Page 6 of Edinburgh Escape (Brotherhood Protectors International #5)

Callum probably should have told her he would be on the same train with her.

Why he’d withheld that information, he wasn’t sure.

He told himself it was because he didn’t want her to think he was a stalker.

The only way to convince her of that fact would be to tell her the truth, that he’d been hired to protect her.

After she disappeared into the waiting room where the sleeper car passengers gathered, he turned to the attendant. “I’ll be on the Caledonian sleeper train to Edinburgh, as well.”

“Name, please,” she said, staring down at the paper printout of the guests who’d booked passage on the train.

“Callum McCall,” he responded.

She ran her finger down the list of names and stopped at his. “Ah, here you are.” She gave him his car and room assignment. “You’re welcome to wait in the lounge until boarding at ten thirty.” The middle-aged brunette waved her hand in the direction Maggie had disappeared.

“Thank you, but I prefer to be out here.”

Her eyebrow rose. “It’ll be over an hour until you can board.”

He nodded. “Thank you.” Rather than argue with her, he walked toward the lounge. Instead of entering, he stopped beside the door and peered through the doorway into the room beyond.

Maggie had taken a seat at a round table with a family of three: mother, father, and their teenage son. Already, she was talking animatedly with them, smiling, her eager excitement to be in a different country hard to resist.

Callum watched for several minutes before leaning his back against the wall and relaxing. She was safe, surrounded by other passengers. After twenty minutes, the train eased into the station, coming to a stop.

Passengers disembarked and hurried toward the exit. The cleaning crew went to work, quickly preparing the cabins for the guests who would be sleeping on the trip to Edinburgh that night. As soon as they were finished, one of their staff reported to the attendant that they were ready to board.

Callum eased back into the shadows and watched as the passengers flocked out of the lounge and went in search of their cars, Maggie among them. He followed at a distance as she walked along the platform until she arrived at their assigned car.

When she turned to step onto the train, she glanced in his direction.

Callum lowered his head and slid into the shadows.

Maggie hesitated a moment, her brow dipping low. Then she gave a slight shake of her head and entered the car.

He watched as she walked past the windows on the narrow corridor and stopped in front of one of the doors. Using her key card, she opened the door to the compartment and shoved her roller bag in first. Once she’d stepped inside and closed the door, Callum made his move.

Quickly boarding the train car, he hurried along the same corridor, stopping at the door before Maggie’s.

He waved his key card over the scanner. It didn’t work.

He tried again. This time it worked. As he pushed through the door, Maggie’s door creaked open.

Callum managed to get inside before Maggie emerged.

He left the door cracked just a little. Not enough she could see inside, if she was looking that direction, but enough where he could hear her movements.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor. Heavier. Possibly a man’s.

Callum tensed, ready to spring into action if the man posed a threat to Maggie.

“Oh, good,” Maggie said. “Are you one of the train stewards?” Maggie called out.

“Yes, ma’am,” a deep voice answered. A man dressed in the Caledonia uniform stopped in front of Callum’s door.

“The toilet in my cabin won’t flush,” Maggie said.

“Let me look at it.” The steward moved past Callum’s door.

Maggie eased past the man, coming to stand in front of Callum’s door.

He peered through the narrow slit he’d left open, admiring the pretty American’s coppery hair and trim figure.

At least what he could see of it. He wished he’d told her he’d be on the same train.

He could have invited her to the dining car for a nightcap and extended their time together.

Then he could keep an eye on her out in the open, rather than playing a ridiculous game of hide and seek.

Now, if he chose to let her know he was in the same car, she’d think it too much of a coincidence, even stalkerish.

“It’s all sorted, lass,” the man said.

Maggie left her position in front of Callum’s door. “Wonderful,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

“My pleasure. If you need anything else, you can always find one of us in the dining car throughout the night.”

The steward didn’t walk by Callum’s door this time. Instead, he continued down the corridor to the end of the car.

Callum eased his door open wide enough to catch a glimpse of Maggie going into her compartment.

When the door clicked shut behind her, Callum glanced in both directions and went back into his small room, which had bunks on one side and what passed for a bathroom on the other. A tiny sink attached to the outer wall beneath the only window looked out over the train station platform.

More tired passengers passed by, rolling suitcases or carrying backpacks. As the scheduled departure time neared, the ground crew hurried stragglers along.

Eleven-thirty came and went, but the train remained on the platform. Callum left his door open slightly, monitoring the passageway, alert and ready to respond.

He didn’t feel comfortable closing his door, especially while they remained at the station.

Anyone could board the train at any time.

Not that he had any reason to be suspicious.

They’d gone through the entire day without incident.

Sadie McClain could be worrying for no reason.

Maggie might be na?ve and unworldly, but she was intelligent and observant.

Callum stretched out on the lower bunk, propped against the far wall, his gaze on the narrow gap he’d left by propping the door open.

A few minutes before midnight, the train started moving, easing slowly out of the station and eventually picking up speed.

They were scheduled to arrive in Edinburgh at seven-thirty in the morning.

If all went well, Maggie would get a good night’s sleep, swaying gently with the train’s movement.

She hadn’t come back out since she’d waylaid the steward to fix her toilet.

Considering she’d probably gone thirty-six hours without much sleep, she’d likely fallen asleep even before the train had departed the station.

Eventually, Callum’s eyes drooped, and he fell into a light slumber. While he dozed, he listened, alert enough to detect any unusual noise. The steady hum of the train lulled him deeper into sleep.

The nightmare returned, taking him back to Syria, the mission, the explosion and then the dark, foul-smelling cell.

This time was different. When he woke in the interrogation room, it wasn’t Smudge tied to the chair across from him.

Callum stared across at the bright copper hair and petite facial features of Maggie McKendrick.

His gut clenched, and his pulse leaped into overdrive.

“No,” he said through gritted teeth, straining at the ties binding his wrists. Maggie wasn’t supposed to be there. How had they captured her?

When the guard grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked it back, exposing the pale, slender line of her throat, Callum surged forward, chair and all. He almost toppled over but managed to remain upright.

No, this wasn’t right. Maggie didn’t belong there. He hadn’t even met her.

It’s only a dream.

If it was only a dream, why did the knife the man holding Maggie’s hair look so damned real?

The only way out of that chair, the only way out of that dream, was to wake. If he didn’t wake up soon, he’d bear witness to yet another senseless death.

Wake up.

The man holding Maggie’s clump of hair placed his knife against her throat.

Wake up.

Callum jerked awake and sat up, crashing his head against the bunk above him.

Pain shot through him, causing him to lie back against the pillow and let his eyes adjust to the semi-darkness.

He wasn’t in that horrible place where Smudge had died. The bed beneath him and the bunk overhead reminded him that he was on a train back to his native Scotland, a long way from Syria.

He frowned. The train wasn’t moving. Had he slept long enough for them to arrive in Edinburgh?

A quick glance at his watch made him shake his head.

They’d only been moving for three hours.

They had four more to go. The train wasn’t scheduled to stop anywhere along the west coast line until they reached their destination in Edinburgh.

The sound of a door creaking open in the corridor made Callum roll out of the lower bunk and rise to his feet.

Maggie passed his door, dressed in soft shorts that looked like pajama bottoms with a light jacket wrapped around her top.

She’d pulled her riotous curls up into a loose, messy bun on top of her head, and she was makeup-free and even more beautiful than she’d been all day.

She followed several others out onto a station platform.

Why had the train stopped?

If he followed her too closely, she’d eventually turn around and see him.

Callum waited until she turned the corner at the end of the railcar. As soon as she disappeared out of sight, he sprinted to the end of the corridor and peered around the corner.

She’d already passed through the exit doors and stepped out onto the platform among other passengers gathered around one of the stewards, filling them in about a delay.

A sign on the station’s wall identified the station location as Crewe.

Callum slipped up behind one of the taller men, needing to hear the steward speak.