That Summer Night (Callaways #6) (30 page)

He smiled. "I'm betting you chased them down."

"Of course. So what now?" She set the first aid kit on the table.

"Now we go treasure hunting."

"Should we take everything with us?"

"Grab the notebook in case we need it. I'm going to see if there are any shovels in the shed." As he finished speaking, he took the gun off the table and slipped it into his waistband.

She hated to see his hand on the weapon, but after what had happened yesterday, she was happy they had it. She'd never thought of herself as a violent person, someone capable of killing another human being. But if she'd had the gun and Reid's life had been in danger, she was pretty sure she could have pulled the trigger. Luckily, she hadn't had to make that decision, because Reid had drawn the danger away from her. He'd put himself in the line of fire to protect her. That was the kind of man he was.

They walked onto the porch. Reid pulled the door shut and locked it. "Just in case anyone comes by. Hopefully they won't realize we were ever here."

He walked over to the shed and opened a door that was already off of its hinges. He returned a moment later with a shovel. He set it on the steps, then grabbed a long, leafy branch from the ground and swiped it through the dirt, apparently attempting to erase any footsteps.

It was very quiet where they were. She could hear the breeze rustling through the trees, the distant sound of the waterfall and the squawk of a bird overhead, but the rest of the world felt very far away. But that's what she'd thought yesterday, right before someone had taken a shot at her.

Reid tossed the branch into the trees and gave her a nod. She followed him around the cabin, going in the opposite direction from where they'd come the day before. She had no idea where they were anymore, but she trusted Reid to get them to where they were going and hopefully back out again.

They walked for fifteen minutes, the path climbing up the mountain, a little steep in places, but she stuck close to Reid until the trail widened and they were facing a beautiful stream that was probably a raging river when the snow melted. But in July it was little more than a trickle.

"I don't know that Robert would bury anything near a creek where the water might rise and flood the surrounding area," she said.

"I agree. We're going across to the other side."

He eyed the creek, found a spot where three flat rocks provided a nice footbridge, and then they crossed. They walked away from the water to a large outcropping of rocks that overlooked the other side of the canyon.

Reid studied the rocks, then put his shovel into the dirt and began to dig. He'd only made a small indentation when she saw the pain on his face.

"Stop," she ordered.

He didn't pay her any attention. So she grabbed the shovel and made him stop. "Give it to me. You're going to start bleeding again."

"I can handle it."

"So can I. Let go, Reid. When I get tired, you can take over."

He reluctantly let go of the shovel. She tossed the notebook onto the ground and started to dig. After ten minutes of digging, she was a little over a foot down and hadn't seen anything but a few worms. Reid was restlessly pacing behind her, obviously itching to make faster work of the process, but in his condition, he wouldn't be able to do much better than her.

"Are you sure this is the spot?" she asked breathlessly.

"I'm not sure about anything," he muttered. "I'll take over."

"Not yet." She picked up the pace. Three more heaping piles of dirt, and her shovel hit something hard. Her pulse sped up in anticipation. "I've got something."

Reid came over, and they both dug through the dirt with their hands. Finally, Reid pulled out an aluminum capsule about the size of a thermos.

"We found it," she said, feeling a little amazed.

They stood up. Reid broke the seal and pulled out a rolled-up stack of papers.

"What is it?" she asked impatiently, moving next to him.

He unraveled the papers, and together they read the first one. It was a listing of items in the capsule. But the listing wasn't as important as what was apparently coming, details of medical trials, financial reports, and private emails. Shayla tried to make sense of what she was reading.

"Damn," Reid said. He lowered the papers to look at her. "Robert was building a case against Abbott Pharmaceuticals. The drug trials were a bust. Data was being falsified. It's all right here. Robert was going to blow the whistle on the company."

"Let me see those," she said, needing to look at the evidence herself. If the drug trial was a bust, why hadn't Robert told her? Why hadn't he told anyone? Or maybe he had. "Look," she said. "Emails between Robert and Karl Straitt."

Reid took the paper from her hand and skimmed the information. "Robert told Karl that the drug was making people sick, that they needed to stop, and that he needed Karl to help him convince Hal and the others, because they wouldn't listen to Robert. This email was dated one week before the assault on the clinic," Reid said.

"Why didn't Robert just stop the trial? How could he let people continue to get sick?"

"I think he was trying to do that." Reid flipped through more papers. "Here's a transcript of a phone call between Hal and Robert. 'If you try to end this, we'll end you. You're not the only one who knows how to gather evidence.'" He looked at Shayla. "Sounds like a threat to me. We need to get this information to the right people."

"Who would those people be? Robert didn't trust anyone except us."

"Matt will know the right people. And Robert is trusting us to protect this information, which we're going to do. Hopefully, he'll get back in touch with you, and we can get him to safety, but I'm not going to wait here for him." Reid took the emails from her hand and shoved them back into the capsule along with the rest of the papers.

Shayla heard the rustle of bushes and a slippery slide of rocks. "Someone's coming," she said, her heart leaping into her throat.

She whirled around to see a man emerging from the trees, a rifle in his hands. He wore a tan coat over jeans, a baseball cap on his head. She didn't know why he hadn't already shot them, but she didn't think their good fortune was going to last long.

"I've got what you want," Reid said quickly, holding up the aluminum capsule. "It's all here. The information your bosses want. Just take it and go."

"Drop it on the ground," the man said in a clipped, cold voice.

Shayla could see Reid's hesitation. He was trying to think of a way out. But there was no way out. This time she wasn't going to escape with her life. The certainty settled over her like an icy blanket.

"Drop it," the man repeated.

"I'm setting it down," Reid said, both hands in the air in a defensive posture.

She willed him to go as slowly as possible, to put off the moment when they had nothing this man wanted, although, he could just kill them and take the capsule. She didn't really know why he hadn't.

A dozen thoughts ran through her mind as she contemplated what was about to happen, all the things she'd wished she'd said, not only to her family, but also to Reid. But it was too late now.

Reid dropped the capsule on the ground and kicked it toward the gunmen.

The man took a step forward, then staggered to his knees as a large rock hit him square in the back of the head.

Shayla was stunned at the sudden turn of events.

Reid raced forward and grabbed the rifle as the gunman lost consciousness.

Her heart skipped another beat as another man emerged from the woods, obviously the man who had thrown the rock, and she could hardly believe her eyes. It was Robert.

"Is it really you?" she asked. He didn't look anything like he usually did. He wasn't wearing a suit or a white coat. He had on jeans and a t-shirt, and dressed the way he was she could see the similarity between him and Reid, although Robert was thinner and his hair was lighter, his skin more pale.

"It's me. Are you guys all right?" He looked from Shayla, to Reid, then to the man on the ground. "I did it. I knocked him out. I wasn't sure I could take him down with one rock," he said, amazement in his voice. "But I knew I only had one chance."

"Your timing was perfect," she said, her voice still shaking with fear. She looked from Reid to Robert as the two men exchanged a long look filled with complicated emotions.

"Thanks for coming," Robert said. "I was hoping you would."

Reid moved the gun to his left hand and took a step forward.

Shayla thought the two brothers were going to hug it out. But instead, Reid drew back his arm and slugged Robert in the face. Robert stumbled backward, putting his hand to his nose as blood spurted down his face.

"What was that for?" Robert yelled.

"For almost getting us killed," Reid snapped back. "What the hell were you thinking contacting Shayla, getting her involved in all this?"

"She was the only one I could trust. I thought she would give you the message and that would be the end of it. I didn't know she was going to come with you." He sent Shayla an apologetic look, then said, "Why did you come with Reid?"

"Because someone was watching me, following me, and because I wanted to help you."

"I'm sorry, Shayla. I really didn't want you to get involved beyond contacting Reid and giving him the notebook."

"You should have told me what was going on, Robert," she said.

"You looked through the capsule," he said, his lips tightening.

She nodded. "Why didn't you stop the trial?"

"I was going to stop it the next week. I had to taper the patients off of the drug first. I couldn’t end it abruptly. That would have done more harm. And I had to be careful how I did it. There were people who wanted to make sure I didn't do anything to stop that trial."

His explanation made her feel marginally better. At least he had been concerned about his patients.

"I'll explain everything to you," Robert promised, wiping the blood from his nose.

"You'll explain later," Reid said. "We need to get out of here now before someone else shows up."

"I know, but I can't just give that evidence to anyone. I need your help, Reid. You must have connections from your days in the Army," Robert said. "Abbott has a lot of power, friends in high places. They already killed the first person I talked to. I have to be smart about this."

"Was that Karl Straitt?" Reid asked.

Robert nodded. "He told me what I needed to do before I could blow the whistle on Abbott. He called me when I was in Colombia, the day of the attack. He told me that I was in danger. He gave me the name of someone who could help me get out of the country. I was talking to that man when the clinic was raided. I had no idea anything like that would happen. I thought I was the target, only me. You have to believe that." He looked at Shayla. "I was terrified for you, but the man I was with told me that you'd been rescued, that you were fine, that the medical team was at the embassy and that he couldn't guarantee my safety if I went to join you. I was so relieved when I heard you were all right."

"So you didn't know the attack was coming?" she asked. "You have to be honest with me, Robert. I have to know the truth."

"I swear I didn't, Shayla. If I had, I would have made sure you weren't there. I never imagined they'd go after the clinic or the patients. I was shocked beyond belief."

She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but the truth in his eyes. "I want to believe you didn't leave us to fend for ourselves."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Where have you been since then?" Shayla asked.

"It took me four days to get out of South America. Then I had to make my way up from Los Angeles without anyone figuring out where I was. There are a lot of people looking for me." He paused, his lips drawing into a tight angry line. "I was watching the news the other night and I saw that Karl's body had been pulled out of the bay. I couldn't believe they'd killed him. It probably happened right after he warned me. I never should have gone to him in the first place. If I hadn't, he might still be alive. I've made some bad mistakes. I'm just glad I wasn't too late today."

"Did you drive here?" Reid asked.

"No, I took a bus to Helmsley and then I hitched a ride with a trucker to the south entrance. It look me longer to get here, but I thought it would be a safer trip."

"You were smarter than I was," Reid said grimly. "We were followed. Someone tried to take us out yesterday. I had to shoot him."

Robert's expression turned grim. "I am sorry. I honestly didn't think you'd be in danger. I appreciate your help. I know you didn't have to come and you probably didn't want to."

"Well, you sent the right person to ask me," Reid returned. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

They didn't talk at all on the long hike back to Reid's truck. Shayla had a million questions running around in her head, but she was too worried about someone else popping out of the woods with a gun to get any words out of her mouth. She didn't know if Reid deliberately steered them away from where the other gunman had died, but she saw no sign of the body they'd left in the woods.

Two hours later, they were on the road. Shayla sat between the two men in the cab of the truck, feeling the tension emanating from both of them, but no one seemed willing to be the first to speak.

When they finally reached the main highway, Reid pulled out his phone. He punched in a number and said. "Kelton, I need a safe house." He listened for a moment. "Got it. Yeah, I found him, but not without some collateral damage. Two men, both looked ex-military." He paused again, then said, "We're two hours away."

"A safe house?" Shayla asked when he tossed the phone down.

"We need to figure out our next move, and this time I intend to do it in a high security building." He glanced past her to Robert. "Who's running the show at Abbott?"

"Hal Collins," Robert said.

"Lisa's new boyfriend. How nice."

"He's an evil man," Robert said. "I tried to warn Lisa about him, but she wouldn't hear me. All she could see was his money and what he could give her."