Page 17 of Shadows Relived
Too damn close.
He was halfway back to the cabin, idling on the shoulder of a service road beneath the shade of a cypress stand, before he pulled out his cell phone, having left thesatellite phone with Meaghan with explicit instructions not use it unless it was an emergency. Two rings later and Blaze’s voice came through, low and gravel-rough.
“Blaze.”
“It’s me.”
“Well, about damn time. You all right? I’m guessing that nonsense in St. Augustine was you?”
He sighed as he glanced in the rearview mirror, making sure no one was slowing down behind him. “It was, but I wasn’t the one shooting, just running. And we’re fine. We got out, and I just heard the local radio in town. They’re already spinning their wheels on what happened at the school.”
“No surprise,” Blaze muttered. “It’s a feeding frenzy, just as all shootings are. I can’t believe they went after your girl at a school. Kind of public for something like that.”
“I guess they were hoping to make it look like some crazy shooter. It could also have been a message to the senator about how far they’re willing to go.”
“True story,” Blaze said. “Any idea yet why they’re trying to hurt Meaghan to get to her father?”
“I haven’t talked to him yet.” He took a deep breath.
“Well, while you’ve been playing knight in shining armor, I’ve been working all night.”
Callen adjusted the volume and leaned back in the seat. “Any progress?”
“Depends on how deep you want to go.”
Callen’s jaw ticked. “I want the truth, Blaze. What did her father do to get himself in this kind of trouble? Seems a far stretch for a climatebill.”
“Funny you should ask. Because it’s not the climate bill.”
Callen straightened. “What?”
“Well, your senator friend wasn’t lying. He is pushing hard on a climate bill, and it’s got oil lobbyists pissed off, but nothing that would make someone take a shot at a school. There’s no actionable chatter, no credible threat tied to environmental policy.”
“Then what?”
“I started digging into the senator’s financial disclosures. He’s got a partnership with a land development firm called New Horizons Acquisition Group, mostly silent ownership, no press, but big footprints.”
“That sounds vague.”
“It gets worse. New Horizons is sitting on swamp permits that should’ve taken years to push through, fast-tracked every single one. EPA oversight mysteriously waived. You connect the dots, you get companies using them to reroute protected land into industrial sites.
Callen exhaled hard. “So Harrington’s not clean.”
“Clean enough to stand in front of a camera,” Blaze said. “But someone found out about the real estate shell game. My guess? The senator backed out of a deal, or pissed off the wrong buyer. And now they’re using Meaghan to force his hand in some way.”
Callen’s hand curled into a fist on the steering wheel as he bit back a growl.
“Where are you?” Blaze asked.
Callen hesitated, then gave him the coordinates. “Old cabin of my father’s. Back side of the state park near a town called Maple Hollow.”
“I take it Meaghan is there now.”
Callen sighed as he glanced out the driver’s window. “Yeah, with three of her students.” He closed his eyes as he shook his head.
“I’m sorry? Come again.”
“Wasn’t my choice,” he said. “Everything happened so damn fast, and she refused to leave the kids with anyone else. Apparently, each of them has a story, and none of them are good. We tried reaching out to their families last night, but, well, let’s just say, they’re probably better off with us.”
