Chapter Eighteen #2
Before Lawson could reply, his phone buzzed in his pocket and he turned away to take the call. The others were so lost in the intensity of their conversation, they hardly even noticed he’d stepped away. He glanced down at the screen: Unknown number.
Lainey calling him back?
He’d tossed and turned all night, silently willing her to return his call so he could stop worrying about where she was or what might have happened.
He answered the call, expecting to hear Lainey’s voice on the line. But instead, he froze to the spot when he heard a man’s smooth, low voice filling his ear instead.
“Lawson Davies,” the man said.
He immediately knew whose voice was on the line.
He swallowed hard, but before he could say something in return, Granger spoke again.
“I hear you and your friends have been looking for me,” the man continued, his voice calm, unbothered.
“I’m a little disappointed that it wasn’t more of a challenge to find you.
But I’m also delighted to learn a former CIA agent somehow ended up on my tail.
I made sure to thank our nosy mutual friend with her help in that. ”
Granger paused and gave that revelation a moment to settle in Lawson’s gut.
Then he made a tsking sound, like he was scolding a wayward child, before he continued.
“Poor Lainey Daye cracked like an egg. It was such a surprise to come up on her in that small little town. And my man Paul—the one you had unlawfully arrested—confirmed her whole story before he took his last breath. He was decent help, but he was also responsible for them getting caught and Jim getting killed. I couldn’t let that go unpunished. ”
He chuckled darkly. The sound of it sent a shiver down Lawson’s spine. The others seemed to have noticed something was wrong and turned to see what was going on.
“Is Lainey okay? What have you done with her?” Lawson demanded, finally managing to force out the words. He already knew what the answer was going to be.
Granger barked with amusement. “Who do you think I am, Mister Rogers?” he retorted.
“No. I’m sorry to report that she is most definitely not okay.
” He paused briefly. “And for the record, you and your friends won’t be, either, when I get my hands on you.
I don’t appreciate people sticking their damn noses in my business, Mr. Davies. ”
“If you hurt her—”
“Your words don’t mean anything to me,” Granger interrupted sharply.
“Ms. Daye already understands the repercussions of not minding her own business. However, I will be visiting her again shortly and I’ll make sure to give her your regards.
Oh, and do say hello to that pretty little therapist of yours, will you?
What’s her name… Sarah Peterson. I look forward to meeting her soon.
Maybe she can help me work out some of my kinks. I bet she’s good at that.”
And with that, the line went dead. Sheer rage coursed through Lawson’s body at the sound of Granger talking about Sarah. He could have crushed the phone in his hand, but he knew he had to keep it together. Behind him, silence filled the room, and he turned to face everyone again.
“Who was that?” Xavier asked, frowning at the phone in Lawson’s hand.
Sarah stared at him from the other side of the room, her face white, as though she had sensed that Granger had been talking about her.
“Granger,” he replied bluntly. “He’s got Lainey and he made her talk. He knows about us. And the lodge.”
“Damn it,” Cade muttered, reaching for River and putting his arm around her protectively.
“He’s going to be coming here. We need to make preparations,” Aaron replied, reaching his hand out toward Bailey. She gripped his hand hard enough that her knuckles turned white and Aaron pulled her to his side.
“What we need to do is get the guests to safety,” River replied, pressing into Cade’s side for support. “I know what it feels like to be trapped in a place under siege and not knowing if you’re going to survive. It’s not fair to everyone here to have to go through that.”
Sarah walked over to stand beside Lawson, nodding at River to acknowledge her concerns.
“I agree with River. We need to get everyone off the property now,” Sarah insisted. “We have a duty to everyone here. We can’t let them stay now that Granger knows about the lodge. They’ll be sitting ducks. They come here to recover and find peace. They don’t deserve to be thrown back into a war.”
“No. No way,” Xavier replied, shaking his head. “This place is my home. We just got everything almost back to normal. I’m not leaving this place defenseless. I’m not going to be run off it by some two-bit—”
“We don’t have a choice, Xavier!” Sarah protested.
“We all live here. It’s our home too,” Cade gruffly corrected.
“I agree with Xavier. I don’t want to go,” Hannah replied, her voice filled with anxiety at the situation they faced. “I— We need to provide stability for everyone who stays here, we can’t just kick them out.”
“We’re not kicking them out,” Sarah argued.
“Think about it, people. This is supposed to be a place of healing, of safety. We can’t provide stability for them if we’re…
” She trailed off, letting that unspoken word hang in the air between them all.
She didn’t need to say it out loud—everyone knew what she meant.
“They’re right, Xavier, and you know it,” Lawson said, stepping forward and nodding. “We can’t risk leaving these people here as prey for Granger and his men. Everyone here could be hurt or worse. Do you really want that on your conscious? We need to get them out. Now.”
Xavier gritted his teeth and fisted his hands down at his sides.
Lawson could tell from just a glance that he was furious at the situation and wanted to put up more of a fight.
Lawson couldn’t worry about that now, though.
Granger and his men would be coming for them soon and he just wanted to get the guests out of here before that happened.
And do everything he could to keep Sarah safe in the process.