Chapter 19
THEY REACHED THE SAFE house a little after noon.
It was tucked deep inside a forgotten hunting preserve, swallowed by pine trees and lazy Spanish moss, shielded by a chain-link gate that whined open like no one had touched it in years.
Gage leaned out the window to punch in the code, and the gate clattered inward.
Meaghan sat rigid in the backseat, wedged between a duffel bag and a box of medical supplies.
She watched the path roll past, the winding dirt road barely wider than the SUV, the silence broken only by the crunch of tires and the occasional bird cry overhead.
This part of Mississippi smelled like sun-warmed soil and decay. Wild, untamed.
A safe place to hide, but it didn’t feel safe. Not really. She supposed nothing did with what was hanging over her head at the moment.
At the end of the path stood a squat, one-story building framed in steel and half-swallowed by vines. It looked abandoned, even haunted. But the moment Gage opened the door, the illusion shattered.
“You’re looking at GSI efficiency at its finest,” Callen said as he nodded at the interior.
She glanced around at polished concrete floors, bulletproof windows that flickered with sensor shields, and the hum of tactical-grade lights illuminating every corner.
There were two modest bedrooms, a compact kitchen, a hardened server rack humming in the wall, and enough weapons to outfit a small militia.
Callen stumbled in behind her, his breathing shallow. He rested little, even with her and the others urging him to do so, stubbornly pushing through.
“Dane’s overkill finally pays off,” he muttered, looking around.
“I’m sure he’d be pleased you’re impressed,” Gage called back as he disappeared down the hall to check the perimeter.”
Elvis ambled in last, sunglasses still on despite the low light. “I get first dibs on the hot shower.”
“No arguments here,” Callen said, lowering himself onto the battered leather couch with a wince. “After being in the car with you for the past five hours, I’m ready for you to clean up a little.” A devilish grin creased his face as he bounced his brows at Elvis.
Meaghan watched him, her heart squeezing at the way he bit back the pain she knew had to be making him want to scream. She should’ve stopped him from moving, insisted he simply sit back and rest. But he was Callen, and he had no clue how to stay quiet.
Still, she set the med kit within reach. Just in case.
The rest of the team moved quickly and with purpose.
Gage set up the encrypted comms, while Elvis locked down the entry points, walking the perimeter, making sure there was no way inside.
They both then laid out weapons in silent readiness, the cheerful banter gone for the moment as they made everything ready.
Meaghan lingered by the door for a moment after they entered the safe house, scanning the space like it might vanish if she blinked.
She had nothing to unpack—no bag, no changes of clothes, just the same jeans and shirt she’d been wearing since this mess started, rumpled and dust-stained from the road.
But she moved with purpose anyway, drawn by instinct more than anything else.
Callen sat stiffly on the edge of the worn leather couch, one hand braced against the armrest, the other cradling his side. She crossed to him without a word, crouched, and reached for the hem of his shirt.
His brow furrowed. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know,” she said as she gently lifted the fabric. “But I want to.”
The bandage was still mostly intact, but fresh blood had seeped through the gauze. She grabbed the med kit and peeled back the edge of the tape with careful fingers. Callen hissed through his teeth but didn’t pull away.
“You’ve been pushing yourself too hard,” she murmured, inspecting the wound. “You should be resting.”
He smirked faintly. “Says the woman who’s barely slept in two days.”
“Touché.”
He winced at something she did, and she pulled her hands back for a second. “Besides, I’ve done nothing but sit in a hotel and then that damn SUV for the past day. I’m tired of resting.”
She redressed the wound in silence, her fingers working with quiet efficiency. When she was done, she sat back on her heels, looking up at him.
He caught her gaze, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes.
“I don’t know about you, but I could use some more coffee,” he said, his voice softer. “Besides, I think we need to hash through some of this.”
She nodded as she pushed herself to her feet. “I’d say you’re right.”
She watched as he eased himself out of the chair, wincing slightly with the movement. Reaching out, she offered her support for him to stand, and it actually surprised her he took it, telling her he was hurting more than he wanted to let on.
After she fixed them both a cup of coffee, they sat at the small metal table in the kitchen, the hum of the fridge the only sound between them for a long stretch.
She wrapped her hands around the ceramic mug, taking a slow breath.
“Thank you for everything you did for my students. If you hadn’t shown up, I’m not sure how I would’ve handled it. ”
He smiled at her, soft and reassuring. “You would have managed, I’m sure. You’ve always been hell on wheels when backed in a corner.”
“And you’ve always had more confidence in me than I ever had in myself.”
He took a slow sip of his coffee, watching her with his intense, storm-dark eyes. “Are you all right with all this?” he asked as he set his cup back on the table. “Going after your father’s connections like this?”
She folded her arms over her chest, giving a slow bob of her head. “I don’t see that I have much choice with the way they’re coming after me. I need to know who’s trying to kill me and why. What my father did to make someone want to punish him by killing his daughter?”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She dropped her gaze to the table. “The truth? I don’t really want to see my father in handcuffs. I don’t want…” She took a slow breath. “Even after everything that’s happened, I still don’t want to see him hurt.”
“I know. It would surprise me if you did.”
“But I also know I can’t keep pretending he’s clean.
” Her voice thickened as her throat tightened.
“All those missed birthdays. The phone calls he never returned. I thought he was just too busy being important. But now… maybe he was simply too busy hiding things so we would never know where the money truly came from.”
Callen didn’t flinch. “We’ll find out.”
“I just…” She looked up at him, her heart aching. “If this all leads back to him, as it sounds like it will, what do I do? How do I turn him in?”
“You survive,” Callen said. “We figure out the rest after. But first, we have to get you safe.”
It was the simplest promise he could offer, but it was enough to ground her, to give her hope.
The sharp buzz of Callen’s phone interrupted them.
He glanced down at it, his brow furrowed. “Now this is interesting. It’s Tex.”
“Tex?” She shook her head. “Blaze, Elvis, Gage. Now Tex. Are you the only one without a nickname?”
He grinned over at her. “Oh, I have one. People barely use it, though.” He picked up his phone. “I need to get this.”
He answered with a flick of his thumb, putting it on speaker. “Hey, Tex. I gotta say, I didn’t expect to hear from you of all people. Blaze get stuck somewhere in cyberland?”
“Not exactly,” Tex said with a chuckle. “He’s busy tracking the people hounding you, so asked if I could lend a hand with the government… um… research. That’s what we’ll call it for now.”
“Oh?” Callen leaned forward, pushing his cup back slightly. “And did you find anything?”
“You can say that. Blaze asked for a digital pry bar, but let’s just say I gave him a battering ram. Gently, of course. Didn’t need anyone hearing me bust through the company’s holdings, real estate holdings, registries, the works.”
“And? Did you find the senator’s name?”
“No, actually. He’s listed nowhere in their payouts or emails or anything that would tie him to them.”
“But that makes no sense.” He glanced up, his troubled eyes staring at Meaghan as she leaned closer to the phone, staring back at him. “We already know he’s working with them. Blaze found some files.”
“Yeah, legitimate files. Oh, he did some pushing through of bills and cleared the way for New Horizon to get what they wanted. But his name wasn’t on the payouts.
So I did some more digging, widened my search, thinking perhaps he used his wife’s name.
I’ve known politicians who’ve done that.
Callen, you’re not gonna believe whose name is listed as the majority shareholder on those properties under New Horizons. ”
Meaghan’s stomach flipped, worried the man would say her father used her mother.
“It’s not Roger or his wife,” Tex said. “It’s your girl there. Meaghan.”
Gage and Elvis stepped in just as Tex said her name, and the room went silent.
Callen blinked. “That can’t be right.”
“I double-checked. Every land deed, every shell corp paper trail, they all lead back to your lady. The man may have been laundering his deals through his own daughter without her even knowing.”
“Of course, I didn’t know,” she almost shrieked, staring at the phone. Her throat tightened as she turned her attention to Callen. “I—I don’t understand. I never signed anything. I didn’t know—”
“I believe you,” Tex said, cutting her off. “But it doesn’t change the legal optics. Your name’s on the files. That makes you the target, I’m afraid.”
“And the key,” Callen muttered. “To unraveling this whole damn thing.”
“You want my guess?” Tex asked, but it didn’t sound like he was truly asking.
“Your father did something against New Horizons, and whenever whoever is in charge over there went looking, they found you and not the senator. That’s why they’re after you.
They think you have their money. It has nothing to do with a threat to your father. ”
“Thanks, Tex,” Callen said. “I appreciate it.”
“No worries,” the man on the other side of the phone said. “I’ll do a little more digging. See if I can find where Roger Harrington first started using his daughter’s name.”
Callen ended the call without another word and looked across the table at her.
She squirmed under his gaze, feeling the heat drain from her face. “I don’t—I mean, how could he—? How could my father use me like this?”
“My guess?” Elvis asked. “He used your name so he could distance himself from any fallback, figuring he could use his connections to get you out of any trouble if anyone connected your name to the shady business dealings?”
Gage leaned against the wall behind him, arms folded. “Or maybe this was always the plan. Use you as a pawn or a shield. I hate to say it, but even a fall guy if it came down to it. Wouldn’t be the first time someone in power used their family in such a way.”
Callen eased himself out of his chair, a snarl twisting his features. “We need to get to these people and set them straight.”
Meaghan forced her chin up. “How?”
“We go back to New Horizons,” Gage said with a shrug. “Something went south, some deal that burned someone, that made them look to you for payback. We need to find that deal.”
“We also put pressure on your father,” Elvis added. “If he truly wants you safe, he’ll start telling us everything he’s hiding.”
“And if he doesn’t?” she asked, feeling like every direction led to a dead end.
Callen looked her in the eye. “Trust me, I’ll get him to talk.”
Later that night, Callen and she sat on the porch steps beneath the rising dusk. The forest whispered around them, frogs chirping in chorus, the cicadas starting their shift.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“No.” Her voice trembled. “But I will be.”
He didn’t push. Just sat beside her, hand brushing hers. She took it, fingers tangling.
“I trusted him,” she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder. “Maybe that makes me stupid.”
“No. That makes you a daughter.”
They sat in silence for a while after that, allowing the night to sing its song to them. The rain started shortly thereafter, but Meaghan knew that wasn’t the storm she was bracing for. No, that storm would be a lot more violent.