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Callum crouched in front of her and stroked her hair. “We have to. We have to keep you safe. There’s a good chance these guys are going to get in here, and we need you in the securest room we have.”
“Clam.” Sophie’s red face turned to him. “I’m scared.”
He reached out and lifted her from her mother. “I know, baby, but we’re going to get through this, okay? I need you to be a brave girl and help your mum and Jack. You can do that, can’t you?”
She didn’t look sure, but she nodded before wrapping her arms around his neck. Callum stood, turning to see Dimitri take the door off the closet. They would use it as a stretche
r to get Jack into the bathroom.
“Come on, Isobel.” Callum held out his hand. “Let the guys take Jack into the other room. We’ll grab some bedding and make it comfortable for him.”
Isobel didn’t look certain, but she put her hand in his and let him tug her to her feet. Callum wrapped his free arm around her waist and pulled her into his body. Her bloodstained hands curled in his shirt.
“I’m scared too,” she whispered.
“I know, sweetheart, but we’re going to get through this.” He kissed her hair, hating that the arsehole had used it to hurt her. “Trust me.”
“I do.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. “You’re it for me, Izzy.” Her hands tightened and she pressed closer to him. Callum leaned back. “Let’s go.”
They hurried to the bathroom, where the closet door was placed on top of the bath with Jack on it. He was still unconscious.
“Wash your hands,” Callum said gently to Isobel as the rest of the team went to gather materials to barricade the room. Callum put the toilet lid down and sat Sophie on it, wrapping the blanket Megan handed him around her.
Once he’d settled Sophie, Callum unhooked Elle from Jack and attached a bag of saline solution to the line in her place. It wasn’t as good as blood, but it would help.
“Why do you have that in the house?” Elle said as she put a Band-Aid on her arm. “It isn’t exactly standard first aid stuff.”
Callum almost smiled. “Hangover cure. From my days when hitting a bottle seemed preferable to dealing with life.”
“Nutter.” She shook her head.
Using cupboard doors and mattresses, Ryan and Callum padded the walls between the bathroom and the rest of the basement. Isobel sat on the toilet lid with Sophie in her arms, watching everything with wide eyes. Dimitri nodded at Callum, and Callum crouched in front of the woman who’d come to mean everything to him in such a short time.
“No matter what you hear,” he said, “stay in this room. Do you understand?”
She nodded and tears started falling again. “Come back to me.”
“You know I will.” He cupped her cheek and pressed a kiss to her soft, soft lips. “Look after your mum, Sophie.” He pressed a kiss to her head before turning to look down at Jack. He was grey, but still breathing. And Callum planned to keep it that way. He looked at the two women he was trusting to act as the last line of defence for Isobel and the kids. “Put the mattress and boards in front of the door once we’re out. Stay in the corners, low to the ground. If anything starts coming through the walls, get as many of you as possible inside the bath. Jack will cope with the move if you have to do it.” He looked at the gun in Megan’s hand. “Shoot anything that comes through the door. If it’s us, we’ll let you know. We have about a half-hour to get through before backup arrives. Do whatever you have to do to stay alive.” He glanced at Isobel, Sophie and Jack. He was coming back to them. It was his promise to himself.
Elle put her hand on his arm. “We’ll protect them.”
Callum nodded and walked out of the room.
“Kill as many as you can,” Megan called cheerily after him.
CHAPTER 27
SILENCE HAD NEVER BEEN SO oppressive. Waiting had never felt so torturous. Sophie had fallen asleep in Isobel’s arms, exhausted from all the emotion and trauma she’d been forced to deal with. Jack was lying on the wooden door, on top of the bath. A tube ran from his arm to the bag of fluids hanging from the shower curtain rail above him. The dressing on his abdomen was getting redder by the minute, but the blood wasn’t pouring out of him anymore.
“I wish I was out there,” Megan said softly.
She sat on the floor facing the door, her back to the bath and her legs stretched out in front of her.
“You do?” Isobel couldn’t comprehend such a thing. She wanted to be as far away from the guns and violence as possible.
“I’m only a trainee badass. I’m not allowed to play with the big boys until I graduate.” Megan thought about it for a minute. “I need to ask someone how long this traineeship is. That was never specified.”
