Thario didn’t want to say more. Anything he was thinking could be taken wrong. She was too skinny, and she looked like she wasn’t able to take care of herself. He wanted her to get better, not worse. It bugged the heck out of him that he’d been working with Brent all while the man had been holding his sister hostage. It made no sense.
More firemen showed up, and the police, too. The nearby houses were evacuated because they had no idea how bad the danger was.
Hopefully, the police wouldn’t be too upset that they’d come here. They’d meant well, but they hadn’t meant for an explosion to go off. At least they’d rescued Calla.
His head was too messed up to really think straight and come up with an excuse for why they were here. Maybe Sharp had come up with something.
Just then, he saw Sharp, Squat, and Griz coming down the street. Brent was nowhere to be seen. That meant he was still outthere. Nothing about this day was going as planned, and it was all bad.
He glanced over, seeing Calla staring at him. One good thing had happened. Calla was freed from whatever hell Brent had inflicted on her. At least they’d save her.
Chapter 12
Calla rarely felt safe,but there was something about this man that calmed everything.
"The firemen said you know something about this house." The officer looked at them both, his eyebrows raised like he expected them to come up with some answers.
She guessed she knew the most, so she responded first. "Um, I live, I guess lived there. But my brother kept me locked in my room. I was only allowed out to cook or clean. I don't know anything about bombs or what he did in the rooms he kept locked."
The officer narrowed his eyes and then squatted low so he wasn’t standing over them. “Your brother kept you locked up?”
She held out her wrists, showing the marks from being cuffed. “He didn’t chain me every day, but there were weeks he kept me chained.”
The officer nodded, then stood and took a few steps away before he spoke into his mic. He spun back around. "And you. What is your relationship to the house and her?"
“I’m Thario. I knew Brent from some work.”
Sharp was there now. "We came over to discuss business, and we found his sister locked up. He got mad that we were going to set her free. This is the result."
The officer’s eyebrows rose. “And you are?”
“James Douglas, Chief Petty Officer Douglas.”
The officer looked up from his notes. “Navy?”
“Yes, sir. We came over with Thario. He got his leg blown off during heavy action. We support our own.”
For a moment, Calla thought the officer was going to cause problems, but he nodded and smiled. "I'll put in my notes that you all came here to rescue—sorry, miss, I didn't get your name."
“Calla Ternan.”
“Could you spell that for me?”
She spelled it out, thinking that maybe the hell she’d gone through was over. Could she actually get away from Brent? Perhaps the officer wasn’t going to lock her up or make her go back to her brother.
As the officer was finishing writing stuff down, a woman showed up along with two other people.
"Excuse me, I'm Lucy, and I work with social services." She knelt next to them and smiled at her. "These two men are with the ambulance. They want to check you out, and then I'd like to get you some help." Her gaze flicked to Thario. "You look like you need the EMTs' help. They'll take care of you."
Thario reached out and took her hand. “Calla, I want to make sure you have my contact information.”
“I’ll make sure she has it,” Sharp said.
Everything was moving way too fast. Before the police and everyone else showed up, Calla had thought Thario might kiss her. But why would he want her? She was damaged, her life fractured from everything Brent had done and now this. She had nowhere to live, nowhere to go, and no friends. What the hell was she going to do?
Thario wasn'thappy to be on his way back to the hospital. He would probably have to stay overnight. At least he knew Frog was safe. His dog was going to be pissed at him for being gone for so long. He knew Frog worried about him, just like he worried about Frog.
And now he was worried about Calla. What was it with her? Heat washed over him as he thought about almost kissing her. She probably would have hit him. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she had.
