To Have A Heart (A New Adventure Begins - Star Elite 7)

“What about your friend? He said he was going to help you. What if he is in there?” Mallory asked.

“He is probably on his way to freedom by now as well,” Callum snorted. “Sir – he – has the uncanny ability to get himself out of scrapes and wouldn’t be anywhere near that place if he knew it was going to explode like that. He isn’t a fool.”

“He did that?” Mallory pointed to the house.

Callum lifted his brows at her. “Has anything like that ever happened there before?”

“No. No, it hasn’t. Obviously. Because the house is still standing.”

“We have to make use of the time he has given us to make good our escape. I can deal with any of the guards should they continue to follow us.”

There was no doubt in Callum’s mind that Sir Hugo had blown up Melrose’s house to stop Melrose from having somewhere to hide his kidnap victims. Sir Hugo would have scoured the house to look for anybody else being hidden there before laying his explosives.

“Where do we go now? As soon as the fire is out, they will come after us, won’t they?” Mallory asked breathlessly as she stumbled across a roughly ploughed field after him.

“If Melrose, the man who owns that house, is still alive then yes, he will want to find you. He will know we have you and will want to silence you.”

Callum looked back at her. When he saw her wide eyes, he knew he was scaring her.

Despite the delay, Callum turned to face her.

“Look, I can protect you from guards and dogs, but I cannot protect you from the truth. You are a witness, the only witness we have who can attest to what happens to the kidnap victims. You can identify the employees who helped Melrose keep you captive. We might be out in the middle of nowhere right now, but that isn’t going to be for long. We must get to a safe house in town. When we reach it, you can tell Sir Hugo what you have experienced; how they kidnapped you; when; where; and where they hid you once you had been taken; and answer any other questions he has. Then, you can wait until Melrose and the rest of his gang have been arrested. When they are behind bars, you will be free to go – and only then.”

“The rest of the gang?” Mallory hated the thought that there might be more of them.

Her gaze flew to the house. Against the backdrop of the orange flames, the darkness was even more impenetrable. It was difficult to see if anybody was following.

“One man cannot run such a sophisticated kidnapping ring by himself. He needs help. Some of Melrose’s men have already been put behind bars, but Melrose has avoided capture because he has people who are helping him.”

“How did you know where to find me? I mean, who are you?”

“I cannot go into that right now,” Callum growled.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I can go into that when we reach the safe house,” Callum replied.

“Who is this ‘we’ you keep talking about?”

Mallory scowled and wondered if he was being deliberately evasive. Something warned her that he wasn’t going to answer her questions even once they reached the safe house. She had to wonder why; what he was hiding. If he expected her to be honest with him, he had to be fair with her and answer some of her questions, didn’t he?

“Look, can we just get going? Please? We must use this time Sir Hugo has given us well. If we stand here explaining how we have managed to get this far we will lose our advantage over the guards.”

Mallory glanced at the house again. This time, she could see the definite outline of men drawing closer.

“They are still coming,” she whisper

ed in horror, even though Callum could see the small group of men for himself.

“This way, and hurry.”

This time, when they started to run, Callum and Mallory had a renewed sense of purpose, a direction, and it had nothing to do with the burning house behind them, or the guards.

“Are you going to shoot them?”

“What do you think? Look away.”

While Mallory turned around, Callum positioned himself in front of her and took aim. He instinctively flinched when the loud bang of a guard’s gun shattered the night air. In return, he squeezed the trigger of his own gun and watched the new leader of the group fall to his knees.