The phone rings again. It’s only been an hour since Skull checked on me. Surely he knows I’ll call him the minute I know anything about Beast.
“Skull, sweetheart, I told you I’d call you the minute I knew anything about Beast,” I say, answering the phone.
“Elizabeth.”
My heart freezes. Only one person ever calls me Elizabeth. And, if it had been ten minutes, ten hours, or ten hundred years, I would know that voice… I used to adore that voice.
“Dad.”
“I’ve missed you, sunshine.”
I say nothing. There’s nothing to say. How can he miss someone he gave away?
There’s silence for a few minutes, then I hear his heavy sigh. “I need to see you, sunshine.”
“I can’t right now. There are things going on. It’s just not possible,” I tell him. It’s truthful, but what I leave out is that even if nothing was going on, I never want to see him. I don’t even want to look at him. How could he think I would? He took my sister away from me. He chose her over me. There’s a list of offenses he’s committed and I’m not about to forgive any of them.
“Elizabeth—” he starts.
I don’t let him finish. “I’m sorry. I have to go. I don’t know how you tracked me, but please pretend you never did,” I say, and I’m pulling the phone away from my ear when I hear him say the one thing that would make me stop.
“Skull’s life depends on this, Elizabeth. You need to talk to me.”
I get this sick feeling in my stomach. How can Skull’s life depend on it? Why would this war involve my father in any way? I try and breathe through my panic and pull the phone back to my ear.
“I’m listening.”
“Not over the phone. It’s not safe. You will need to come to me.”
“There’s no way to arrange that. Skull, unlike some men, makes sure the people he loves are safe. He has men with me all the time, especially when he can’t be here himself.”
My father sighs, and I know my verbal strike hit its target. Too bad I can’t feel any joy from it.
“In fifteen minutes, Pistol will show up and take Briar’s place.”
Again my father manages to take my breath away. How does he know Skull’s men? How does he know their names? Worse, how does he know what’s about to happen?
“How do you—”
“That’s not important right now. Listen closely. When Pistol gets there, he will escort you down to the cafeteria. You will follow him and not alert anyone to what is about to happen. When you get there, excuse yourself to the restroom. Once you’re there, there’s a small hall off to the right. Pistol will lead you to it. That goes to the kitchen. Someone will be waiting for you there. Don’t mess this up, Elizabeth. I’m trying to save lives here, but if you don’t cooperate, that won’t be possible.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because you don’t have a choice, sunshine. I’ll be waiting,” he says, then hangs up.
My hand is shaking when I put the receiver back into the cradle. My heart is slamming against my chest. I’ve imagined seeing my father in a million different ways, and none of them included this one. The door opens and I look up to see Briar. My first instinct is to ask what’s going on, but right behind him comes Pistol—just like my father said.
“Beth, are you okay?” Briar asks. I can’t stop my eyes from going to Pistol. He looks at me impassively, but his hands are on the gun he keeps in a holster just beneath his leather cut. He makes sure I see it. The bastard knows exactly what he’s doing. I take a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves and look back at Briar. I can’t risk him getting hurt.
“I’m fine,” I insist. “Just worried about Beast. The surgery seems to be taking a while.”
“That’s why I’m late. The doctor tracked me down at the nurse’s desk. Beast pulled through and the surgeon was encouraged by the results.”
“That’s great,” I tell him, genuinely relieved.
“Yeah, it is. I’m going back to report to Skull and do a few things. Pistol here will be taking over for me. K-Rex is going to stand guard over our vehicles because one of Cade’s men got sick. If you need me, all you have to do is call.”
“Sounds good. I’m actually getting a little hungry now that I know Beast is going to be okay. Could you take me down to the cafeteria, Pistol?”
He clears his throat and his disgusting voice has a tinge of joy in it. I want to hit him in the balls. “Sure thing. Getting a little hungry myself.”
“Great. I’ll ride down the elevator with you two, then,” Briar adds.