Chapter 23
Lochlan
Suds sounds in my earpiece. “Did you find her?”
“Yeah, she’s okay. So is Chase but the arms dealer is dead.” Squatting, I grab the fuckwit’s wrists, pull them behind his back, and zip tie them together.
For what he did to Callie, I hope his insides are permanently fried. Stepping over Yuri’s body, I enter the small, closet-like room where Callie sits like a child, arms around her knees.
Pistol back in my right hand, one eye on the door, I check in with Suds. “Status?”
“Jeep secure. One dead, two pissed as hell. Feds should be here any second. I’ll let you know. Out.”
Knowing Suds has my six, I drop my guard, and check my girl. Her eyes are a bit glassy but she holds it together, no tears. She takes my hand when I offer it and stands. Then, I pick her up, place her on a tabletop, and tug her to my chest, and thank God Almighty.
What made her take such a huge risk? When the Russian aimed, my life flashed before my eyes because I was the one about to die.
How could I go on without her?
She shivers and I stop holding her to check for injuries. “Bloody hell. What happened to your boots?”
I put a foot to a thigh and rub to get her circulation moving. That’s when I notice she’s got nothing on under her coat and her hair is wet.
Recalling the scene back at her apartment, pride for her swells. My God, she jumped out of her window straight from the shower. I wish Yuri weren’t dead so I could inflict some serious pain before shooting him again.
She turns to where his body lies in a puddle of blood. “I thought he was going to kill me.”
“You did well, sweetheart. I’ve seen marines piss themselves in similar situations.”
“Really?”
“Nah, I lied.” I bring her feet to my mouth and blow warm air. “How’s that feel?”
“Like I’m standing on a flaming bed of nails.” She moans, wiggles her toes, and grimaces.
“Okay, then. That’s just what we want.” I unlace my boots, give her my socks, and after, remove my shirt. “Take this. The police will be here any second.”
With a grateful nod, she slips off her coat. When I see the bruises, I want to weep but I need to be strong. I help her arms into my shirt and lift her ass so she can pull it down her thighs.
The screams of sirens grow close and I hear Suds swear in my earpiece. “Rock and Roll. No one’s to say anything, including Callie, until our lawyer gets here.”
The paramedics are the first in the door, then the FBI followed by the police. It’s a fucking shit show, especially when Callie’s taken to the hospital and me and Suds are instructed to sit tight. Finally, our attorney arrives but it takes a couple hours before we’re allowed to go.
In the back seat of an Uber, Suds speaks quietly. “How dangerous was the EMF?”
“I have no idea. But mate, it was weird. One minute I was running toward the lab, the next, I thought I was going to die. I got a pounding headache, nausea, and my skin crawled. The only thing that kept me going was knowing she was in there.”
As I think what might’ve been, I stare out the window until I regain my composure. “Those fuckheads in the Jeep give you any strife?”
“None I couldn’t handle. Just hired guns. The Feds didn’t care about them but they sure were pissed about Yuri. What the hell happened?”
“They can go fook themselves. He was a millisecond away from pulling the trigger on her.”
“They claim Gerard had them fooled.”
“Well, that makes them bigger idiots than him.”
He chuckles. “True, that.”
