Page 100 of Haunted Hearts

He is right not to trust me, but I have no intention of using it. I simply just want to cover my own ass. I take it that’s not the reason you’ve crawled into my head though, is it?

No, of course not. Go ahead and show me whatever it is.

I close my eyes and drop my guard, allowing whatever comes into my mind to come. Flashes of a red light appear behind my closed lids, and I hear her. Calli.

“Tell them to hurry the fuck up.”

I smile to myself; it doesn’t seem like she’s injured. That’s good. Although I can’t see anything, knowing she is safe for now is enough.

Thank you.

I imagine everything is going to pick up from here. I am banking on her not doing anything stupid. I can accept her hating me for the rest of her life, but I cannot forgive her life being cut short due to her being reckless. Working with these idiots is completely beneath me, but every chess game needs pawns.

I have one goal: get her to safety and survive to receive her wrath. And the grimoire is my leverage. Had I not noticed him with it, I would’ve brought it myself. But Cade’s not going to be any use to me if he loses his shit.

The plane begins to descend, and soon I hear the squealing of the tires as we slow down to a stop.

He will die if he is anything less than ready for the shitstorm we’re about to endure, and I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you care about his well-being. We need to do something.

Walking over to Cade, I open the overhead bin and grab his bag before he can argue.

He immediately stands. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Calm down, big brother. I’ll be with you the entire time, right?” I say, looking down at him as he puffs his chest out, probably thinking he’s making himself look bigger. How cute.

“You can’t compromise the plan. When we find Rosa, the grimoire is our only means of convincing her to give us Calli,” Cade says.

“And you really think I would fuck that up?” I ask.

I can see the gears turning in Cade’s head as he ponders my question. I don’t need to convince him of anything; he knows I wouldn’t do anything that would put Calli in danger. I may be a liar, and a murderer, but I love her. And he knows that.

“Fine. Just keep it out of my sight until I ask for it.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” I smile; swinging the duffel bag over my shoulder, I bring it back to my seat, opening Calli’s bag I brought.

I hear a phone buzzing, and I turn my head to see Cade pull his phone out of his pocket and answer quickly; he puts it on speaker.

“I don’t have a lot of time, but I needed to let you know that something happened. I’m not sure what, but Rosa is planning to move Calli tonight.” I recognize the voice on the other line as Ben’s.

“We’ve only just landed, I need more time to get there,” Cade responds, almost frantically.

“We don’t have time, but I have a plan. When do you think you can be here?”

“I’m an hour away, but what the hell are you planning to do? You are one guy. You need to stand down and try to stall them.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Halloway. We both came from the same stock. I’m going to take care of the guards where they are keeping her in the basement. When you get here, hit them hard, I’ll need the distraction. I got to go.”

“Wait! Ben! Goddamn it!” Cade puts his hand up as if he’s going to throw his phone, but he stops himself.

“That’s not good,” Alok says, still sitting in his seat as the plane door opens.

“No shit, we need to hurry,” Jack agrees.

I pull out the grimoire and look at it for a moment. I’ve never seen it this close before. Ugly thing.

“Why do you have that?” Jack asks, looking at me as if I stole something.

I pause for a moment; I actually don’t know the answer to that. I assumed Cade just thought it would be beneficial to bring it knowing they need it.