Chapter Thirty-One
Callum eyed the tall iron fence that wrapped around the data center as Eli sped down the road on the outskirts of suburbia. This place never seemed to end. “Are you sure?”
“You want the statistical analysis?” Dean barked through the speakers.
“You’ve already heard what you need, Hale.” Gage checked his ammunition. “Take a deep breath and check your gear. Make sure your head’s in the game when we go in.”
“Already there.” Callum spotted the helicopter on the chopper pad. “Visual on the helo.”
“Good,” Dean muttered.
“There’s all the confirmation we need. We’re right on time for a rendezvous with the dickhead.” Eli smacked the center console, hyping himself up. “You ready to get your woman?”
“Yeah.” Callum had been waiting for this moment since Dean tracked Marino’s movement and communication. Then the bastard had gone dark, and Titan had to rely on analysis and educated guesses, not the hard facts that Callum would rather sink his teeth into when it came to Grace.
A second SUV of his teammates followed behind as Eli turned off the main road and slowed at the security gate. Tire spikes and retractable bollards stood between the road and the data center’s inner lot.
Eli lowered the window and painted on that southern charm that opened more doors than it should.
A suspicious man in a security uniform, a weapon on his hip, slowly approached them. He eyed their backup vehicle and rested his hand on his sidearm. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah,” Eli drawled out his Louisiana accent. “We have an appointment with Mr. Marino.”
“I don’t know who that is, and we’re not accepting visitors.” He eyed the group in the vehicle, then again glanced at the SUV behind theirs. “You need to back up and leave the property.”
“Why don’t you radio whoever you need to and—” Eli smashed his door into the security guard and was out, gun in hand, before the other man got his bearings. “Don’t move.”
“There’s a live feed—”
“Don’t care.”
Wes popped out of the backseat, disarming and zip-tying the security guard. He dragged him into the booth and, a moment later, the retractable bollards rotated toward the ground. The tire spikes flattened. He jumped back in. “He’ll be cozy for a bit.”
“Intercepting outgoing alarms,” Dean announced. “They’re canceled. You’re good to go.”
Their SUVs rolled in. Maybe someone would notice the gate had been left open, but by the time that happened, Titan should have been in and out with Grace. If she were in there. If they didn’t miss her board the helicopter.
The facility blueprints were on file with the county, and they’d done their best to memorize them.
The space they had to canvas was enormous, and they didn’t have a hard plan.
Just general guidelines from Dean and Parker based on best practices and whatever other bullshit they used to conjure up plans.
Callum had to trust it. He couldn’t get over the size. They could walk from one side to the next and probably cover half a mile.
The other SUV peeled off toward the helicopter.
Eli stopped at the front entrance and parked on the yellow curb. They had the bells and whistles to get through the front door, and Dean would intercept outgoing alarms the way he handled calls from the guard shack.
“Let’s go,” Callum jumped out.
His teammates followed. Eli and Wes fell in close behind them. Gage pulled up the rear, communicating with the other team as Decker, Roman, and Rocco moved toward the helicopter.
A dozen yards from the glass doors, Callum stared at the woman running toward him like he was watching a movie. “Grace.”
Then she crashed into the door and catapulted backward, hitting the floor.
He hauled ass toward her—then saw Dominic reach her first.
He towered over her, hands on his knees, red face full of fury. Callum yanked the door. It didn’t budge, and as Dominic turned his head, Callum pulled out his Glock. The answer to all of his prayers unfolded in that moment. He could pull the trigger and end every worry and fear Grace had ever had.
He pulled the trigger.
The glass shattered. Dominic cowered. It would have been too easy to kill him. Too horrible to do it and have his piece-of-shit body land on his woman.
Callum didn’t know who moved in on Dominic.
He didn’t care if he ever saw him again.
Gage issued orders, but Callum dropped to his knees at her side.
“Baby. I’m here. I’ve got you.” He peeled the hair off her sweaty face.
Grace’s chest heaved as though she’d been running for her life. He realized she had been.
Her eyes focused on him. “Callum.” She propped onto her elbows, wincing. “Ow, oh, that hurts.”
Had Dominic hurt her? She could have broken her wrists or arms with the impact of hitting the glass door. “Take your time. You’re safe. Everything’s fine.”
“Does she need EMS?” Gage asked.
Grace slowly shook her head. “I just…” Her breath shook. “Need a minute.”
“You can have all the time you need.”
Her eyes watered. “Do you promise?”
The pleading in her expression told him they weren’t talking about catching her breath. “I promise.”
Grace squeezed her eyes shut and curled her legs to her chest. She wrapped her arms around herself and hugged. He couldn’t let her sit in a pile of glass and cry. Callum scooped her into his arms and took her away.
She nuzzled against his chest. Glass crunched under his boots. They stepped outside and into the hot air of a long August day, and he placed her in the back of the SUV.
Eli had turned the engine on and left it running. Cool air poured over them. Callum crawled in behind her. “We’ll take you to the hospital and get you checked out.”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“Precautionary.”
“What then? Do I have to go back and talk to the attorneys?”
“No. Maybe later. But not right now. They figured out what they needed to know.”
“What was that?”
“You don’t really want to talk about this now,” he suggested.
“I do. I promise.”
“That Dominic and his business partners knew you were alive the entire time and utilized the network you created to funnel money.”
Her jaw hinged. “That’s what he meant…” She looked to the side, lost in thought.
Eli returned behind the wheel.
Gage retook his seat. “Rhys will handle Dominic with Decker and them until the FBI shows up.”
Pulling a U-turn, Eli said, “Then that’s our cue. I don’t want to be around for the paperwork that’s going to come.” He paused at the security booth and rolled his window down. “You okay down there, partner?”
Partner sounded like pod-nah.
“He’s from Louisiana,” Callum explained. “I’ll translate anything you can’t understand.”
“Hardy har.” Eli scoffed, then laid it on thick, “Ma cher, don’t believe a word dat one say.”
She quietly laughed, and thank fuck, Grace wasn’t totally broken. Callum would spend the rest of his life making her right again, but if they didn’t have to deal with that, it was for the better.
They drove for longer than Callum would have expected, finally pulling into a small hospital where the staff met them at the door. The nurses had already been briefed on their arrival, and their lack of questions was telling. They were well-versed in working with Titan.
A man in a white coat walked into the hospital room. “I’m Dr. Tuska. You must be Grace.”
She nodded.
“Sounds like you’ve had a horrible day.” He turned to Callum. “Would you mind stepping out? Jared Westin is down the hall, waiting for you.”
Callum double-checked with Grace. “I won’t be far.”
“I’m fine.”
Callum shut the door behind him, wandering toward the nurses’ station, and saw the man who owned Titan Group speaking to a young lady. He held back, not interrupting, and anticipated his boss’s boss would probably demand that Callum spend the rest of the day being interrogated by the FBI.
The young lady noticed him and nudged her head. Jared said something to her, then patted her back before she retreated. The man whom some called Boss Man lifted his chin. “How’s Grace?”
“Good. A little numb. But physically just banged up and bruised.”
“Thank fuck for that, right?”
Callum nodded.
“Well, I told you I would make sure your woman came home.”
“Thank you.”
“We’re still working on how and where the leaks came from. That’s not taken care of yet, and I don’t think it will be for a while. Keep your eyes peeled, and if something comes up again, feel free to contact me. I’ll make sure Viv sends you my information.”
Callum nodded.
“They’ll probably keep Grace overnight. I’d say you should stick close, security-wise, but I think law enforcement has a solid handle on all the moving pieces.
Dean could give you a more in-depth analysis, but I think this part of Grace’s life is done.
” He hooked a thumb toward the young woman behind the nurses’ desk.
“That’s my daughter. Volunteer candy striper extraordinaire.
If you need anything, she’s smarter than I am, so… ” He shrugged. “She’s a good resource.”
The hospital kept Grace overnight. The stay had been dubbed precautionary.
Prudent, Dr. Tuska had said, just to monitor her.
She didn’t think his reasoning was one hundred percent medical.
The protective walls and constant flow of trustworthy people keeping an eye on her had probably been part of her overnight stay.
Callum and Vivian promised that her nightmare was over.
They had meant Dominic, but the nightmare had continued when law enforcement descended upon her.
Both her divorce and criminal attorneys had joined that conversation, in part, she believed, because they had felt bad for what had happened right under their noses.
The gist was simple. Dominic was in custody again. Initially, for unlawful imprisonment, but that was just to cover the paperwork for his initial arrest. Grace didn’t want to know the details of the other investigations. She’d only wanted to know if he could get out.
As had been promised to her years ago, their verdict was not likely. Time would tell.
Either way, Dominic was done with her. Her usefulness was depleted, and he had bigger issues than her to worry about.
Like a Chinese Triad—essentially, an Asian Mafia crime syndicate.
She hadn’t known what a Triad was until the investigators explained.
Triads were a much bigger issue than an ex-wife.
The FBI had access to all of her secret accounts that she used while in hiding. Grace had walked them through the ins and outs of how she lived, without worrying about repercussions. She had immunity thanks to her lawyers.
Just as Callum had promised, she could let go of her aliases and LLCs and slip back into her own life. Even her Social Security number was back up and ready for her to be alive again.
That left her with the biggest decision of all. Callum.
He was the love of her life, and she couldn’t say the words I love you out loud. It was as if they were physically lodged in her throat. The only thing her brain allowed her to do was count the days that had passed since she’d maced him at the library.
It hadn’t been long.
Callum was absolutely, categorically nothing like Dominic. But the last time she’d been swept off her feet had been a disaster that had taken more than a decade to untangle herself from.
Hell, she wasn’t actually completely untangled. She was sitting in the hospital because of her ex-husband.
Two knocks sounded on her door before Callum walked in.
He held an iced coffee for her and a takeout bag from the Mediterranean place down the street that Asal, the volunteer assigned to her who had finished her freshman year in college nearby, had recommended.
Asal was smart, a little sassy, and, Grace suspected, ordered to watch her in case she needed anything.
As hospital stays go, this one rated like a nice hotel.
“Did you decide what you want to do?” Callum pulled out the takeout containers and placed them on the rolling table at her bedside.
She tucked her legs under her and positioned the table between them. “I talked to Mari about an hour ago and convinced her not to drive here. That I would go home later today.”
She could tell that Callum wanted to ask, “And then?” She wished she had the answer.
He handed her a plastic fork. “I talked to Hayden after you went missing.”
“Oh…” She winced. “I bet that wasn’t a great conversation.”
Callum waffled his hand. “We last talked again right before we geared up for the data center. I sent him an update but haven’t heard from him since. Between shitty connections or being sent out on assignment, he’s difficult to get a hold of.”
She nodded, knowing that all too well.
“But be prepared for your overly protective big brother to talk your ear off when he gets you on the phone.”
Callum opened the lids. Steam wafted, and they dug in, eating in silence. The nurse and Asal popped in with Grace’s discharge papers as they finished their meal.
He lifted his eyebrows and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Ready to go home?”
The worst feeling of losing him came over her. She wasn’t. He was still by her side. Literally, her ride or die. But there was a chasm she couldn’t explain. “Yup. Let’s go.”