Page 9

Callum’s knuckles whitened around the steering wheel in the piece-of-shit vehicle they’d chosen because it would blend in with other vehicles in the area. The dense forest of the Moldovan countryside blurred past, skeletal branches clawing at the horizon barely visible in the moonlight, but he couldn’t care less about any of it.

They’d only gone a couple miles, but every second they moved away from the farmhouse compound made Callum feel more sick. He shouldn’t have left. He’d never left somebody behind in a situation like this.

All he could see were those blue eyes staring out at him in relief when he’d said they were getting both women out.

Only for Callum to be proved a liar.

Marissa sat in the passenger seat, sobbing into her manicured hands, her nails flashing with every dramatic swipe at her tear-streaked face. Theo and Bear were crammed into the back, Theo glaring at Marissa while Bear methodically studied his pistol. Probably wishing he had one more round to use on Marissa.

Callum pressed the button on his phone to dial Dustin’s number and put it on speaker. That son of a bitch had some explaining to do.

“Webb. Didn’t expect to hear from you before the drop. Don’t you have prepar?—”

“You fucking bastard.” Callum didn’t let him finish. “What the hell is going on here, Dustin?”

“Excuse you?”

“We’ve got Marissa Getty here in the car.”

“ What ?! Did the drop get rescheduled? Why wasn’t I notif?—”

Callum cut him off, glancing in the rearview mirror. No headlights of other cars following them so far. That was good. “We obtained other intel at the last minute and went into the compound and got Marissa out ourselves.”

There was a beat of silence. Then Dustin exploded. “You fucking did what ?”

“We got her out. She’s safe and relatively unharmed.” Callum glanced over as Marissa let out an indignant sob, which he ignored. She could walk, could talk, had no noticeable bruises or injuries. In terms of overall outcome, she was fucking fine.

Whereas her sister— half sister, whatever —was still back in the Kozaks’ clutches. A fact which didn’t seem to faze Marissa at all.

“You had one fucking job, Webb,” Dustin fairly screeched. “That was to go to the meeting point, hand over the money, and deliver Marissa back to her family. Going into enemy territory for some type of misguided rescue attempt was not part of the deal. You were outside the bounds of your contract?—”

“Well, now you get the package and the money. You’re welcome.” Callum had no idea why Dustin was pissed that they’d just saved his client half a million dollars, but he didn’t care. “The bigger question is, why the fuck didn’t you tell us there was a second daughter involved?”

“Because it was none of your goddamned business!” Callum gripped the steering wheel tighter and clenched his jaw at Dustin’s fury.

What the actual fuck was going on here? The man should not be mad.

Dustin took a deep breath, obviously trying to get ahold of himself. “Bring the women to the agreed-upon location. Just try to follow instructions this time.”

“We only have Marissa. We didn’t get Sloane out.” Callum said the words through clenched teeth.

“What?”

“Sloane somehow”—he shot a glare over at Marissa again—“got separated in the fray.”

“So, you have Marissa but not Sloane.”

Was that relief in the man’s tone?

“Affirmative.” Callum hit the brakes as they rounded a sharp corner, the vehicle skidding briefly before gripping the gravel again. He took a calming breath, though it did nothing to quell the fire raging inside him.

“Then keep going. Get the fuck out of there and get Marissa to the safe zone. Getty was…negotiating separately for the release of Sloane.”

“You need to send a team in right damn now, Dustin. Things have gone to shit, and the Kozaks may decide to kill the other Getty girl now rather than risk further negotiations. I know you have to have contacts in the general area. Hell, get us some weapons, and we’ll go back in ourselves.” He already liked the idea of that. “Yeah, we’ll stash Marissa somewhere safe and go back for Sloane. We’re close, and we’re already familiar with the compound.”

Marissa whimpered beside him, leaning to clutch at his arm. “Callum, please don’t leave me! They’ll kill you and find me! We have to keep going—just get me to safety. My father will take care of the rest.”

Callum shook her off, his jaw tightening. “You sit there and be quiet before I toss your ass out. Everybody in this car knows you did something to Sloane and that’s why she’s not here.”

Marissa’s mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, her glossy eyes darting away.

Callum hadn’t known his statement was true, but he did now. What the hell?

“Callum, you are, under no goddamn circumstances, to go back for Sloane!” Dustin yelled.

“That better be because you’ve got a team ready to move in and don’t want me to accidentally get shot.”

“It’s because I want you to do your job and let me do mine.”

Callum eased his foot off the gas. “Tell me you have somebody going in there to get her, Dustin. You know Sloane’s chances of survival have dropped significantly now.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Callum slammed his hand down on the steering wheel. “Maybe if we’d known we were dealing with two sisters, we would’ve made different choices. You shouldn’t have kept that info from us.”

“You’re on a need-to-know basis, Webb, and you didn’t need to know this.”

Callum met Bear’s eyes in the rearview mirror. The younger man shook his head. He knew what Callum did.

This shit stank to high heaven. They just didn’t know exactly why.

“Do you have someone going in or not, Dustin?”

“Did you just hear my need-to-know speech?—”

“Yes or fucking no?”

There was a beat of silence before Dustin answered. “No. Getty will continue negotiations for Sloane’s release.”

Callum slowed down further. “That’s a death warrant for her, probably with torture and rape thrown in for good measure. We both know that.”

“You’ve got Marissa. Get her to the extraction point. That’s it. Your job is done. I’ll wire the money upon your arrival.”

Callum’s grip tightened again, the plastic creaking under his fingers. “I don’t care about the money. I’m not leaving that woman with those bastards.”

“Sloane wasn’t part of the contract.” Dustin’s voice hardened. “This isn’t personal. Don’t make it personal. Just get Marissa to the drop site.”

Callum’s laugh was bitter and cold. “It’s always personal when someone’s life is on the line, Dustin. You think I’m going to sleep at night, knowing we left her behind? Forget it. That’s not how I work. I’m going back for her.”

Marissa shrieked, her voice shrill enough to pierce his skull. “Why are you all so obsessed with Sloane? She’s fine! She’s tough—she always gets out of trouble. I’m the one you were hired to save, so do it! She made her choice to stay behind!”

Callum’s glare could have set her on fire. “Somehow I doubt it.”

Marissa shrank back in her seat, her lips trembling as she crossed her arms defensively. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. That man touched me. Groped me. I couldn’t stay there.”

Callum fought for an ounce of compassion but couldn’t find it. Crystal-blue eyes floated in front of his vision. What was Sloane going through right now? What would she go through if no one went back for her?

Dustin’s voice erupted over the line. “Callum, if you go back, you’re on your own. Do you hear me? The client isn’t covering this, and I’m not sending reinforcements. And if you’re not the one to deliver Marissa, you won’t get paid. If you go back for Sloane, you risk everything.”

“Then I’ll fucking risk it.”

Callum disconnected the call before Dustin could respond, tucking the phone back into his tactical vest. The car rumbled along the uneven road, the tension inside thick enough to choke on.

He met Bear’s eyes again in the rearview mirror. “I’m going to?—”

“Shit.” Theo cut him off. “We’ve got company.”

Sure enough, there was a car in the distance behind them. This road was basically deserted, the only thing it led out to was a few farms like where they’d been. It had to be the Kozaks’ men coming after them.

They were riding with their headlights off, but any vehicle with the slightest bit of horsepower was going to catch them before they got to the main road. They’d chosen this vehicle because it would fit in with the locals, not because of its speed.

Bear grabbed his shoulder. “Stop. Theo can take Marissa to the rendezvous point. You and I will go back and get Sloane.”

Callum slammed on the brakes. “No. You two deliver Marissa. You’re both going to be needed to get away from whoever is in that vehicle. And I can’t justify risking the lives of three people when we don’t even know…”

If they’d already put a bullet in Sloane’s head.

Callum didn’t want to say the words, and he didn’t have to. Both Theo and Bear knew the rest of the sentence.

Theo nodded. “We’ll get Marissa to safety. Get back there and get Sloane out. Sorry we don’t have any weapons to offer you. Touch base as soon as you can.”

“Wait!” Marissa whined. “You can’t leave me. You can’t?—”

Ignoring her, Callum and Bear both jumped out of the car, Bear running forward to get behind the wheel. “Good luck, brother.”

“You too.” The car was back on the road a few seconds later.

Callum began running back toward Sloane, praying he wasn’t already too late.