“How?” Thorpe demanded, looking at Sean as if he never had any mind to actually lose. “My world is upside down. Anyone who knows me knows damn well that I wouldn’t let that girl go without a fight.”
“Maybe, but you’re crazy if you think the bureau isn’t watching you, too. They don’t get eyes on Callie too often outside Dominion. But you . . . every time you’ve hopped on a commercial flight or even taken a taxi since we identified her has been tracked and noted, just in case you leaving is a sign that she’s darting with you.”
“Someone inside the club snitched that we’re close?”
Sean quickly assured him with a shake of his head. “Before I joined, I couldn’t get anyone to talk, but the bureau surmised it. She’s never stayed in one place for even half this long, so we had to assume that she was attached to someone here. You seemed like the most logical choice. The second I got in the door, I knew she’d remained here all these years for you.”
He didn’t tell Thorpe that he knew Callie had largely accepted his collar to see if Thorpe would care. If the bastard hadn’t figured out that she was in love with him, too, Sean didn’t feel the need to enlighten him. In his book, if Thorpe hadn’t claimed her by now, he’d missed his chance.
“Here’s a thought,” Thorpe tossed out. “You stay here and look ‘normal.’ I’ll borrow someone else’s car and head west, in case they’re looking for mine. I’ll find Callie.”
“Sure you will. While you’re working out some scheme in your head where you intend to clear the country with her, never to be seen again. I promise I won’t let that happen. I’ll throw obstruction, tampering, harboring a fugitive—whatever I can make stick—at you. I’ll also prosecute the hell out of Axel for breaking into my apartment and tampering with federal evidence. You’ll both go to jail. And before you tell me Axel had nothing to do with it, shut up and spare me the lie.”
“Then we’re at a crossroads. You want to find her. I want to find her. You give me the ‘two heads are better than one’ speech, then think you’re going to leave me here while you find Callie alone?” Thorpe shook his head. “At this point, I don’t give a f**k if you try to arrest me. I only care about bringing her back safe. I don’t doubt that she’s dodged some unscrupulous men in the past who have looked at her and seen nothing but that two-million-dollar bounty.” Thorpe frowned at him. “If she’s not actually wanted for a crime, why the big price on her head?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t have any other family to put up money, so that’s another mystery that makes no sense to me. But if Uncle Sam is willing to pony up that much cash, she’s somehow valuable. Someone else knows that—and knows why. People far more dangerous than bounty hunters.”
Thorpe went absolutely still. “Whoever killed her family?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. After all, they also shot her the night she escaped. If they wanted her dead then, why stop trying now?”
“You’re right. Jesus . . .”
“According to the files I have access to, she’s eluded some well-paid assassins over the last nine years. Someone wants to silence her. I just wish I knew why. I’d love to hunt down these ass**les so I can keep her safe.”
“We can’t stand here and f**k around. This is bigger than I imagined.” Thorpe didn’t look like a man who ever begged, but he came pretty close now. “Two heads are better than one. You might know more about her background, but I know her. I know who she is now. I have a better idea where she’d go, what she’d do, and why.”
Sean paused and reluctantly nodded. “All right. But you can’t take her out of the country once we find her.”
“We’ll work that out later. Let’s find her first.”
Sean didn’t like it, but Thorpe had a valid point. “My rules, though. Leave your phone here.”
“What? No!” Thorpe looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “If she calls me—”
“She won’t. She left her phone here with all her contact numbers.”
“Callie memorizes numbers. She knows how to call me.”
Sean shook his head. “The bureau is monitoring the location of your phone. Leave it here.”
“Damn it! How?”
“Trade secret. Get a burner phone and tell Axel how to find you in case Callie calls you or returns. We need a car, not yours or mine.”
“Axel will be happy to drive my Jag while I’m gone,” Thorpe drawled.
“Perfect.” Sean clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go. We both need to grab as much cash as we can. Once we do, we’ll get on the road. Hopefully, we can be out of Dallas before dawn.”
“And what, just head west?”
With a nod, Sean’s face turned grim. “We’ll hope for a break in the information as we’re traveling.”
After a quick chat with Axel, they exchanged keys, and his head of security was grinning from ear to ear, promising to take care of the business and car, as Thorpe made his way to his office. Just as he set his phone in a drawer of his desk to lock it up, it chimed with a text. Sean glanced at the screen. Logan Edgington. 911.
“What does he want at this late hour?” Sean asked.
“Not sure. Might have something to do with a phone call I made earlier.” He snatched his phone up again and quickly hit a few buttons, then jammed the device against his ear.