Page 89 of Sam's Salvation

With a growl, Sam thrust his hands through his hair, then turned to Dorset. “Can you get Moran on the phone?”

“I can try.” She reached for her cell and dialed his number.

Her eyes flicked toward him, the gray depths wary. He knew he should care that he’d scared her, but he didn’t. All he wanted were answers so he could find Audra.

“Sir—” She stopped, nodding. “I’m aware—” She paused again and looked up at Sam with wide eyes.

He could tell Moran was giving her the brush off. Reaching out, he plucked the phone from her fingers. “Audra’s gone.”

There was a short pause. “Brackley?”

“I need you to ask the Powells where Callahan might go. We know about the house up here, but he shares it with his brother. He won’t take her there. Is there anywhere else?”

“They’re not going to give up anything.”

“Put me on speaker.”

“That’s not wise.”

“Are you alone with them?”

“Yes, but?—”

“Then put me on fucking speaker!”

Rustling came over the line.

“There. You’re on speaker.”

“Listen to me, you sorry sacks of human waste. You will tell me what I want to know, or I swear on a stack of rifles I will hunt you down and make you bleed from a thousand tiny little cuts while you’re strapped naked to a drum of ammonium nitrate. I might even dip you in some salt—make those cuts burn like the fires of hell you’ll meet once I blast your asses there.” He paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Now, where did Callahan go?”

Silence came over the line. Sam clenched a fist. His voice dropped an octave. “Where? I won’t ask again.”

“You should probably tell him,” Moran said.

“He has a ranch,” Geoffrey said. He paused to clear his throat. “Outside of the city to the west; off of State Route 160. He bought it under a shell corporation to hide it from the feds.”

“What’s the full address?”

Geoffrey gave it to him.

“Good choice, Geoff.” Sam hung up.

Jessica took her phone back. “It’s always the quiet ones who are the scariest.”

“Don’t threaten the people I love.” Sam grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and wrote down the address before he forgot it. He ripped the page off, then wrote it again and handed it to her. “Here. Send help. Or not. I don’t care. I’m not leaving that ranch without Audra either way.” He looked at his friends. “Let’s go.”

Max spun on his heel and hopped out of the van, Dean right behind him. Sam jumped out and closed the doors.

“You didn’t stutter on any of that.” Dean patted him on the shoulder.

“Too much rage for the words to get stuck.” Sam rolled his shoulders, trying to dump some of the anger that had fueled his tirade. “Max, do you think we can get your SUV out of the mess up there?”

“Doesn’t hurt to try. And if not, maybe we can commandeer one of those fancy sports cars.”

Sam cracked a smile. “One of those is going to end up back home, isn’t it?”

“Maybe.”