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"She's missing. Her squad was out in the field two weeks ago. Iraq. They were caught up in a bomb attack. Bad one. They've found no bodies, no trace of her, nothing. I guess I'm just pissed off that I'm not there, you know?" He shrugs.
I sit forward. "You've been out of the army for years, you can't blame yourself. Have you spoken with the army?"
"I'm not family. I spoke with her brother, but he had nothing to add. Her parents are going out of their minds. Josh, their sergeant now, he’s missing as well. I had hoped to get information from him."
"And that's why you've been a prick lately."
“Cheers. Say it how it is, why don’t you?”
I should have guessed something was going on sooner, but unless Clay is ready to talk, nothing will make him open up, not even to me.
"I'm going out on that security detail tonight. You won't need to babysit me."
"Ah, the English princess. Good luck with that one. She's usually unpleasant when we work with her. Daddy’s orders don't always go down well. "
"Well, she's met her match. We can be unpleasant people together."
This is the first time Clay is working this security detail. I have my doubts that it’s the best job for him, especially with his frame of mind, but it’s a bit late to change things.
"Be nice," I warn my brother.
“I’m always nice.”
“Debatable.” I groan. “Look, I don’t know what to say to you about Shay, just know that I’m here if you need me. Anytime.”
He nods.
"Caleb, we need you out here," shouts Amber, a colleague we have working with us.
A frown crosses my face. Clay and I stand up and make our way into the middle of our office block. We all have offices surrounding the middle area. That area is where we hash out every little detail of our cases. If walls had ears, then these walls would hold a lot of information.
"What's going on?" I ask.
A tall man turns around and I instantly see my old partner, Al.
"Caleb." He walks towards me and holds his hand out for me to shake.
Al and I don’t see all that much of each other now. Occasionally, we’ll have a night out, but his working schedule is still as fucked up as it was when I worked with him years ago. I doubt that will ever change in our over-worked police departments.
I return his handshake. "Hey. What's going on?"
I know Al, and he wouldn't be here unannounced if it wasn't important.
"Can I trust everyone here?" He looks around the room.
"Of course. You know Clay and Chris, but this is Amber, Mike, Liam, and Stewart. There's a few of us missing due to cases, but you can say whatever you need to." I lean against a desk.
"We've been working a kidnapping case. You've all probably seen it in the news. Three women have gone missing in twelve weeks. We've been following up all leads, profiling, and working around the clock. Anyway, two of the three girls turned up dead, but one is still missing."
"What do you need from us?"
Unless I’m mistaking something, none of this has anything to do with us here at Shawland Security.
"You.” He points at me. “Another woman has turned up alive that we didn't know about. She says she knows you. She asked for you when we found her. She didn't know you weren't in the police force anymore."
Anyone I know personally would know about my career change… wouldn’t they?
Curiosity gets the better of me and I ask, "Who?"
