in the foyer, wringing her hands. “I’m going with you.”
Ewan shook his head. “No.”
“But he’s my son,” she said. “He’ll be scared.”
“You’ll be more of a liability to this mission, putting Bryce at further risk,” Ewan said sternly. Then his tone softened, “We’ll let you know as soon as we get him safely away from his abductors.”
She clutched Ewan’s arm, her eyes filling with tears. “Please, bring back my little boy.”
“We will.” Ewan hugged the woman briefly while Callum and Atkins passed him in the hallway and ran toward the rear of the house.
“We’ll take the big car,” Ewan said. “Alastair can drive.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll take my rental. I would explode letting someone else drive,” Callum said. “Besides, Alastair should stay with Gregory to protect Fiona and Cook in case the Russians circle back while we’re gone.”
Ewan nodded. “Agreed. Besides, he’s not combat-trained. I don’t even know if he can handle a gun, other than for hunting rabbits like we did when we were children.”
The three men ran for the garage and climbed into Callum’s rental car. Within minutes, they were out of the gate, racing for Edinburgh and the wharf where a Russian mobster was holding Maggie and Bryce.
Twenty minutes into the travel time to the coordinates, Ewan’s phone chirped.
“It’s from Rory,” Ewan said. “Bloody hell.”
Callum’s breath caught and held. “What?”
“He says, You must transfer five hundred thousand pounds to a specified account in two hours or they will kill Maggie, Bryce and me. If you try to find us, they will kill us. If you involve the police, they will kill us. Just transfer the money.”
“That’s not enough time,” Ewan said. “I can’t get to that much money. It would have to come from my father’s estate. The bank won’t release the funds since it’s still in probate.”
Callum’s jaw tightened. “Then we have to find Maggie and Bryce and extract them before any harm comes to them.”
“And the cousin?” Atkins asked.
“That bastard is on his own,” Callum said through his teeth.
Clouds blocked the setting sun, making the day turn to night earlier. As they neared Edinburgh, light rain fell, making the roads slick and the traffic move at a glacial pace, forcing Callum to slow as well. Zipping in and out of traffic wouldn’t get him there faster, but could cause him to wreck. He couldn’t risk that.
Callum’s cell phone rang; he handed it to Ewan. “Answer and put it on speaker.”
“It’s Hammerson,” Ewan said as he received the call and hit the speaker button.
“Just landed,” Ace said. “We have the coordinates to the warehouse and are loading into a car now. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
“Good, that’s about what time we’ll get there,” Callum said. “If the traffic keeps moving. We can’t park close to the warehouse. The kidnappers threatened to kill Maggie and Bryce if we tried to find them.”
“Got it. Will ditch the car a couple of blocks from the warehouse and go in on foot. We have weapons and comms. Whoever arrives first, wait for the rest to get outfitted. We’re tracking your phone location so we’ll know where you are.”
