Page 101 of Callen's Captive
“The men in the alley up the street are talking into earpieces with the van down the street. The snipers appear to be on radio silence.”
“Then that’s who we go after.”
* * *
BLADE
Blade watched Callen work the mercenary over until the enforcer’s fists were raw. The human either didn’t know anything, or he was very dedicated to the WSSO. His left eye was swollen shut, his nose was broken, and at least three fingers on the right hand were broken or dislocated.
The interrogation wasn’t getting them anywhere, but they couldn’t give up. If they waited for the WSSO to bring Kate back to the mom and pop for a handoff, they’d lose any chance of getting her and themselves out alive. The small store was too exposed, and with those snipers in the trees, they’d be picked off even if they shifted and ran. That presented another problem. . . Kate couldn’t shift. They’d be sitting ducks.
Callen pulled out his knife. “Blade, leave.”
Shit. He usually left for this part, not quite having the stomach for it, but he couldn’t leave Callen now. His friend was usually the calm one, able to disassociate himself from a prisoner and his pain while getting the information he needed. This wasn’t an ordinary situation though. Callen was too on edge, given who was at risk. If Blade left, there’d be no one to temper Callen and he could end up killing their only source of information.
“I’m staying.”
Callen didn’t even acknowledge him. He simply went to work.
* * *
CALLEN
“Dawn in fourteen minutes,” Blade whispered from down the corridor.
Callen could hear him easily enough despite the distance. The office building was in the heart of Henley’s business district, a street of barbershops, doctor’s offices, coffee shops, clothing stores, and boutiques that attracted locals and tourists alike. Once the sun rose, escaping the area unseen would be near impossible.
“Just find her,” Callen said, as he worked his way up the stairwell to the next floor. Her scent was here, in the five-story office building. He and Blade were searching every floor, room by room.
When Callen opened the last door on the second floor, he spotted Kate’s backpack. Her captors had dumped the contents onto a desk and torn through everything. Even the damn tampons had been opened. Her gun was missing, big surprise there. Callen dug one of the crumpled papers out of the pile and smoothed it out. It was a picture of Kate as a young girl, with a huge smile on her face as she hugged an older girl. Janie probably.
With one arm sweeping the desk, he poured everything into her backpack, zipped it closed, and tossed it over his shoulder. He was going to find Kate and when he did, she’d need her backpack. It was the only thing she had left, and he damn well wasn’t going to leave it behind.
Callen charged into the stairwell and stopped abruptly. Footsteps. He was about to shift when he scented Blade. Then his friend turned the bend.
“Nothing. Except for her scent, there’s no sign of her ever being here,” Blade reported.
“Keep searching,” Callen ordered, leaving Blade at the entrance to the third floor while he continued on to the fourth.
The moment Callen opened the door to the fourth floor, her scent hit him like a brick. He followed her trail to the second to last office. The place was deathly quiet, but her scent was too strong for her not to be there. His wolf’s hackles rose. The thick wood door gave way after two attempts to bust in.
The gasp that left his throat was the only sound in the room. Kate lay on the carpet, naked and on her right side, as still as death. She had been so badly beaten he barely recognized her. Bruises covered her face and torso. Her left eye had swollen shut, and dried blood crusted around the base of her nose. A massive purple bruise covered almost the entire left side of her rib cage.
He was afraid to touch her, but nothing in the world could stop him. Callen caressed the small section of her left cheek near her ear, the only spot that didn’t look as if someone had beaten her with a bat.
“Hey, Princess. I’m taking you home now, okay?” he said as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes as he fought to hold in his fear.
She didn’t respond or move, but she was alive, and there was no way he was going to let her die. As he rolled her onto her back, he noticed the carving on her chest over her breasts. ‘TRAITOR’. Rage burned a hole the size of a fist in his soul. If it was the last thing he did in life, he was personally going to slice Briggs into a million pieces.
Gunfire rang out from the street below. Then Blade burst into the room.
“Callen, we have to. . .” Blade slammed to a halt when he saw Kate’s condition. “Shit.”
“Grab the backpack,” Callen ordered as he lifted Kate into his arms. She cried out in pain, and his gut twisted.
“We’re not going out through the front or back,” Blade said as he grabbed the bag. We must have triggered an alarm or something.”
Callen motioned to the camera high in the ceiling. They’d been watching her the entire time. “How about the roof?”
“Our wolves can make the jump to the next roof, but it’s too risky in human form and out of the question for whoever’s carrying her.”
Callen started forming a plan as he headed down the hall, with Blade on his six. When they entered the stairwell, Callen handed Kate to Blade.
“Take her down to the first floor and wait until it’s clear. Then take her back to the warehouse. I’ll exit off the roof and draw them away.
“And if you can’t?”
Callen’s eyes flared. “You have my mate, Blade. I will clear a path for you. Just be ready.”
