He didn’t have to live in this shoebox of an apartment.When he first arrived, Vivian had promised him housing to complement the hefty paycheck until he found a place that he wanted to call home.He ignored the offer, not knowing why, and chose this place instead.It wasn’t a shithole, but it wasn’t far off.
Callum’s head ached.He should throw a party.Grace was alive.But he hadn’t arrived at the point of celebrating yet.
Why in the hell hadn’t Hayden looped him in?The anger and betrayal flared again.He wanted to get in Hayden’s face and, if he saw Grace—when he saw Grace, he would… Would do what?Fuck, he didn’t know.Demand answers.Shake her until she apologized.He’d said goodbye.She was just gone.
Except she wasn’t.
Callum pinched his eyes closed.Not that long ago, he’d messed up enough for the Army to unceremoniously boot his ass to the curb.Vivian offered him a job when plenty of others wouldn’t touch him.Even if he didn’t think he had done anything wrong, Titan was Callum’s second chance.
Maybe he deserved it.Maybe he didn’t.That largely depended on who was asked.
Did Grace deserve a second chance?
Of course.
At least, probably.
He couldn’t compare their second chances, though.His was simple: an order ignored.He’d do it again—no hesitation—even if the memory still haunted him.Wrong on paper.Right in every way that mattered.The kind of thing that branded him a liability.
Callum leaned back and stared at the ceiling.White paint of varying shades was patched over stains and scuffs.No matter where he went, he always looked at the damn ceiling like it could tell him a secret.
What did this place say?Nothing he wanted to admit.
He exhaled hard.The sound bounced back off the bare walls.
Tomorrow, he would find Grace.Save Grace.Be whatever Grace needed.That, at least, he understood.Protecting others was in his bones.The rest—figuring out if he belonged anywhere outside a battlefield—he’d learn on the fly.
The next morning Callum woke with a better attitude and a refreshed sense of the world.The drab apartment and his new job didn’t bother him as much.Sleep was a miracle drug.He needed to remember that anytime sleep deprivation came calling.
He planned to check in with headquarters first thing for an update, but Dean beat him to it with a plan of action and a location pinpointed in Maryland.
According to Dean’s research, the library was an hour’s drive from the grocery store where she’d last been seen.Seemed promising.He scrolled through the report.Devices that Dean believed were associated with Grace had logged hours using the library’s Wi-Fi.She had used the library’s internet to communicate and submit work on a freelancer website.
He checked the drive time.The location in Maryland wasn’t close.He’d get there in a few hours.
Callum packed his go bag with fresh clothes and work essentials and searched his sparsely filled kitchen.Pretzels and beef jerky would have to do for breakfast on the road.
The bright summer sun reflected off the interstate.Traffic was surprisingly light, and he made good time.Callum spotted the public library on a semi-busy main drag lined with mature trees and pulled into the large parking lot.
Grace might be in there.
He thought about the photo he’d found the night before after spending far too much time scrolling through his personal phone’s album.The picture was from the summer he and Hayden had graduated from West Point.She had just finished her first year of college, and the way she looked at him had Callum crawling out of his skin.There was not a single quiet or nervous bone in her body, and she’d given Callum and Hayden hell for simply existing.
They were too loud.Too cocky.Too muscle-headed.Too much of everything.
Her mouth had been running a mile a minute, but he had heard little of what she’d said because he’d been staring like a moron.Grace had told him to take a picture if he was going to stare.Hayden had snorted, missing Callum’s reaction to her, and Callum had said, “Fuck it,” and taken the picture.
He’d probably looked at that picture a thousand times later that night.But he had been by himself.To the world, he hadn’t betrayed a single thought about Grace.It had taken all his self-control, but that’s what West Point had trained him to do.Control everything.
Maybe that was why he had no more pictures of only Grace since that day.
Control everything, and everything would be controlled.
Except this was as far out of control as he could imagine.He needed to find that focus again.He had a job to do: locate Grace.
The early afternoon sun beat down.Heat radiated in wavy lines at the far corner of the parking lot as he rolled over a speed bump.Why did Grace spend so much time at this library?Given how she could hide her tracks, she was more than capable of setting up a VPN and using the internet from anywhere.
Callum mentally ran through Dean’s report again.Her online footprint was negligible for a woman whose livelihood depended on the internet.She had evaded them all.
