Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
CALLUM
My boots scuffed against the worn floorboards with a rhythmic thud that echoed my mounting frustration as I paced the length of the office like a caged animal. Each step marked another second Parker was gone, another moment slipping through my fingers. Another second I’d failed to find her, to do the one bloody thing I was supposed to be good at. She was out there somewhere, undoubtedly in danger, and every minute that ticked by took her further away from me.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor.” Alex didn’t look away from his bank of computers, his fingers still flying over the keys.
He wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. I shot a glare in his direction and resumed my pacing.
The only thing keeping me from crawling completely out of my skin was the fact that this group wanted her as leverage. Hostage negotiations went better if the hostages weren’t hurt.
They hadn’t contacted Parker’s father.
I had. That conversation had been the hardest I’d ever faced. Her parents were livid and terrified. Justifiably so. I’d sworn to keep her safe.
I’d sworn I’d get her back, too. But I knew they’d believe it when they saw it.
Across the room, Finn and Ewan sorted combat gear. None of us had anticipated needing it again once we’d retired. But after Ciara had been taken last year, we’d made a few provisions for the just in case. We wouldn’t be going after these arseholes unprepared.
The crackle of the police scanner drew all our attention for a moment. Anticipation quickened my already thundering pulse, but it was only another routine call—some drunk and disorderly at a pub the next village over. My teeth ground in frustration. Every false alarm grated on my already fraying nerves.
“Alex, tell me you have something.” I’d asked the same thing in various ways two dozen times in the past half hour.
“Same as five minutes ago. Still working through traffic cam footage, trying to track the van’s path out of the village. It’s not like this is London, with a million and one cameras to draw from.”
At Parker’s desk, Jade worked her own contacts, dark eyes focused on her phone. She hadn’t said much since Dr. Donaldson patched her up, releasing her against medical advice after putting four stitches in her head. The tight set of her jaw told me she was blaming herself every bit as much as I was—especially since we’d found her phone and seen the texts someone had used to send Parker out on her own.
My phone vibrated with a text.
Saoirse
The big guy is resting comfortably. His wounds have been cleaned and stitched. He’ll make a full recovery.
I’d seen the doorbell cam footage Alex had pulled from one of the houses in the neighborhood. The dog had fought hard to protect Parker. I owed him a lifetime supply of whatever treats he wanted.
Callum
Thanks for letting me know. Parker will want to know when we find her.
I had to believe that we would find her.
Saoirse
Any news?
I clenched my fists, frustrated that the answer was still no.
Callum
Not yet.
Saoirse
I know you’re doing everything you can. Just know I’ve got Falkor until Parker gets home.
I appreciated her faith in us. At this point, I needed whatever additional confidence I could get.
The police scanner squawked again. This time, the voice on the other end caught my attention.
“Dispatch, this is Campbell. Got a report about a white panel van seen up near Braemore about two hours ago. Caller says it was driving erratically, nearly ran him off the road. He just heard about the missing person alert and called it in.”
My heart thundered against my ribs. Two hours. Christ. So much ground could be covered in two hours.
Alex had already pulled up a map. “That’s heading northeast.”
“How far could they have gotten in two hours?” Jade asked, rising from her chair.
“Too far,” I growled. But it was the first real lead we’d had. “Call it in to your contact at Traffic Scotland. See if they can check cameras along that route. If there are any.”
Alex nodded, already reaching for his phone.
“I’m driving up there. Maybe they left some sign we can follow.”
Jade rose to her feet. “Not alone.”
I started to protest. To point out that with her head injury, she was more likely to be a liability, but she cut me off.
“She’s my responsibility, too. I’m coming.”
The need to move, to do something, anything, clawed at my chest. But I forced myself to wait as Alex made his calls. We couldn’t afford to miss anything by rushing in half-cocked. Waiting for the confirmatory intel could make the difference between finding them and not.
Hold on, Hobbit. We’re coming.
We kitted up in silence, each of us falling into familiar roles. Jade’s own military training showed as she slipped right into our rhythm. Comms check. Weapons check. Extra magazines distributed, though I really hoped we didn’t have to use them. The muscle memory of a hundred missions kicked in as we loaded gear into the vehicles. The familiar weight of my tactical vest grounded me, focused me.
At last, I had something to do.
I took point, with Jade riding in the passenger seat of my Range Rover. Finn and Ewan brought up the rear in Finn’s truck. We moved in a convoy along the route Alex had determined. He stayed behind, functioning as command center. My eyes swept the edges of the road in a constant scan pattern, compensating for my blind side. There had to be something, somewhere.
“I shouldn’t have left her alone.”
I didn’t look away from the road as Jade spoke. “You didn’t leave her alone. You left her at the pub with three other people.”
“None of whom knew there was a threat. I should’ve waited to run back to the flat after lunch, when Parker could have come with me. I was just trying to save her some steps. And now?—”
“Wheesht. This is no’ your fault.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because if they were determined to take her, and they hadn’t been able to disable you today, they’d have found some other way. This was only a matter of time. You and I both know that. And maybe we all got a little lax with the weeks of nothing at all. But blame doesn’t help anything. It won’t help bring her home. Only action can do that.”
“Skid marks.” Jade’s voice snapped as she pointed to dark streaks scoring the pavement.
I slowed and radioed to Finn. “You see those?”
“Aye. Fresh ones.”
We were less than half an hour from the village. No way had they been expecting problems this soon.
A quarter mile on, we spotted fresh tire tracks cutting deep into mud and gravel on a narrow track leading into the trees. Someone had been in a hurry. It was obvious this hadn’t been a planned turn.
“Drive up or park a ways down and double back on foot?” Finn asked.
“If they’re hiding just inside the trees, driving up seems like a good way to get shot. Or at the very least, lose the element of surprise. Let’s double back.”
“There’s a decent spot to pull off about a half a click further down the main road,” Alex reported over the radio.
I hoped we weren’t making a mistake.
Parking our vehicles where Alex had indicated, we armed ourselves and made our way back through the woods, approaching in a standard sweep formation, weapons up, each covering our own respective zones.
The white panel van sat abandoned fifty yards in, screened by evergreens. Finn and Ewan split right, while Jade and I went left.
Clear signals rippled through the team. No movement. No sound. No hostiles.
“Clear,” Ewan’s voice was barely above a whisper.
I wrenched open the back of the van myself, but there was no sign of Parker.
Jade moved to the engine, her inspection swift and practiced. “Vehicle’s dead. Something mechanical. They didn’t plan to stop here.”
I keyed my radio, keeping my voice low. “Alex. Van located. Foot pursuit. Area survey.”
“Copy.” Keyboard clicks. “Satellite showing two structures. Looks like a bothy northeast, two miles up. Outbuilding northwest, similar distance.”
Finn’s hand signals confirmed what I was thinking. They wouldn’t separate with a hostage, so they were all headed to one location. But which one?
Wrong choice meant wasted time. Time Parker didn’t have because as soon as they managed to regroup, she’d be gone.
“We could split up,” Ewan began.
“Negative,” Jade insisted. “There were at least three men in that video. If we hope to get her back without lethal force, we need all of us.”
I considered. I didn’t have any personal problems with dispatching every last one of them and hiding the bodies where they’d never be found. But without my military credentials backing us up, the authorities would frown on that. We didn’t know if the assailants were armed. Attempting to take them down without deadly force meant more opportunity for things to go sideways. Parker could get hurt as collateral damage. That was unacceptable.
“We stay together.”
The four of us moved up the muddy track in a diamond formation, with me in front, Finn and Jade behind, and Ewan bringing up the six. There were signs of multiple boots. Deep impressions in the mud—someone being carried. Was that because they were trying to control her or because she was incapable of walking herself?
Sunlight caught the glint of metal.
My heart seized. Parker’s ring—the one she never took off and always fidgeted with during meetings.
I scooped it up, muscle memory warring with emotion as I secured it in my vest pocket.
“Contact sign,” Jade murmured, pitching her voice for our ears only. “She’s fighting.”
The team tightened formation as we pushed up the trail. Every step, every movement, every breath was measured, controlled.
Years of training crystallized into lethal focus.
Hold on, Hobbit. Your team is coming.