“Sure.” But he didn’t look away from his show, listening instead to Alex Trebek.
Thorpe gritted his teeth as he and Sean exited. “That was a waste.”
“Maybe not. Callie might skip around for a while to confuse everyone on her trail. We’ll visit this old fart again in a few days if we haven’t found her.”
Trying not to be disheartened or give into exhaustion, he nodded. “Where to next?”
Sean led the way to a handful of motels that advertised weekly or monthly rates. All dives he didn’t ever want to call home. All looked as if they’d had their heyday during the golden age of the Rat Pack. Both gave them similar speeches. No one new renting here who fit that description, yadda, yadda, yadda.
“We need a plan C,” he told Sean.
The other man sighed heavily and raked a hand through his dark waves. “We’re both exhausted. I’m famished. Let’s take a load off and talk this through.”
Food didn’t hold much appeal for Thorpe now, but he could use a cup of strong coffee.
They made their way to a little greasy spoon. As long as they were there, they inquired about Callie. Of course, they came up empty-handed.
“I still can’t figure out why someone military might be looking for her,” Sean said quietly once seated at a table in the corner. -
“I shouldn’t be surprised, either. The Callie I knew only excelled at wanting her way and throwing a hissy until she got it. But I only saw the same bratty act she peddled to everyone else. You know the real woman.”
Thorpe closed his eyes. He did, but it had taken a long while to learn her. After she’d gotten a bit comfortable with him and Dominion, she’d slowly let her guard down. She’d let him in a bit more when she’d laughed at his jokes, passed time with him on the sofa, or chatted with him when she couldn’t sleep. Then again when she’d had the flu, disagreed with him about her sometimes disrespectful behavior, or teased him about his “stodgy” music. And still more when he’d bound her for demos, held her, kissed her . . . barely stopped himself from claiming her when she wasn’t his. He had seen her heart and that’s when he’d fallen in love.
“I’m glad she got away,” he said thickly.
“Clean,” Logan confirmed. “After stopping off at the first bathroom inside the terminal, she walked out no longer carrying her backpack. She’d gotten a red duffel from somewhere. According to Elijah, she dragged it behind her and made her way toward the meet point in baggage claim. She intended to follow through with my plan. I can only guess that she took precautions on the plane just to be safe, then realized the man in uniform just outside the terminal was looking for her. She changed course and walked right past my buddy, then out the door. In the last frame of footage she’s viewable, she’s walking down the long line of taxis. No idea which one she eventually got in.”
So they couldn’t track the vehicle.
Every word felt like a death knell to Thorpe’s hopes of finding her again. “Goddamn it, Logan. She’s got to be terrified out of her mind. And I can’t even f**king find her to help her. She’s alone and worried, maybe even running out of money. Does she even know where she’s going to sleep tonight? She might even be making plans to get out of Vegas now. And I’m too clueless to help her. What kind of protector am I?”
“Cut yourself some slack. You’ve done everything you can to find her. I’m going to look for this military asswipe. Elijah is checking the airport security footage for a picture of him, so we can piece together who he is and why he wants Callie. If we get something, I’ll send it your way. Elijah is local if you need more assistance in your search.” Logan tried to sound both calm and reassuring. “Callie is smart and she knows how to stay alive. We’ll find her and bring her home.”
As Thorpe hung up, he hoped that was true. The alternative was too horrific to contemplate.
***
SEAN dragged his ass out of bed. He could have slept more. His body screamed for it, but Callie’s face haunted him. The feel of her in his arms, the sounds of her saucy laughter in his ear, the haunting beauty of her expressive eyes locked with his as he filled her body . . . Shit, how had he gone on a simple baby-sitting mission and ended up in love?
For over a decade, he’d been married to his job. He’d lost a fiancée once upon a time to his badge. He’d lost touch with all his old pals, his cousins, and anyone who had once occupied his “normal” life.
But in barely more than a handful of months, Callie had rewired his priorities. She mattered. She filled the half of him he hadn’t even known was empty. She’d resurrected him just by being her sweet, bratty, kind, unpredictable self. Damn it, he had to find her—before someone with intentions between nebulous and nefarious did.
All through his blistering-hot shower, he groaned under the spray and tried to think of places he might look for his lovely. After he and Thorpe had caught a nap yesterday afternoon, they’d resumed their search that evening, pounding the pavement and opening the door to nearly every casino, dive bar, and twenty-four-hour diner they could find within walking distance. At four a.m., they’d finally agreed to pause again. He’d told Thorpe he would work on a new plan, but the truth was, he was running out of ideas.
Where the hell could she be? Worry knotted his guts and pinged in his head like a pinball bouncing between bumpers, setting off one alarm bell after another.
Thirty minutes later, Thorpe scooted into a booth across from him in the hotel’s diner. Though dressed immaculately, the man didn’t look any better rested than he felt.
“Anything new from Logan or Elijah?” Sean asked hopefully.
Thorpe answered with a grim shake of his head. “Nothing new since yesterday. Maybe Callie is on the Strip.”
He’d been over this mentally a thousand times in the last twenty-four hours. “Highly unlikely. Anyone who’d employ her down there would insist on having proper identification. Since Callie left her fake driver’s license back in Dallas knowing we’d track that name, she’d have no use for it now. It’s possible she has another alias, but she wouldn’t keep it for long and she wouldn’t have asked Logan for help if she felt secure in the identity. Besides, the video surveillance on the Strip will be far sharper and more sophisticated than anything in the older section of town. The security presence in joints up there is palpable. Callie wouldn’t go there voluntarily. She’s too smart.”
“That makes sense.” Thorpe sighed tiredly, then absently thanked the waitress who took their orders and filled their coffee cups. “Seems like we’ve combed every inch of these streets. I don’t know where else to go.”
The only places downtown left to search were the really unsavory and unpalatable. The dangerous haunts for the depraved and criminal element. But he kept that to himself. Thorpe already looked ready to lose it. The strain of being unable to locate Callie was wearing on him, too. If Sean had ever had any illusions about Thorpe’s feelings, he didn’t now. As much as he hated to admit it, the man genuinely loved her.