Page 10 of Reset

“Friends?” he said instead.

“We’re his friends,” Elle said.

Her husband stretched his arm across the back of her chair. Unlike his wife, David Knight was the picture of all things ordinary and unassuming. Callum pitied anyone stupid enough to fall for his act. The former CIA agent’s skills were deadly. “He hasn’t forgotten anything important in months, so chances of today’s test slipping his mind are slim.”

“Maybe something happened at the doctor this morning that scared him?” Julia Barone was sitting in the corner of the room, partially hidden by a huge office plant that Callum kept having removed, only for it to reappear. “Has anyone spoken with his neurologist?”

Even though Julia now managed to speak without being coerced, Callum still couldn’t get her to take a seat at the table. She liked to be able to hide if anyone started shouting. If she hadn’t been the best business manager on the planet, he’d have fired her years earlier. Although, her husband, Joe, might have taken issue with that, and he could be a scary son of a bitch when the situation warranted it.

When no one answered her, Julia stood. “I’ll take that as a no. I’ll call her now.” She pulled out her phone as she left the room.

“Has he been feeling sick recently? Any head pain? Migraines?” Megan tossed her long blonde hair over the shoulder of her black leather biker’s jacket.

“Not that he’s mentioned,” Joe said.

Everyone else shook their heads in agreement; he hadn’t shared any worries with them either.

“He’s remarkably healthy for someone who spent months recovering from a coma,” Rachel said dryly.

For once, he had to agree with Cruella. “A wee bit too healthy.”

“You think he’s hiding something?” Joe asked.

Elle was already shaking her head. “No, he wouldn’t. He’s been working so hard to get back into shape. All he can talk about is getting to rejoin the team.”

“Have to say,” Joe leaned back in his seat. “I’ve spent a lot of time on the firing range with him, and I’m impressed. He can shoot just as well both left-handed and right, and I’ve never seen any physical issues. Not once.”

Callum shared a look with Rachel, who was equally skeptical. They both knew how eager Ryan was to put the head injury behind him. It was a concern that he’d rush things in order to get to his goal as fast as possible. The last thing the boy needed was to relapse, purely because he was pushing himself too hard.

Callum knew exactly how that felt. There’d been a time when he’d been so eager to get back to normality that he hadn’t properly dealt with losing his legs. He didn’t want Ryan to repeat his mistakes.

Julia came back into the room, worry etched on her brow. “The consultant said that Ryan’s doing great. The issues that he still has are mild and may never go away, but she’s confident he’s learned to adjust and deal with them. In fact, she’s been talking about dismissing him from her clinic. She doesn’t think there’s anything else she can do for him that his physio couldn’t achieve.”

“So, he’s as fit and healthy as he tells us all he is?” Callum asked.

“Yes.” Julia nodded.

Callum felt his throat tighten as a surge of relief hit him.

“Did you ask about his mood while he was there?” Rachel asked while looking at her phone.

“She said he was happy and excited about retaking his firearms proficiency exam. All he talked about was getting back in the field.” Julia nibbled her bottom lip. “Do you think he’s been in an accident?”

“I can check the hospitals, just in case,” Joe said. “He wouldn’t have been driving; he hasn’t been cleared for that yet. He’s retaking his test next week.”

Elle sucked in a breath, drawing everyone’s attention. For once, her fingers were still over her keyboard, and her face was paler than usual beneath her blue hair.

David tugged at a luminous lock. “What is it, Blue?”

Her eyes were impossibly wide as she glanced at David before looking up at Callum. “I can’t find him.”

“Aye,” Callum said slowly, wondering if marriage had dimmed her intellect, “that would be because he’s missin—”

“No, I mean, I can’t find any trace of his cell phone, or…” She shifted nervously in her seat.

“Spit it out.” Callum felt a migraine coming on, which happened every time their resident hacker got that guilty look on her face.

Elle batted her lashes at him as she feigned an innocence no one in their right mind would ever believe. “You know how much I worry about all of you, right?”