Ocean of Lies (romantic suspense)

Chapter 4

With Will and Summer in the lead, Luke stayed next to the girls and took them down the four flights of stairs and out the emergency back door whose alarms they had deactivated before the mission.

As Will and Summer headed back to the office, Luke drove the girls to an unofficial women's shelter fifteen minutes away. He pulled up to the curb and stared at the familiar white gate that blocked off the entire entrance of the building. After sending a text to the owner, a woman walked out of the door and waved at Luke through the barrier. "Hey, Artino."

"Hey, Maria." Luke gestured for the two girls to walk to the gate. Wordlessly, they glanced at the middle-aged woman before slowly shuffling up the path. "Got room for two more?"

"Of course." Maria walked forward to unlock the gate. Even though Luke had been working with her for several years, no man had been invited past the driveway.

Maria smiled warmly as she ushered the girls inside the safety of the walls. Even though Luke was pretty sure they couldn't speak English, he could hear Maria telling them about the hot meal she had ready for them until they disappeared from sight.

As his eyes lingered on the pink star on the white gate, Luke wondered how long they would have to stay until they were able to return to their families, or if they would be one of the few who had to stay long-term due to complicated circumstances.

Knowing it was now out of his hands, he jumped back into his car and called his boss to debrief her.

"Was it a success?" Valerie said in lieu of a 'hello'.

"Yes. I got the girls to the shelter."

"Good. And the target?"

"Dead."

"Any drugs? Money?"

"Not much."

"Okay," Valerie said before switching gears. "I return to the office tomorrow. I will need a full debrief on what happened last night as well as today's mission."

"Of course."

When she hung up, Luke's mind immediately took him back to last night. It was lucky he was there. He knew that deep down, but the guilt of not being able to prevent the attack reared its ugly head now that his current mission was over. A majority of his operations ended with success, with victims being brought to safety and perpetrators getting the justice they deserved.

But Callie was taken. Right in front of him.

Sydney was choked. Almost shot.

It hadn't been a real mission, he tried to remind himself. He had been there following a hunch, without backup, so it made sense it wasn't as successful as usual.

Still, the memories had caused another restless night of tossing and turning. No matter how many times he replayed the events back in his head, he couldn't find a way he could have saved them both.

He only hoped now he could find a way to get Callie back.

***

Luke pointed the Glock down the range Sunday morning, lined up the iron sights, and pulled the trigger six times. Each round hit within inches of the center of the target. His lip twitched when he saw the cluster his companion had made. It had a lot more spread. So much it almost looked like she had been aiming to hit every edge of the thick paper.

"Don't look at me like that," Summer groaned as she attached a new target to the hooks. After pushing a button, the machine pulled it back to the end of the fifty foot indoor range.