Kathleen immediately locked the door and sat on the narrow bunk that served as a bed and a bench seat. Letting out a long breath, she took her cell from her backpack and dialed her brother’s number. She’d been dreading making this call, but, in reality, it wasn’t up to the Callahans to lie for her. It was time to face the music. Maybe he wouldn’t answer since he wouldn’t recognize the number.
“Yes?” he said by way of a greeting.
“Jamie,” she breathed and then immediately had to swallow the lump in her throat.
“Kathleen! Jesus Christ, where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying your cell for hours now.”
She tried to speak, but her voice failed her.
Her brother spoke at breakneck speed. “Where are you? Are you okay? I’ll come to you. Just tell me where you are.”
A small laugh escaped her throat. “I’m okay. I’m okay! It’s just been a bit of an ordeal. I’m glad to hear your voice.”
“What is it?” Jamie demanded. “What happened? Didn’t the handoff go as planned?”
“Oh my God, so much has happened since then. Let me start at the beginning.” She took a deep breath and launched into her tale.
“So now you and Enzo are on a train to Paris,” Jamie said evenly once she finished. “With Dominic and his people watching you?”
Kathleen pressed the phone tighter to her ear as the train thundered beneath her. “They were at the station. Vitale called Enzo himself.”
There was a pause on the line. She knew her brother well enough to know the silence was him processing what she’d told him, but also calculating his next move. It was the calculating part that scared her.
“Does that about sum it up?” Jamie continued. “Because what I’m hearing is that Enzo assured me, very clearly, that everything was under control.”
She closed her eyes. “Jamie?—”
“Where is he?” Jamie cut in. His question was still calm, still measured, but something lethal had slid into the timbre of his voice. “Why isn’t he keeping you safe?”
“He’s here,” Kathleen said quickly. “He hasn’t left my side.”
“That’s not the same thing,” Jamie snapped. The control cracked, just enough to let steel show through. “He promised me this was contained. He promised me you were never going to be exposed to danger.”
Kathleen swallowed. “Things changed.”
“They always do,” Jamie said flatly. “That’s why you don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
She could hear it now, the anger being locked down, compressed, turned into something colder and far more dangerous. Jameson Drake didn’t rage. He planned.
“I trusted him,” Jamie went on. “I let him talk me down. Let him tell me I was overreacting. And now my sister is running through train stations with a mob lieutenant on her heels.”
“Jamie… Listen?—”
“No.” His voice dropped, quiet and absolute. “Listen to me very carefully. Enzo doesn’t get to decide how much danger you’re allowed to be in. He doesn’t get to gamble with your life because he thinks he can outmaneuver men like Vitale.”
“It’s not his fault, Jamie. Things just happened.”
“And now you’re stuck on a train to Paris with a group of blood thirsty henchmen.”
“Er, yes, but we’re going to ditch them once we get to Paris.” But how that would happen was still very unclear. Kathleen rubbed her forehead. “We have to find the treasure, or Bianca is dead. She might be dead anyway. I don’t think Vitale is the type to care about keeping his word.”
“Ah, there you’re wrong. Alessandro Vitale has no choice but to keep his word. It’s his reputation that keeps him in business, but there are pieces missing to this.”
“I know. Enzo and I think the same thing. We asked the Callahans to dig around and see if they can come up with something to explain the situation.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?” Jamie demanded, hurt lacing his voice.
Kathleen’s heart broke a little bit. She drew a shaky breath. “Because, dear brother, I didn’t want to put you in danger. I know you’re already thinking you can negotiate with Vitale and get me out of this mess, but it’s a fool’s errand. You’ll just end up involved, and he will use me as leverage over you, just like he’s using Bianca to get to Enzo. I couldn’t do that to you, not again.”
