Page 62 of Shadows Relived
Roger’s silence was telling.
Callen leaned closer, voice quiet but venom-laced. “You made this personal when you dragged me into it. So, you’re gonna start talking. What the hell did you do?”
“I didn’t—” Roger faltered. “New Horizons was never supposed to get messy. It was just land acquisitions. Permits. The kind of things everyone else in Washington does.”
“You used your daughter’s name, Senator,” Callen snapped. “The properties, the LLCs, the filings. All of it’s in her name. Not yours.”
Roger’s face paled.
Callen saw it the moment confusion slipped into dread. “You didn’t know?”
“I—no, that’s impossible. The legal team was supposed to file everything under the blind trust. It shouldn’t trace back?—”
“But it does,” Callen ground the words out. “And now she’s in the crosshairs. Not for leverage. For revenge.”
Roger’s hands trembled as he reached for the dashboard, gripping it like it could anchor him. “God help me,” he whispered.
Callen stared at the man, the memory of that day in the senator’s office surfacing.
“She’s meant for more than blood and scars, Callen. Let her go.”
“I’m giving you a way out with the Rangers. You’re good at running into danger. Do that. Just leave her be.”
He had. And now look where that got them.
“You’re gonna fix this,” Callen said coldly. “You’re going to tell me everything New Horizons is doing. Who’s behind it? Who wants her dead? And you’re going to do it now.”
Roger swallowed hard. “And if I don’t?”
Callen met his gaze without blinking. “Then I’ll burn it all down myself with you right in the center.”
The words still echoed in the air when a sharp double-honk cracked through the quiet. Tires crunched over the gravel drive as a dusty black SUV barreled into view from the end of the narrow road. The headlights swept over the line of trees, momentarily blinding him before the vehicle jerked to a stop ten feet away.
Callen’s posture snapped rigid as he turned in his seat, worried Harrington’s men had found them.
His pulse pounded as the front doors flew open and Gage stumbled out first—bloodied, favoring his left side, the shape of a fresh bruise curling along his cheekbone. He staggered forward, face grim, his shirt torn across the shoulder and smeared with dirt.
Elvis followed, slower, limping hard on one leg. A thin cut trickled from his temple down into his collar, and he clutched one arm against his ribs as if something inside might be broken. But his eyes were sharp, wild, burning as he scanned the alley?—
And then locked on Callen.
Callen didn’t waste a breath on questions.
He slid out of his vehicle and stepped forward, his gaze flicking over both men as the back doorof the SUV remained shut. And then he saw the bullet holes riddling the vehicle and his heart sank.
“Where is she?” he demanded, voice low and fierce. “Where’s Meaghan?”
Neither of them answered right away.
And then Elvis exhaled a shaky breath. “They took her.”
CHAPTER 23
THE SUN HAD BARELY startedto stretch across the sky when the tension inside the SUV thickened like humidity before a storm. They were speeding down I-10, trees zipping past in blurs of pine and shadow. Meaghan sat in the back seat, her jaw clenched, arms crossed over the cheap shirt she just bought, while the events of the last twelve hours still knotted in her gut.
Elvis and Gage were up front, remaining silent as they scanned the road like wolves scenting trouble. They had called Blaze first thing that morning, filling him in on everything. Dane had been there, so the call went on speaker, as they had Blaze ping Callen’s phone for a location, but not to call him.
Dane growled, knowing one of his own was about to get into some deep shit. “I’m sending Hawk and Grim your way. I have a feeling this thing will go south before it straightens out.”
