Page 34 of Touched

I shake my head. There’s no way she could possibly be here. I have to find her though. I wonder if that troll knows what the hell he’s talking about.

Freaking trolls… this has all taken a turn for the unexpectedly weird.

Fairies, trolls… what’ll be next? Unicorns? Leprechauns?

I should go back there, to where I last saw her, and see if I can find any evidence of where she may have been taken. That’s my job, after all, and I’m damn good at it.

Why haven’t I found her yet?

Why hasn’t she found me yet?

She seems to be pretty good at tracking me down, if, in fact, all of this is real and I’m not in some alternate state of mind or in a coma or something.

Was I in an accident I don’t remember? Is this all some sort of fever dream?

Is my mind playing tricks on me, and I’m really lying in a hospital bed somewhere, having succumbed to heat stroke or an on-the-job accident?

“LeBlanc!” Lieutenant Antoine’s stern voice fills my ear. “Where are you? We need to move in!”

Fuck. He’s right.

Shit!

Focus, Callum! It’s go time.

I give the command to execute. We’re going to lose these guys if I don’t get her out of my head.

That is my problem. I can’t get her out of my head. Something about her has taken over my mind, my thoughts, my very life. The innate need to protect her, at all costs, has me questioning everything.

Sucking in a heavy breath, I pull my Glock from my chest holster. Its shape and weight feel familiar in my hands, bringing an instant alertness to my mind. I keep to the shadows, creeping ever closer to the Trahan brothers.

Their muffled voices become clearer the closer I get to them. In my earpiece, my team is relaying their positions and coordinating maneuvers just as we discussed during the planning. Everything is going as planned. We’ve triangulated their location inside the warehouse.It’s go time.I’m about to give the call for SWAT to head in and do their thing.

Only…

What the actual fuck?

Am I hearing this correctly? No fucking way.

“We’ve missed them.”

“I don’t see them.”

“Where’d they go?”

“They must’ve found out we were on to them.”

“Someone tipped them off!”

What the fuck are they talking about?

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hiss back into my comm. “They’re standing right there! Now fucking move!” I see them as clear as day at the front of the warehouse. The three brothers all look the same. Tall, lanky, disheveled, yet not unattractive. Several other burly guys stand guard around the large wooden crates being unloaded from the back of a covered box truck. Crate after crate, I watch as they freely unload the smuggled goods without resistance fromanyone.

I hear the lieutenant give the order to fall back, seeing as we must have been given misinformation.

What the hell is going on? They’re right fucking there!

“Lieutenant, I have eyes on them. What are you doing? We can easily take these assholes down.”

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