Chapter Forty-Four
Sawyer
With everyone on their way to find Amelie, I need to get Kalen to safety and take Harold in.
It takes every ounce of self-control not to go and find my girl.
The only thing spurring me on is the fact that she would skin me alive if she found out I chose her over Kalen.
Especially when there are enough people looking for her already.
Motherfucker! Harold has stepped in closer to Kalen and still has a gun pointed at him. Yet Kalen looks like he is smiling. I don’t understand. The damn idiot is going to get himself killed.
I spy movement out of the corner my eye and when I subtly shift from my position to assess the situation, I see my mum hidden on the ground. She has a sniper rifle pointed towards them, waiting on a clean shot.
But Harold isn’t stupid. He’s not about to give anyone a clean shot at him. And we don’t want him dead anyway. Shit! If Mum kills Harold it will fuck everything up. All of our careful planning – and losing Amelie – will have been for nothing.
My attention is drawn back to my brother’s erratic, jerky moments.
What is he doing? Dancing, Kalen?! For fuck’s sake this really won’t end well.
I silently sigh in exasperation, keeping myself hidden.
I wait and watch what’s happening. If I interfere too soon and Harold shoots Kalen, I know Maggie will kill Harold instantly.
We need both my brother and Harold alive.
I hold my breath, tense, as I glance at my mum again. She looks through the scope of the rifle and lines up her shot.
Her finger moves, pulling the trigger, and I race towards Kalen.
There’s no way she could have a clear shot!
Harold drops his gun and falls to the ground, clutching at his leg. A second later his howl of pain reaches my ears. A truly beautiful sound.
Kalen rushes towards the discarded gun, picking it up and pointing it towards our grandfather.
I admire our mother’s smart thinking to wound and incapacitate Harold, without doing too much damage. He’ll still be able to talk and give us the answers that we need.
“Trust you to nearly get your ass killed,” I tease Kalen, placing a hand on his shoulder. It’s easy to make jokes once I know he’s okay. Mum comes over to join us and I congratulate her on a job well done.
“Thanks for saving my balls,” Kalen mumbles, still scratching.
“What are mothers for? Has anyone found Amelie?”
“She’s fine,” I lie. He doesn’t seem to react to that news but I don’t want Harold to know that she’s been taken.
“Thank goodness.”
“You need to go and find Jasper or Cap. Frost is busy but all Order members are being taken back to HQ and will need to be debriefed. Amelie’s family are being taken there too. Would you be able to check on them?” I ask.
“Of course, son.”
“Great. I’ll see you back there shortly.”
With Mum gone, I look at Kalen. “We need to take him in.”
A sound distracts me from saying anything else, and my dad running over. He would have heard the news about Laura over the comms, and yet he doesn’t seem cut up about it. Or maybe he’s just distracted. There’s a lot going on. Maybe the time to grieve comes later.
Kalen keeps the gun pointed at our grandfather while Dad and I help Harold to his feet.
“How’s your whore?” Harold spits.
“She’s taking a long nap, today really took the life out of her,” Dad replies.
I have to hold back a laugh. I’m unsure if Kalen knows she’s dead but he doesn’t say anything; for once in his life, he keeps silent.
We make our way through a sea of dead bodies, and by the time we get Harold to Monty’s car he’s lost a lot of blood.
He seems older, more frail. Dad must notice at the same time as I do because he leans Harold's dead weight against the car, opens his boot and pulls out a bandage and some cable ties – of course he still carries a first aid kit in his car.
We both tie his hands and his feet together and make sure that his leg is bandaged.
It would suck if he simply died from blood loss while we were transporting him for interrogation.
“We’ll need to stitch that up when we get back to HQ,” Kalen says with laughter in his voice.
“I’ll do it! I’ve been practising with Baxter.
It’ll be nice to see you squirm.” All three of us lift him into the boot, making sure he is folded in nicely before closing him in.
I’m pretty sure Kalen pokes his gunshot wound too.
I try to radio in, but all I get is static. I use Monty’s phone to try and call one of the guys for an update, but they’re not answering. Frustrated, I send a text and hope that they see it and get in touch soon.
“Does anyone know what happened to Laura?” my dad asks.
“What happened to her?” Kalen echoes.
“She was shot in the head. I think it was Slate who found her. No one else was around so I’m not sure. I’m sorry, Dad.”
“Don’t be, it’s what she had coming given who she was working with, but it does hurt a little. I loved her, but I know I made a huge mistake with the whole thing. Several mistakes in fact.”
“Don’t say that, Dad.” Kalen leans forward between the front seats. “We never would have met Amelie if it wasn’t for you.”
“Does anyone know who took Amelie?”
“Wait, what?! Someone took her?! Why are we not going to find her then?!” Kalen cries. “Fuck Harold! Pull over and I’ll kill him myself so we can be done.”
“Calm down! Everyone else is out searching for her. Baxter has a team in the air looking for the car that took her. We’ll find her. We have to deal with Harold, and we should probably check on Amelie’s family at HQ as soon as we can.”
Kalen sits back in his seat, grumbling under his breath. Clearly, he’s not happy about this, but what he fails to understand is that I’m not exactly over the moon myself.
It sucks being the responsible one sometimes.
Fuck, it sucks all the time.