21. Callum
21
CALLUM
“Is she in position?”
Chuck’s voice comes down the line, almost making me jump. I’m so focused on Charli, I’ve almost forgotten about the other guys. Lifting the walkie-talkie to my lips, I hold down the button.
“Nearly. Should be in the next thirty seconds or so.”
“Noted.”
He doesn’t exactly sound glad, even though our plan is unfolding exactly as it should be. I don’t blame him. After all, not one of us likes the idea of sending her into the middle of a trap—no matter the reason or how sure she is that she can handle herself. I would do anything to be in her place instead of her.
But she insisted. And, in the day since we captured one of James’s men, she made it clear that she’s not going to be left out of anything we do to take him down. I thought we were sparing her the stress of having to worry about it, but the way she talks about it, it’s clear she sees it differently.
And as much as I wish she would sit back and let us do what needs to be done, there’s a part of me that knows she’s right about this. James is only going to show his scumbag face when he thinks he has her under lock and key. That’s why he’s sent his men out to find her so far—because he doesn’t want to put himself at risk of being caught or hurt in the process.
If I get my hands on him…fuck, even thinking about it is enough to make my jaw clench, my fists tighten. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he realizes he’s walked straight into our trap. I’m going to take great fucking pleasure in making sure he knows exactly what I think of him, what we think of him, before we destroy him once and for all.
I want him dead, of course. So does Dax, so does Chuck—but Charli argued against it.
“Killing him is just going to bring scrutiny onto you guys,” she pointed out yesterday, when we were fleshing out this plan. “And it lets his dad use him as a martyr. I can’t stand the thought of that, of people thinking of him as some innocent victim…”
She trailed off, shaking her head.
“No, I want to destroy him in the public eye. I want to make sure nobody can even look at him again without thinking about all the shit he’s done and all the harm he’s caused.”
So that’s what we began work on—capturing the truth of who James is, and letting the world see it. After spending most of the day, over coffees, plotting out exactly how we were going to do this, we put the plan into motion last night, when Dax went to drop off some food and water with our captive in our storage shed.
But he deliberately left the knots loose when he went to tie him up again, and the door ajar so he could make a break for it. We needed someone to get out there and tell James where we are, so he can send more of his men to find Charli and eventually follow them up here himself. We’ve given them a good six hours to get their shit together, and now, midmorning, Charli is out gathering firewood by herself.
Or at least, that’s what it’s going to look like, to anyone paying attention. The truth is, she has a tracker pressed into the sole of her boot, a microphone slipped beneath her shirt, and a knife hidden in a hairpin that holds her locks in a ponytail. Like she told us, she’s the bait in the trap for him, and all we can do is stand back and watch as she puts the pieces into place and waits for him to take her.
Chuck, Dax, and I are all watching from a distance—we’ve triangulated along the route she’s going to take so we’ll know exactly when she’s been taken, by whom, and where they’re going to bring her to. It’s the closest thing we’ve got to holding on to any control in the midst of all of this, but it’s still not enough.
I get it, there’s no reward without risk, but it doesn’t feel fair that she’s the one who has to put herself on the line to make this happen. Hasn’t he done enough to her? Hasn’t he taken enough? The thought of him even getting to lay a hand on her again, after the shit he’s put her through, spikes my blood pressure…
As I watch her follow the path into the woods, I try to calm myself. She knows what she’s doing. We’ve discussed it to death, and she’s assured us all a million times that she’s not going to deviate from the plan for an instant.
“I’m going to be okay,” she promised me, as I pinned the microphone into her shirt and tested that it was working. She must have been able to tell how tense I was—I hoped I was doing a good job hiding it, but the way she looked at me, it must have been obvious.
“I don’t like this,” I muttered to her. “Letting him get this close to you…”
“Trust me, he’s not going to do anything before he’s had a chance to tell me what a bitch I am first,” she replied with a smirk, rolling her eyes. “He’s always been a big talker. Wants everyone to know exactly why he’s doing what he’s doing. And that’s what we’re going to get on this…”
She tapped the microphone slightly, and Chuck let out a groan from the other side of the room.
“Hey, not so much pressure on that thing,” he protested, pulling the headphones from his ears. “It’s really sensitive, remember?”
“Sorry, sorry,” she replied, pulling a face, and he grinned at her before he went back to fiddling with the settings once more. I secured the microphone in place, and she buttoned up my shirt over the top of it.
“How come you look so much better in my clothes than I do?” I murmured, brushing a strand of hair back from her face.
“A mystery we’ll have to figure out when I get back,” she replied, and she kissed my cheek.
She doesn’t seem interested in trying to hide her feelings for all three of us. I guess it’s clear that we’re all in this together by now. There’s no point trying to pretend that we aren’t utterly wrapped up in one another. Dax and Chuck are just as unhappy about the way this is going down as I am—they’re worried about her, but they can tell there’s no point fighting her on this. When she’s got an idea in her head, there’s nothing in the world that will change her from that path, even if that path leads right into the hands of her ex.
I keep my distance as she moves through the woods, a basket hanging over one shoulder which she occasionally adds a new stick or log to; now that it’s started to brighten up, firewood’s easier to come by, and she makes her way through the trees with ease, studying the ground like she’s trying to find the perfect additions to our hearth.
I scan the forest surrounding her—they must have had time to get back to Killinsbury and back by now, right? We moved the spike traps from the road, so they’ll have no trouble getting back up here. The man who escaped—or at least, thought he did—will have been able to map the route right back to us, and even giving them time for a few mistakes and missteps, they should be here any?—
All at once, a noise catches my attention. My head snaps around, and I lift the walkie-talkie to my lips.
“You hear that?”
“I heard it,” Chuck replies at once. “Came from somewhere near me. You got eyes on anyone, Dax?”
“Nobody yet,” Dax mutters. I can hear the strain in his voice. He hates being out of control like this, even if it’s for the best in the long run, and it’s a miracle he’s lasted this long without flipping his shit and rushing out there to get her.
We all fall silent. I can hear the static on the line, Dax’s breathing where he’s still holding the button down, but other than that, nothing. Maybe it was just an animal. Or maybe?—
“Shit, I have eyes on someone!” Chuck hisses. “Closing in from the east. Three of them. Looks like one of them’s the guy we took from the car yesterday.”
My heart pounds in my chest. This is it. I wish I could call out to Charli and warn her, but we can’t let them know our position. They need to think she’s out here alone.
Finally, I spot them—three men approaching her from her right side. I can tell that she clocks them; her head shifts slightly as she hears them getting close, but she doesn’t let it show on her face. She stoops down to pick up another stick, demonstratively turning her back to them, making it easier for them to sneak up on her, or at least think they are.
And all I can do is watch as they move in on her. Three men, three fucking guys, all after Charli—James is a complete coward, I know that much for sure. Or maybe he knows just what kind of girl he’s up against. The kind of girl who would climb out the window of the venue she was supposed to get married in, steal a car in her wedding dress, and flee into the hills rather than be stuck at his side.
I smirk. No matter how much I hate the motherfucker, I can’t help but enjoy the idea of him standing there at the end of the aisle, waiting for her while she was already headed back to my arms again.
One man steps out in front of her, and she straightens up—for a moment, her face flashes with real panic, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut to keep from rushing in to get her out of there. It feels fucking twisted to stand back and let this happen, let the woman I love get taken from me all over again.
But I force my eyes open once more. I can’t look away. She’s relying on me to take in every detail of this. Anything I miss could condemn her to capture—or worse.
One of the other men moves behind her, shoving a bag over her head and pulling back on it hard. She stumbles, the basket falling from her shoulder, spilling the branches and logs over the forest floor. I can hear her trying to protest, but it’s muffled by the sound of the fabric in her mouth. I can see her lips moving against the inside of it, but nothing comes out.
“They’ve got her,” I mutter into my walkie-talkie.
“Fuckers,” Dax hisses back.
“Keep your head, Dax,” Chuck warns him. I can hear it in Dax’s voice, how hard this is—how much he just wants to go out there and fight them off, make them pay for laying a hand on her. I know how he feels.
All I can do is watch as they drag her off the path and toward the road once more. I don’t know where they’re planning on taking her, but I know we have the truck gassed up and ready to go after them.
“They’re headed for the road,” I tell Chuck. “Pull the truck around to the cabin, meet us there, and we’ll go after them.”
“Make it quick,” Dax adds.
“Meet you there in ten,” Chuck snaps back, and he closes off his line. I watch as Charli vanishes into the forest once more. I know this is what we planned, I know this is everything she told us to do—but despite myself, it fucking kills me to watch them get their hands on her, even for a second.
Silently, I send her a message— We’re coming, Charli. You won’t have to wait long.
Just make sure you survive till then.