by Lori Ryan
Ernie crossed the kitchen, stopping to squeeze Sam’s arm as he walked toward the basement stairs. Chad pulled Sam into his arms and she fell against him, letting him hold her up for just a few minutes.
She’d get her strength back in a minute, but for now, having a friend to hold her up meant she didn’t have to do it herself. She needed that.
Logan didn’t look up when Ernie entered the room. The ache in his arms was starting to cut through the haze in his brain. Ernie lowered himself to the floor of the room, the move inelegant with the prostheses. He leaned back against the wall, but didn’t say anything. Just folded his hands in his lap and waited. Well, he could wait all damned day, for all Logan cared.
Christ. Seeing those pictures of Sam had gutted Logan. Completely gutted him.
He should have protected her. He had known she was in danger, and he’d gone off and left her. His thoughts flashed quickly to Jeff, whose mom still sat by his bedside in the hospital, praying her son would wake up from the coma he was in.
Logan had underestimated these people, whoever the hell they were. And wasn’t that just the kicker?
Sam had said she knew who was after her and he was so screwed up in the head, he couldn’t even be in the same room with her long enough to find out who it was and take care of things. His issues were getting in the way of making her safe again. What was wrong with him?
He let his arms fall to his sides, but didn’t remove the gloves. Billy whined in the corner, but sat and waited, as though Logan might tell him what he needed any minute.
“Sam said she knew who was doing this?”
Ernie nodded. “She does. She and Chad gave the information to the police. They’re handling it.”
“I should be handling it. I should be up there helping her, but I can’t. I can’t trust myself not to leave here and rip whoever the hell it is into pieces. I can’t help her because I can’t even control myself long enough not to maim and kill.”
When Ernie didn’t speak, Logan went on. “You have to put on this cloak as a SEAL. You harden yourself. You’re not just a man anymore. You become a dangerous weapon. I thought I could shed that cloak when I came back. I thought I could drop that and go back to just being a man, but I can’t. The danger is still there.”
“Do you really believe that?”
Logan spun on Ernie. “Hell yes, I believe it! I didn’t even hesitate with those men. I didn’t think about whether to neutralize them or use deadly force. I just knew she was in danger and I came in and killed them all.”
Ernie murmured a speculative, but noncommittal sound.
“What!” Logan practically shouted at the man. “What the hell can you possibly say to that?”
“I can’t really say anything to it, Logan. Only you know what happened that night. I can only tell you the facts I know.”
“What the hell do you know? You don’t know shit.” Logan turned away, unable to look at Ernie. Unable to have this conversation.
Apparently, Ernie didn’t get the hint because he went on talking. “I know you have years of experience as a member of one of this nation’s most elite military special ops groups. That you honed instincts during those years that likely kept you and others alive many times, instincts that are likely well beyond those of many members of the armed forces. I know you perceived several things that night and you took them all into account. You knew Sam was in grave danger. You knew something had happened to Jeff, a heavily trained and armed man, to cause him to be away from his post.
“You knew a man with some serious artillery guarded the entrance to Sam’s home. Not your everyday, average burglar, or even a seriously armed burglar. A man with heavy duty weapons designed to kill quickly and efficiently. You knew he was standing guard at the door, which meant it was reasonable to presume there were others in the house. At least one or more persons, presumably as armed and dangerous as that man. And they were inside, with Sam.”
Logan turned his head warily, as Ernie continued, and he met his counselor’s steady gaze.
Ernie went on. “You knew how much time had passed from the initial time of entry to the time you arrived on scene. You knew what they could do to Sam in that time. You took action to neutralize the threat, Logan. That’s what you did. Sam doesn’t fault you for that. The Feds don’t fault you for it. And when this all shakes out, I wouldn’t be surprised if a hell of a lot of the people in this community have your back, too.”
Logan crossed to the wall opposite Ernie and sank down, pulling the gloves from his hands. Billy was there in an instant, laying his legs across Logan’s lap and resting his head on Logan’s arm. They were quiet for a long time.
“He’s gonna be a hell of a good service dog for you. Once you get all caught up on his training, you’ll make a good team,” Ernie said quietly.
Logan nodded. He’d keep the dog. He had started to love it in only one night.
They sat there quietly for another few minutes before Logan spoke again. “She shouldn’t have released those pictures, Ernie,” Logan said and his voice all but cracked under the anguish he’d felt at seeing Sam’s injuries. She shouldn’t have to show those to the world.
“She’s a strong woman, that’s for damn sure,” Ernie said.
“She was afraid of me up there.”
“No, she was afraid of your reaction to the photos. If she was afraid of you, I wouldn’t be here right now. She wouldn’t have stood up to you and brought me in here to help you if you frightened her. She stood up to you and all your bluster to get you the help you need.”
Logan laughed. “My bluster?”
Ernie smiled and reached out an arm. “Yeah. You’ve got a lot of it. Now help me up. We need to go see what Sam found on those guys and put an end to this. You have a life to get to and it doesn’t involve running off to some island by yourself somewhere.”
Logan grunted, but he felt like he had when his mom found him hiding under the dining room table when he’d “run away” as a kid.
“I was going to the mountains,” he grumbled as they made their way up the stairs with Billy between them.
Ernie snorted. “At least if you’re going to run away, go tropical, dude.”
“Did you really just call me dude?”
Chapter 20
Sam came down from the third floor just as Ernie and Logan made their way back up from the basement. She had showered and changed and now looked at Logan’s face, as if searching.
He went to her and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up and holding onto her with a need that floored him. He almost lost her. What would he have done if that had happened?
“I’m sorry, Sam,” he whispered.
Sam tilted her head and met his eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“No. I’ll get there. Someday. It just might take a while.”
She looked up at him. “I have time.”
He nodded, having trouble speaking past the lump in his throat.
When she spoke, her voice was light. “Plus, I like your new dog. He’s super cool. I emailed Jack. Since he’s a service dog, he gets to come to work with you!”
She practically vibrated with excitement and Logan laughed as he looked down at the dog by his leg. “I have a feeling Billy wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Sam smiled up at him and his heart melted. How the hell had he thought he’d be able to pull away from her? He didn’t have it in him. He might be a strong man when it came to a lot of things, but putting up walls where this woman was concerned wasn’t one of them. He shook his head and rubbed her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs as his hands cradled her head.
“You didn’t need to release those pictures for me, Sam. God, I wouldn’t have you relive those moments, that fear, for anything in the world. Sure as hell not for me.”
He wanted to be the one protecting her, not the other way around.
As if reading his mind, she placed her hands on his wrists and squeezed. “Hey, you were there for me. You stoppe
d those men during the scariest thing I’ve ever had to live through. I won’t have you paying for it now. Not if there’s anything I can do about it.”
Her eyes were fierce and strong as she looked at him and he knew if he had any little ruins of the walls left around his heart, she’d just knocked them all down. He might not deserve her and he might not be good enough for her, but somehow he’d been blessed to find her. He couldn’t walk away now.
“Come on,” he said, slipping his hand in hers, aware there were three sets of eyes on them as he pulled her toward the kitchen. “Show me what you found out while I had my head up my ass.”
Chapter 21
Lazarus Alonzo was frighteningly easy to lure out of the woodwork. In only three days, Diya, Yoshi, and Peter had not only traveled to Connecticut themselves, they’d set up a meeting with Lazarus.
He responded as planned to the code words planted in online chat rooms and reached out to one of her father’s old email accounts.
Diya sat in a bare office leased solely for the purpose of setting Lazarus up, and watched as Yoshi opened the door to let the man in.
He was younger than Diya thought he’d be. She expected him to be old and ugly, perhaps because the nature of his former business was so ugly. So repulsive.
But, before her stood a young, incredibly good-looking man. His eyes were dead, though. Flat, dead, and cold.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Alonzo,” she said, not rising from her chair. She tilted her head to indicate the chair across from her and waited a beat while he lowered himself into it. She could see how wary he was, how his eyes took in Yoshi, and then Peter.
That was fine. She didn’t actually need him to trust her to make this work. She needed a few fingerprints of his around the room. Needed to have his presence here verified on the cameras the building had in the lobby and parking garage. That’s all it would take.
They had wiped the room of their fingerprints before he arrived and she and her team were being careful not to touch things while he was there. They would open the door to leave with a rag once he was gone.
It had been simple for Peter to hack the cameras and show them how to enter the building out of range of the cameras. The place didn’t have stellar security.
“I’m here out of respect for your father, Ms. Bogolomov, but don’t mistake my tolerance for anything more than that. Say what you need to say and get on with it.”
“I’d like to hire you for a job, Mr. Alonzo. I know money’s been a little tight for you lately.”
She didn’t really know why she was toying with him. Perhaps it was simply entertaining to see a man who had once been so powerful taken down to nothing. The narrowing of his eyes, the hard glint in them, was rewarding, nonetheless.
When he didn’t answer, she continued. “I’d like to hire you to eliminate someone for me.”
Alonzo stood abruptly and laughed. “You’re playing at things you obviously know nothing about, Ms. Bogolomov. Your father may have been someone in this business, but you clearly were not. Eliminated. Did you learn that on television last night? Go back to your dolls and your teacups, little girl.”
He strode toward the door. Yoshi looked to her, one eyebrow raised, but she gave a slight shake of her head. She didn’t need him to stop the man. She could do it herself.
“I’d like you to take out BillieBurke.”
Lazarus Alonzo froze, one hand holding the doorknob. Diya had to school her expression and resist the urge to get up and dance. He stood there, most likely putting a perfect handprint on the door. What more could she hope for?
At this point, he could walk out and she needed nothing more. But she had a feeling, once he had Samantha Page’s name, he’d immediately attempt to confirm she was BillieBurke. That would only serve Diya’s plan. Any evidence of Alonzo looking into Samantha only helped demonstrate his guilt.
Diya continued. “My father spoke very highly of you. BillieBurke’s attack on you saddened him. I thought perhaps it was time for you to have your revenge. You’ve had trouble identifying her, have you not?”
He turned back to her, eyes narrowed. “You have his identity?”
Diya grinned. Leave it to him to assume the person who took him to his knees was a man.
“BillieBurke is a woman. And yes, I have her identity.”
“And what’s in it for you? Why do you want BillieBurke taken out?”
Diya pursed her lips. She wouldn’t be sharing those secrets today. “I have my reasons, but for now, they’ll be mine to understand. You don’t need to know them.”
Alonzo surprised her. He shrugged. “I’ll need money up front.”
Ah. The man thought he could play her for a fool here. Thought he could take her money, use her funds to rebuild his business and crawl back out of the hole he’d been in for the last two years. Idiot. Diya’s father had not raised a fool. Not by any means.
“Certainly,” she said with a nod. “I would expect nothing less. My father has left me very well-funded. Give the details of your account to Peter. I’ll see you have what you need.” She nodded to Peter, who thus far had sat quietly in the corner.
Alonzo smiled at her and wrote a series of numbers out on a piece of paper before handing it to Peter.
“I’ll expect results, Mr. Alonzo.”
He smiled, the cocky smile of a man who thought he was taking advantage of a naïve woman. “Certainly, Ms. Bogolomov. Certainly.”
“Very well. If you’ll provide Peter with an email address, he’ll see that you’re sent the identity of BillieBurke promptly. You’ll find the information in your email box shortly.”
In reality, Peter would set it up to look like Alonzo had received that information months ago. From an anonymous source.
She watched him leave, but held up her hand when Peter would have spoken. “Wait. Yoshi, check to be sure our friend is gone, but use care on that doorknob.”
Yoshi used a tissue and two fingers to ease the door open and peered into the hallway. With a nod, he returned, leaving the door ajar so he wouldn’t need to touch the knob again. She was impressed.
Yoshi seemed to get what she was thinking without the explanation. Peter, who didn’t seem to be able to understand much other than computers, looked at her with a question in his gaze. She rolled her eyes.
“All we needed was his presence in the building and his prints somewhere in the room. When they figure out where the shots came from, they’ll run the security video. They won’t be looking for any of us, but with his connection to Samantha, they’ll spot Alonzo. Yoshi, when you come back tomorrow, be sure you wipe the gun clean and don’t touch that doorknob with your bare hands. We just need enough evidence to point back to Alonzo. With Peter creating a trail leading to him, this should be enough to convince Logan of Alonzo’s guilt. That’s all we need for now.”
Yoshi nodded and Peter laughed. Diya didn’t allow herself to even smile. This wasn’t over yet. There were several more pieces to put into place before she had her revenge. Letting herself get too confident would be a foolish, dangerous move. She wouldn’t put her family’s vengeance at risk by becoming complacent. She wouldn’t relax until this was over.
Chapter 22
Sam outlined all she’d found to Chad, Zach, Logan, and Ernie. As Sam initially suspected, she linked Lazarus Alonzo to the attacks on her. The evidence she’d found so far wasn’t overwhelming, but he’d left small traces of his activity here and there. There’d been a couple of chat room connections between himself and one of the mercenaries, and an email to an old account of Alonzo’s.
Logan had to hide his shock that Sam was BillieBurke. Hell, he studied BillieBurke’s work in some of the computer forensics courses he’d taken in the military. She was a legend. An absolutely brilliant, real-life superhero, with the mask to match.
No one had been able to uncover her identity except the handful of federal agents who worked with her. In fact, no one ever even confirmed her gender. Some surmised she was a woman, wh
ile others contended BillieBurke was a man. Leave it to the woman he loved to be this secret superhero.
Well, damn. Loved.
Logan shook his head and grinned. Yeah. He loved her. Sam. BillieBurke. He shook his head again.
Chad laughed and tossed a spoon across the table to get Logan’s attention. “Get over it. She’s BillieBurke. Really, did you expect any less?”
“No, I guess I didn’t,” he said and watched Sam duck her head. She blushed, but he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight as he let out another big burst of laughter. He felt fantastic. “I’m dating BillieBurke.”
Sam smiled at him and shrugged but he could tell she was pleased with his reaction. For the first time in a long time, he was looking forward to whatever the future held. They’d get through this. They would keep her safe. And she’d help him get through his PTSI and learn to live with it, to cope. They would build a life together.
“All right, Sam, what did you find?” Zach’s question drew Logan’s focus back to the problem at hand.
“It’s thin so far, but I’ve found threads in a chat room that show our mercenaries in the same place as Lorenzo Alonzo. And, I’ve tracked money paid to one of the men back to a cover company linked to Alonzo. I don’t know if it would be enough for them to arrest him, but it points us in the right direction.”
“That’s the human trafficker you took down?” Logan asked Sam.
“Yeah.” Her answer was short and everyone was quiet for a minute as they processed this news.
Logan spoke up first. “Can you find out where he is now?”
Sam shook her head. “No. I haven’t been able to find anything. No trace of him.”
“I can get this information to my friends at the FBI,” Chad said. “They’ll take it seriously if he’s coming after Sam. They’ll do what they can.”
“But we don’t know if that will be enough,” Logan said. The others agreed and Logan caught Sam’s gaze. She looked frightened and exhausted.