The Callahan's: Secret Sins Part 35

"We're still left with another problem," Amory pointed out, flicking his fingers to the monitor as he leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the opposite knee as he cradled a cup of coffee in his other hand. "Ms. Haley is very high profile. I don't know who she is yet, but she's obviously in the Witness Protection Program. Two teams of marshals are already searching for her and they won't stop. She could be the end of us if we keep her."

"So we don't get to play for a while?" Wayne asked in disappointment.

"Not for a while," Amory answered as he forced himself to contain his fury.

This att.i.tude was p.i.s.sing him off.

"I think I'll see about finding someone far enough away that they won't be connected to the Callahans." Wayne grinned. "Even though they are connected."

He wasn't p.i.s.sed any longer.

"You think that's possible?" Amory asked.

Wayne's grin widened. "They were away for twelve years, my friend, I'm certain they had many bed buddies in that time. We just have to find them then we can continue having our little snacks."

Amory watched the other man, restraining a sigh of regret. At this rate, he would end up having to kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d himself.

"I look forward to it," Amory agreed, though. "Does this mean we let Ms. Haley go?"

Wayne rose slowly to his feet and glanced at the monitor. "Get her out of here. Thank G.o.d you had the foresight to sedate her well before bringing her in. I'll head back to Corbin County and see what the h.e.l.l is going on there."

"I'll take care of it." Amory nodded as he rose to his feet and headed for the door.

Halfway there, he paused and turned back with a frown. "What about Amelia? Ms. Corbin has called her cell phone and texted several times. The sheriff will begin asking questions soon. Once he does, her disappearance will be tied to the Slasher."

His jaw clenched. "It would have been so much easier to get rid of her. She might not have found anything, but it doesn't change the fact that I caught her searching the bas.e.m.e.nt. She's suspicious of something."

"Whatever you want to do." Amory's shoulders lifted negligently. "Perhaps the governor will overlook her disappearance."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Wayne growled, his fingers curling into fists. "I should have killed him rather than his daughter."

"What is it they say about hindsight being twenty-twenty?" Amory asked, mocking.

Wayne clenched his teeth furiously. "Let her go," he snapped. "We've kept her well drugged while I've been in her room, correct?"

Amory shrugged. "You injected her before taking her blindfold off," he reminded Wayne.

"Let her go," he sighed, then smiled slowly with relish before rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Dump her on Crowe Mountain. That clearing before reaching the cabin. Let's see if she's learned how to keep her legs closed where he's concerned. If she can, then maybe we'll let her live."

Amory's grin was amused. He obviously approved. "I'll take care of it."

As the other man left the room, Wayne turned back to the monitor to watch Elizabeth in disappointment. He had so been looking forward to her.

As for Amelia, he had no desire for her himself, but she was a danger to the future. Not that she was aware of his ident.i.ty, because she wasn't. What she was was a danger to the plans he envisioned for Anna if she suspected something or, G.o.d forbid, managed to actually find something that he might have missed in his efforts to cover his own a.s.s.

She was definitely suspicious, though what she was suspicious of he wasn't certain. What he did know was that his daughter was d.a.m.ned intelligent and d.a.m.ned devious. Considering who her mother was, he should have guessed that last part. He had time though.

With the governor's threat now hanging over all their heads, he had at least six weeks to figure out what to do. At the most, he and Amory would just have to separate for a while. Or as he had told Amory, there were twelve years the cousins had been out of Corbin County. They could continue their hobby elsewhere.

He wasn't willing to lose Amory though. The other man was the perfect partner, despite his sometimes superior att.i.tude. And perfect partners were so very hard to find.

Amory stepped into the room Amelia had been placed in, amazed Wayne was unaware of the APB out for both of them.

He hadn't wired this room, but that didn't mean his partner hadn't placed, at the least, a listening device inside it.

He'd learned over the years to be paranoid and very careful. Not that he didn't still make mistakes, because he did. His present partner was proof of that. He'd made a h.e.l.l of a mistake there, and he had less than six hours to fix it.

It was nearly time to go home, thank G.o.d.

All his preparations had been made.

The private plane was in place, thanks to his eldest son.

His alternate ident.i.ty had a vehicle waiting close by.

Within a matter of hours, he would shed Amory Wyatt and become Steven Glasglow until he managed to get out of Corbin County and arrive safely in Aspen.

The plane was waiting at the airport.

The private plane his son had purchased the year before under the umbrella of the family business. Who would ever suspect a well-respected businessman from England to have managed to alter not just his face, but his whole persona for over a year as he worked himself into the Slasher's little game?

By the time he left, he would have fulfilled his blood l.u.s.t for a while, and on leaving he would ensure his partner was ruined and no longer a threat. After all, learning the Callahans were innocent of the crimes laid at their feet had pretty much ruined this game anyway.

The rules had been a lie to begin with, because their basis didn't exist. Because of this, his partner would have to pay.

Amelia, though, had done nothing to deserve her punishment, just as Anna Corbin had not. Yet both of them had paid. Both of them would still pay yet further. And that was truly a shame. They had already paid a lifetime for crimes they had not committed. For men they had not been with.

The men too had been innocent.

What a disappointment to learn the family of Callahans had always been innocent. For generations his family had been led to believe the Callahans had begun the bloodshed all those generations before. That they had deceived his ancestor. That the Callahans worked with his ancestor and Jonathon Mulrooney in their quest for blood, only to have betrayed Jonathon and his partner, Devon Castle-not that that had been his real name-and caused them to be hanged while escaping unscathed himself.

To learn that early Callahans had nothing to do with the betrayal of Devon Castle changed the rules. They could only shed the blood of the enemy, and the Callahans had done nothing to the family of Devon Castle to be considered the enemy.

No, family had always been most important, and they had tried to teach that to the Mulrooneys at one time.

They had never learned their lessons.

Releasing the straps that held Amelia to the bed, Amory mentally shook his head. No, the Mulrooneys had never learned, but they would now.

Wrapping Amelia's slight body in a blanket, Amory carried her from the room without ever speaking to her. Just in case his partner was listening. Just in case he had become suspicious. And that was always possible.

Carrying Amelia's body outside the remote cabin to the SUV he'd acquired, Amory slid her into the back, grinning at the tension in her body. The mild dosage of the drug was even less than Anna had been given. He had readjusted the active drug in the mix himself. What Amelia had been given had only made her mildly disoriented and completely capable of maintaining her control. It kept her from appearing conscious, while all along she had been. Just as Elizabeth Haley had been fully conscious. Fully aware of Wayne Sorenson's ident.i.ty.

Sliding into the driver's seat of the SUV, Amory chuckled.

His partner had no idea who Elizabeth Haley was, but Amory knew full well. He had run the search on her through his partner's home computer. He'd even gone so far as to attempt to hack the U.S. Marshals' network, which had immediately resulted in more than the two teams Amory had told Wayne about being sent to the area. They were awaiting Wayne.

Within the next couple of hours, there would be two young women found. Amelia Sorenson and Elizabeth Haley would be found in Crowe Callahan's mountain cabin, and what an incredible story they would have to tell. A story that would destroy his partner's life, and for a while at least, would allow the Callahans to live in peace.

CHAPTER 23.

The Corbins had had over two decades to explain their actions, and to explain the truth to her, Anna thought the next day as she dressed.

b.u.t.toning the silk white-and-maroon-striped sleeveless blouse, she straightened the hem over the creamy calf-length full skirt she'd purchased from the Goodwill store after first moving in with Archer.

He liked the skirts. She liked the way his gaze darkened, then flared with hunger whenever she wore them.

The skirts or dresses made her feel more confident. Three-inch or higher heels gave her an illusion of height while the skirts or dresses made her feel more feminine, yet stronger.

One of her professors had always claimed that a woman held her greatest power when she looked her most feminine. That soft, flowing dresses gave a woman an illusion of hope and forgiveness. Straight skirts and stiffly starched blouses beneath blazers gave a woman the appearance of superiority and power while casual day dresses gave the appearance of maternity, of mother's love and cookies and brownies baking in a kitchen filled with love.

Today, her skirt was soft and flowing, her blouse silky and warm, her heels at three inches, adding height but giving the aura of hope and forgiveness.

When she walked into her grandfather's home, she wanted them to think she was weak, that she was all love and forgiveness and please-allow-me-to-come-home.

She would never return to the ranch and Anna knew it.

She would never see her family in the same light, because she had changed since leaving. She hadn't just changed in becoming Archer's lover, or in knowing she loved him versus just believing she loved him. She had changed in the fact that since she had left, she'd learned everything she knew about herself was a lie.

She'd changed because she wasn't the child she had been when she had announced she wasn't returning to a college she had already graduated from. She wasn't that naive, uncompromising young woman she had been when she had started walking down a mountain road, all but daring a killer to take notice of her.

She didn't need her family to be her life any longer.

She needed her family to be honest with her. She needed them to look her in the eye and answer the questions she had and be willing to find common ground with her once it was over.

"Anna?" Archer stepped into the bathroom as she completed her makeup and came to a hard stop.

The woman who faced him was unlike any side of Anna he had seen since she had come to live with him.

Her long hair was piled to the back of her head in a loose pile of silken warmth, then secured with a tortoisesh.e.l.l clip.

Dark ringlets fell around her face here and there and haphazardly down her neck and back.

She looked like a college student dressed for a day of shopping or lying around the house reading.

Or his lover arming herself for a meeting that meant so much to her.

"What do you think?" She breathed in deeply as she turned to him, laying the slim tube of satiny lipstick to the side as she faced him.

Her makeup was so subtle, so well applied that it took a minute to realize she was actually wearing anything other than the slight shininess of the lipstick.

"You look like a very beautiful, lovely, innocent young woman who loves her friends and her job, but more importantly, she loves her family," he put his thoughts and the appearance she projected into words. "You just want answers, Anna. It's time they give them to you."

She nodded slowly before brushing her hands down the material covering her hips and breathing in once again.

"Have you heard from Crowe?" She didn't look at him as she voiced the question. Instead, she looked at the candy-pink shade of polish on her toenails and the effect of the strappy sandals on her feet.

"Nothing yet," he admitted. "Rafer called earlier to check on you though. He, Logan, Skye, and Cami will be here tonight. Hopefully Crowe will be here as well."

"Amelia?" Her voice lowered.

They hadn't found Amelia in her home. No sooner than she had left the hospital, she had disappeared.

"We'll find her, Anna," he promised, though he was afraid once they did, what they found would break Anna's heart.

Amelia was Wayne's daughter. She could have been aware of what he was doing and currently aiding his escape. Or she could have become a victim instead.

"We'll find her," she nodded, but he could see the fear in her eyes.

"Are you sure you want to see your family today, Anna?" he asked her then. "There have been a lot of changes in your life and a lot to get a handle on."

She nodded her head. "I'm ready to go."

Anna gave herself one last glance in the mirror before stepping from the bedroom and picking up the tan leather purse she'd left at the bottom of the bed.

Archer remained behind her as she left the house, then as he always did, he moved to the pa.s.senger side of the SUV, opened her door, and helped her inside.

The drive from Sweetrock to the Corbins' ranching operation was the longest ride she believed she had ever made in her life.

They didn't even attempt to make small talk, the questions and lack of answers stood between them like a chasm. Anna prayed that once those explanations were made that she would find some measure of peace with her family.

Archer glanced at her as they drove closer to the ranch.

Realizing what he felt for her had been the hardest battle he believed he had ever fought. Letting go of those lifelong obstacles to giving his heart hadn't been easy. But, G.o.d, the thought that he'd lost her, that he'd been too late to save her, had nearly destroyed him.

"You okay?" Reaching out, Archer covered her hand where it lay in her lap and entwined his fingers with hers.

"I'm fine," she promised.

He could hear the edge of nerves in her voice now. She was a little angry, and perhaps even a little frightened.

"I talked to Rory's uncle, Jordan, today," he informed her as he made the turn to the Corbin property, his gaze going over the vast pasture that stretched out before them and the cattle dotting the landscape. "Rory woke up once early this morning before lapsing into what the doctor called a healing sleep. Amory hit him hard."

Anna nodded. "With a baseball bat. I tried to warn him, but it was too late. Amory acted like he was. .h.i.tting a baseball for a d.a.m.ned home run, the way he drew it back."

She had been stepping outside the bedroom. She'd seen Amory first, drawing that bat back, then Rory had come around the corner, his expression hard and cold. He'd known someone was in the house, but he'd seen her and hadn't expected anyone to be around the corner. And she hadn't been able to react in time.

"It wasn't your fault, sweetheart." He tightened his hold on her hand as his thumb caressed her knuckles gently.

"It was my fault," she denied. "It really was, Archer, because I refused to leave, even knowing the danger I could be drawing to myself and those trying to protect me. I should have made other choices."