Chapter 14
THE SUV’S TIRES HUMMED along the two-lane blacktop, a rhythm that might’ve lulled Callen to sleep if not for the white-hot pain pulsing from his side.
He leaned heavily against the passenger door, one hand pressing the jacket Meaghan had folded into a makeshift pressure pad.
Blood had dried beneath his shirt, stiff and sticky, and every bump in the road shot fire through his ribs.
Meaghan flicked her eyes toward him every few seconds, checking on him. She seemed to always check on him. Her knuckles were white on the wheel, and her shoulders stiff with tension.
“You still with me?” she asked, her voice threaded with worry.
“Don’t worry,” he rasped, trying to summon a smirk. It ended in a grimace, however. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’ll make it. Just give me a moment to catch my breath, and then I’ll call Blaze.”
They’d left the woods behind half an hour ago, winding down forgotten forestry roads until the pines thinned and the signs of civilization returned. Meaghan drove with a fury that came from nearly losing everything that fueled her.
As soon as he thought he could concentrate without passing out, Callen sat up straighter in the front seat and pulled out his phone, bringing up Blaze’s contact and praying he was around.
Blaze picked up on the first ring. “You’re alive. Good start. I thought for sure the lady you went after would have done you in by now. Or perhaps the kids. How’s it going?”
Callen’s breath came short and uneven. “Like shit. I need a new safe house. Somewhere off-grid, or at least way out of sight. People found us. And I need someone to get these kids quietly back to their families.” He gave the other man their location, telling him they were heading west.
A pause, then Blaze’s voice sharpened. “You all right? You sound like you’re gargling gravel.”
Callen shifted in the seat, biting back a groan. “We got ambushed at the cabin. Shots were fired, and I took one in the side. I’m still upright, though. Meaghan patched me enough to get us the hell out of there and now we need a place to hole up.”
“Jesus, dude,” Blaze hissed. “How the hell did they find you?”
Callen scoffed. “A fish game on an iPad did us in.”
“Shit. How bad is it?”
“Just a graze,” Callen lied automatically, though his shirt was tacky with blood and every bump in the road made his vision flicker.
In the driver’s seat, Meaghan shot him a glare, her knuckles white around the wheel. “Graze, my ass,” she muttered. “Tell him the truth.”
Blaze didn’t buy it either. “I think it’s time to call in the troops, dude.
Elvis and Gage are on standby. Dane sent them in that direction when we heard about the school shooting.
I’ll ping their locations and get them headed your way.
I’ll see who he wants to send for the kids, but I’m guessing you’re going to need a couple of extra firearms with you until this is over. I know Hawk and Grim are available.”
“Smart idea. This thing’s turned into something bigger than I expected.” Callen’s voice dropped, gravel-thick. “Get us somewhere safe first. I’ll get proper stitches when I’m in something that doesn’t bounce with every dip in the road.”
“You got it,” Blaze said, his tone gone deadly serious now. “And if you die and leave me to deal with this circus solo, I’m kicking your ass in the afterlife.”
Callen managed a thin, pained chuckle. “You can try.”
“Okay,” Blaze said, voice tightening with concern. “Give me fifteen minutes. I’ll find a place. Just stay on 10, heading west.”
Callen exhaled and let his head fall back against the seat. Outside, the roads stretched toward the edge of a small town. Familiar. Quiet. A place no one would think to look. I-10 was one of the most boring stretches of interstate he had ever traveled, which was good. Right then, he needed boring.
Blaze called back sooner than expected. “I got you something in Live Oak. A motel off Highway 90 called the Cypress Breeze Inn. It’s not much.
Two-bed room under the name ‘Tomlin.’ But you can check in with the app I just sent to your phone, so no front desk where someone will see your face or where you might get recorded.
Just use the code I’m texting and sit still until the cavalry arrives. ”
“I appreciate it, Blaze.”
“I also called Dane. He’s sending Abbie and Sage to help get the kids back to their parents, and we rerouted Gage and Elvis to the motel to meet you.
I’ve already booked them rooms next to yours, just in case.
” He heard the younger man take a deep breath.
“So, some serious players, huh? You reach out to the senator yet?”
“I haven’t, but his daughter pretty much told him to go to hell, I think.”
“Well, just watch your six until the others get there.”
His stomach clenched. “That’s the plan.”
He ended the call just as Meaghan turned onto the highway.
The sign for Live Oak glowed faintly in the distance, promising shelter.
The kids had grown quieter in the backseat, lulled by exhaustion and fast food.
Sophie leaned against Willie, and Lucas against the window, all three silent and wide-eyed.
Callen didn’t remember falling asleep. But he woke to the jolt of brakes and Meaghan’s voice whispering his name.
“We’re here.”
As they pulled into town, Sophie pointed out the window at the glowing sign of a drive-thru. “Can we get burgers?”
“Please?” Willie added. “With fries?”
“I want chicken nuggets!” Lucas chimed in.
Callen arched a brow. “You three just ran for your lives, and your first request is processed meat?”
“I want a milkshake too,” Sophie added, as if she hadn’t heard a word he said.
Meaghan gave a breathless laugh, shifting lanes. “Fine. But let’s make it fast.”
Callen listened as Meaghan patiently helped wrangle the orders through the speaker, trying not to snap when the children couldn’t make up their minds, changed sauces twice, and started arguing about who got the chocolate milkshake.
He turned back to the window, staring out at the afternoon and chuckling as the cashier repeated the total for the third time.
It was something so normal, so mundane, amid the chaos of what had become their day
Meaghan patted his leg, and he knew she was trying not to laugh. “You’re doing great, soldier.”
He narrowed his eyes as he took a slow breath. “I’d rather be back in a firefight.”
The Cypress Breeze Inn had seen better days. Tucked behind a gas station and half-shielded by a sagging row of palmettos, the two-story building looked like it catered more to long-haul truckers and couples on the run than anyone seeking comfort.
Willie made a face as they parked. “This place smells like old socks.”
“I think it’s cool!” Lucas declared, hopping out with his food bag. “Like a secret base!”
Sophie stared up at the flickering neon sign. “Do you think ghosts live here?”
Callen groaned. “Don’t start.”
“Don’t jinx us,” Meaghan whispered, smiling as she touched the top of Sophie’s head.
Their room was at the far end of the first floor.
Callen leaned on Meaghan while she opened the door using the app Blaze had sent.
It clicked open with a reluctant beep, revealing a slightly musty but mercifully clean two-bed suite.
The carpet had faded, and the bedding looked like it hadn’t changed since 1995, but it was safe. That’s all that mattered.
It was clean, at least.
They filed in, and Callen went straight to the bed on the left and dropped onto it with a groan, barely avoiding the French fries flying through the air as the kids stormed in.
“Kitchenette!” Willie yelled.
“Sofaaaaa!” Lucas flopped dramatically onto it.
Sophie peeked behind the curtain on the back wall. “No ghosts. But I see a possum walking into the woods.”
Meaghan turned to Callen. “You okay?”
“Ask me again when I’ve had a nap and a bottle of something stronger than ibuprofen.”
Meaghan handed out food as Callen settled back further on the bed, his breathing shallow. The kids scarfed their food, chattering through bites, exhaustion making them wild and glassy-eyed.
“Eat slowly,” she told them. “Then we’re going to get cleaned up, all right? You can each take turns in the shower.”
They nodded. Too tired to argue.
Once they finished eating and taking showers that left them more wet the harder they tried to dry off, Meaghan finally wrestled them into clean clothes from the emergency bag, brushing teeth with hotel toothbrushes and calming them down with whispered bedtime stories and reminders that they were safe.
Callen lay on the bed and watched her move: smooth, nurturing, strong. Even when she was wrangling a half-asleep Lucas, who refused to wear socks, she looked beautiful. Her hair was a little messy, her shoulders tight with stress, but every motion was confident. Careful. Fierce.
He didn’t deserve someone like her. Not even close.
Later, when she had tucked the kids into one bed, curled into one another like sleepy puppies, with the television playing a muted cartoon loop, Meaghan sat beside him on the second bed. She peeled back his shirt with careful fingers, wincing at the angry red gash beneath the bandage.
“Let’s take a look at you.”
He winced as she helped him sit up and eased his shirt over his head. The gauze she’d wrapped around him earlier was stained, dried to the skin in places.
She winced with him. “This is going to suck.”
“Just don’t faint. It’ll still be four hours until someone else gets here for the kids.”
“I’m not the one who got shot, soldier.”
“Still bleeding,” she murmured, reaching for the kit she’d bought at the drugstore. “You need stitches, but we’ll make do.”
He hissed as the antiseptic hit the wound. “Hellfire, woman. Are you trying to kill me?”
She smiled grimly. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t be so careful.”
She redressed the wound carefully, her hands gentle but sure. She used a fresh disinfectant pad to clean the angry gash, and he bit down on the inside of his cheek, squeezing the edge of the mattress.
“Talk to me,” he rasped, wincing at the pain. “Keep me distracted.”
She dipped her head, focusing on the wound. “Did I ever tell you that when I was eight, I wanted to be a park ranger, rather than a teacher?”
He blinked at her, not sure she had ever shared that with him when they were younger. “Really?”
She smiled faintly. “Yeah. I liked the uniform.”
He laughed, but it came out as a cough.
She pressed a palm to his chest. “Breathe, Callen. Easy now.”
“I’ve seen no one handle pressure like you,” he whispered. “You kept those kids safe. Kept me safe.”
Her hands stilled, then resumed the work. “You brought them out. You got us through it.”
“Only because you were there,” he whispered
She glanced up, her eyes shining even in the motel’s dim lamplight. “Don’t say things like that when you’re bleeding.”
“Too late.”
The moment stretched as her fingers lingered at his side, warm and trembling just slightly.
“You shouldn’t have to do this,” he mumbled.
“You think I’d let anyone else touch you right now?” she shot back, voice low. “After everything?”
She finished wrapping him up and settled beside him, careful not to jostle his side.
For a while, they just sat there, her head against his shoulder, his fingers lightly curled around hers.
The kids snored softly on the other bed.
Outside, the swamp hummed with night sounds, muffled by the hum of the A/C.
It wasn’t peace. But it was close.
And Callen would take it.
He exhaled, letting the pain settle into something bearable. The motel room buzzed with faint neon and the dull thrum of the air conditioner. Outside, a car passed on the road, tires splashing through leftover rain.
“You saved them, you know,” she whispered after a while. “The kids. Me. Even after I told you to go to hell at the school.”
“I almost got us killed.”
“No.” She touched his face, brushing hair from his brow. “You didn’t.”
He caught her wrist before she could pull away and pressed a kiss to her palm. “This isn’t over, Meaghan. Whatever your father’s caught up in… it’s big. And I doubt we know the whole story. Even after talking to you, of you accusing him, he didn’t come out with everything, and you know it.”
“Of course we don’t know it,” she muttered. “Because it’s never simple. Not with him.”
Callen eased back, closing his eyes. “We’ll find out. But for now… we breathe. The others will be here in a few hours, and we’ll have some help.”
She nodded and rose from the bed. “I’ll just be glad to get these kids out of the way of danger.”
He expected her to walk away. Instead, she pulled back the covers and slid in beside him, careful of his side. Her hand found his beneath the sheets.
They lay in silence. A reprieve, however temporary.
Outside the Cypress Breeze Inn, a single streetlamp flickered. The night was still.
But Callen’s mind kept turning.
He had left her to give her the life she wanted, and she had it. Yet, danger still found her thanks to her father.
And this time… this time he knew he couldn’t walk away from her again.