by Lori Ryan
“Stay put,” Chad called into the room. “Police are on their way. I know the security guys at the building across the way. We’ll get with them and sweep, see if we can catch him. Chances are, he’s already gone, but stay here until we can be sure.”
Logan could feel Sam begin to tremble beneath him and his heart ached for her. She was trying so hard to hold it together, but he knew it couldn’t be easy for her. She wasn’t used to battle the way he and Chad and Zach were.
“It’s all right, Sam,” he whispered, dropping a kiss to the top of her head as he cradled her. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.”
Chapter 24
Two days later, Logan and Sam were still arguing over whether she could ever leave the house again, but she’d called in reserves. Jack and Kelly arrived and Logan was surprised to find Monique Cain, his lawyer, with them.
Kelly kissed Sam on the cheek and hugged her loosely, careful of her chest. The stitches had torn open when Logan tackled her to the ground, and she was more sore than ever.
They all traipsed upstairs to where Chad and Zach were waiting. Sam had tried to send Chad and Zach home to their wives, but neither would budge.
Their wives had called and told Sam they’d never forgive her if she sent them away while she was still in danger. Logan had been tight with all the men he’d served with, and this group of friends reminded him of that feeling of being more than friends, of being family without the blood relation.
They were all there for Sam, and he had no doubt they would continue to be for as long as she needed them. They sat in the living room while Logan carried the drinks Sam had offered everyone. He wasn’t letting her lift a finger at the moment.
When they finished, she settled in next to Logan on the couch, but he tugged her in more tightly to him. Since the minute he’d seen that laser on her temple in the office, he hadn’t been able to be far from her for long. The closer the better.
When the police searched the building across the street from Sutton Capital’s offices, a newly leased office revealed an abandoned sniper rifle. It was a model that was poorly chosen for the job at hand, and Chad suspected the person who had tried to shoot Samantha was not a trained sniper, but an amateur, at best.
The police found a number of prints in the room, but running them would take time.
“Monique,” Sam said, “It’s not that I’m not happy to see you, but…” Sam began, but Monique laughed and waved her words away.
“Yeah, yeah. No one ever wants to see the lawyer,” Monique said with a wink at Kelly.
Kelly was in her third year of law school, but she was also pregnant. She was trying to decide if she wanted to practice law when the baby got a little older, stay home with her kids, or possibly look for a part time associate spot somewhere.
“Logan,” Jack said, “it looks like Westbrook is going to push the issue and question whether you acted reasonably in defending Sam. Monique has a couple of friends on the force—”
Logan raised an eyebrow, prompting yet more hand waving from Monique. “Yeah, yeah, funny man. Not every cop hates every defense lawyer. Get over it. The point is, Westbrook has two of New Haven’s finest coming over here today to take you in for questioning. From what I understand, even the detectives he’s assigned to the case are pretty unenthusiastic about questioning a veteran for defending a woman from a brutal attack, but Westbrook has latched onto the idea that deadly force wasn’t necessary. He has a pro-states’ rights election agenda and he’s going to push it.”
“That’s crazy!” Sam cried out. “Logan was only saving me when he acted. How can they possibly think he did anything wrong?”
Monique wiggled her head back and forth as though weighing the debate. “Well, technically, he can bring it to trial over the issue of whether deadly force was necessary.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Sam said, and crossed to pick up her phone. The group watched as she furiously texted someone with one hand while she brought her laptop to life with the other and began pulling up screens and typing furiously.
“Uh,” Jack said, “do we want Sam bringing this out to the media, because I have a feeling that’s what she’s doing.”
Monique nodded. “I’m okay fighting this on all fronts. I’ll take care of the legal side of things. If Sam wants to play this out in the public eye, I’m all right with that if Logan is.”
They all looked to Logan who had to fight not to squirm. The idea of even the people in this room debating the merits of what he’d done or talking about his service record made him uneasy. Having everyone in the tri-state area do the same? Hell.
Before he could answer, a photo on Sam’s computer screen snagged his focus. “Is that me?”
Of course it was. There he stood in full tactical gear beside two of his teammates. He recognized the photo. It was actually one released by a SEALS Facebook page awhile back. They hadn’t identified him and his team in the photo so he had no clue how Sam knew it was him, but he wasn’t surprised. Sam blacked out the faces of the men standing next to him and now inserted the photo into a page with a few highlights of his career.
“Don’t worry. I’m not releasing anything that’s not already a matter of public record.”
“Sam,” he warned her.
“I know, it’s rude,” she said with the same wave of the hand Monique had been giving him. “I shouldn’t hack into your personnel record. Sorry, babe. Desperate times and all that.”
She hit a few keys and turned to him. “Sorry, honey. I’m not letting you go to prison. If that means I have to make a big deal out of the fact that you’re a veteran and a hero, I’ll do it. I know you hate that. I get it. You don’t think you deserve the Medal of Honor. You only did what you had to do when you served your country, but they don’t give those things out like peanuts, my friend. They only give you that if you deserve it. And, the fact of the matter is, we need to play up that part of the equation. We need to make a big deal out of the fact that Westbrook is going after a war hero.”
Hell. He sensed Sam needed this. He’d suck it up for her, because something told him she needed to do this for him so that she could heal. So that she could feel like she wasn’t powerless against what was happening to her or to him.
“You’re okay with this?” Jack asked Logan. Jack caught Logan’s eye behind Sam and Logan could see the concern in his face. He didn’t know if it was for Sam or for him, but he nodded.
“Yeah, I’m okay with this.” Logan wasn’t anywhere near okay with this, but he’d do it.
Monique had moved to the window, but now turned back to the group. “Sam, did you do this?”
Logan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as Monique jerked her head toward the windows and Sam grinned.
“Yup. Fast, aren’t they?”
Logan just didn’t want to know. But, damn, he could hear people. A lot of people.
Kelly and Jack joined Sam and Monique by the window and peered down. The look Jack gave Logan wasn’t good. It left no doubt in Logan’s mind that whatever he was about to go through wouldn’t be good.
But his eyes fell to Sam and all he could think about was what she’d been through in the last few days. There she was, standing up for him. Baring her soul to the public and the media to defend him after she’d been through hell. After she’d been attacked, sliced open, and scared spitless.
Logan inched forward and looked out the window and down to the parking lot below.
“Who are they?” The sight stunned him. There were some media trucks, but people filled the majority of the parking lot. Citizens with signs, chanting “Support Our Vets, Defend Logan Stone.”
“Friends,” said Sam with a smile as she slipped her hand into his. “I had them on standby in case we needed them. I personally think Westbrook’s state’s rights stance is actually going to lose the election for him, but I’m still not going to stand by and let him do this to you. If Westbrook thinks he’s going to railroad you or make some kind of
example out of you, he’s not going to do it without people speaking out and telling him how wrong he is. He’s been playing this out in the media, grandstanding left and right. Well, two can play that game.”
Logan swallowed and tried to speak, but there was no way in hell he could open his mouth right now. The knot in his throat was so dang big, he’d probably just croak if he tried to get anything out past it.
“The detectives are here,” said Monique quietly from her position at the window. “Let’s head on downstairs. I want you to wait inside for a few minutes, everyone. I’ll go out and make a statement to the media and the protesters. I’ll tell them you’ve agreed to voluntarily come in to speak with the detectives and answer some questions, and that you were happy to oblige them. I’ll ask them to please be courteous to the officers and then we’ll get you outside to the cars. They’re most likely going to insist you drive with them. Even in a cooperative situation, they’ll want to use that car ride to get you talking. Smile and be polite. Don’t talk. Do you understand?”
Logan nodded and squeezed Sam’s hand. She looked so concerned. He smiled at her, but he had a feeling it was more a tight showing of his teeth than an actual smile. He’d scare her if he kept it up.
“Wait, Sam,” said Kelly, as she lifted a black raincoat from her arms and held it up toward Sam. “You need to put this on.”
“Huh?” Sam said and Logan had to admit, that was his thought, too. It wasn’t raining, or even cloudy.
Jack answered. “It’s bullet-resistant clothing. The company that makes them makes mostly men’s clothes. They don’t keep a lot of women’s clothing in stock, other than their raincoats, but I’m having a few shirts, some business suits, and even a hat made for you. They’ll be ready next week. In the meantime, the entire chest area and hood of this coat is bulletproof.”
Sam started to argue, but Logan glared at her. She mumbled a response and shrugged into it. She ran her fingers down the coat and shrugged.
“Not bad,” Sam said to Kelly. “How do they make it so light?”
“Hell if I know,” Kelly said, “and, I don’t care. I just care that it works. It’ll stop a bullet from close range. Apparently, they’re big in Mexico.”
“You don’t say?” quipped Sam, and Logan wanted to laugh at the conversational turn these two had taken.
He schooled his expression as Monique walked outside and he heard her make a statement and then respond with “no further comment” when the press called out several questions.
Sam and their friends surrounded him as they left the town house and the detectives stepped up to him, murmured a polite introduction and a quick set of instructions for following them down to the precinct.
“I’m not riding with you?” he asked the male detective in a low voice. He didn’t know why he asked. Probably shock after what Monique had just said about them wanting the car ride with him.
The man smiled at him, meeting his eyes. “No way, Frogman. I’m not sticking a fellow SEAL in the back of my car. We’ll see you there.”
Logan’s answering hooyah was quiet but powerful, and he kept his eyes on the back of their heads as they all made their way to the waiting cars.
“Oh, hell no.” Logan was emphatic. Billy stood by his side, on alert as Logan’s emotions cranked ever higher.
The detectives had questioned him for an hour, but now they wanted to go at Sam.
“Logan, we don’t have a choice in the matter. The police want to speak to Sam and get her side of things. It’s only natural they’d want to hear from the victim exactly what took place. And besides, she’s going to be your best witness in all of this. She’s the one who can tell them what happened.”
Monique was entirely too calm about this. Sam shouldn’t have to go through this over and over again. She’d talked to the ATF already. She didn’t need to keep reliving the attack again and again.
“I should be in there with her,” Logan insisted. His eyes flashed to Samantha’s and his heart clenched at the stoic expression on her face.
“Not going to happen, my friend,” Monique said.
Sam stepped forward and put her hand on his forearm, squeezing gently. He felt the fight go out of him as he looked down at the determination in her face.
“I got this, Logan. If you’ll be out here when I finish, I’ll be fine.”
He nodded. “I’ll be right here. The whole time.”
“If it gets too rough, Sam, we can ask them to continue tomorrow,” Monique said. “Like I said, I don’t think the detectives are all that happy to be putting you through this. I think it’s all Westbrook. They’re just wanting to cross their Ts and dot their Is and all that. Let’s hope at the end of this, he realizes he won’t have a case.”
Monique had explained there were a few things Westbrook would have to show a jury. Some facts weren’t in question here. For example, there was no question Logan acted with force he should reasonably have known would end in death. Fatal force wasn’t a question when you snapped a man’s neck.
The big issue here was whether it was reasonable for him to think that level of force was necessary under the circumstances. If Westbrook thought he could convince a jury it wasn’t, and if he continued to think he could somehow win an election based on putting one over on the federal government, he might go forward with charges.
Logan nodded and stood in the hallway watching Sam walk down to the interview room with one of the detectives and Monique.
Kelly and Jack had come down to the station as well and Kelly came up to Logan now, putting a hand on his arm.
“Come on, big guy,” Kelly said, tugging him the opposite way. “Let’s go have a seat and wait. Jack ran out for coffee and sandwiches. We all ate earlier but you haven’t had anything in hours. You need to take care of yourself if you’re going to have strength for Sam when this is over.”
Logan smiled down at Kelly. He could go for days with very little food or rest, when needed. He’d done it before plenty of times and would do it again in a heartbeat for Sam, but he let Kelly lead him away, anyway. He knew the chairs were just down at the end of the hall, so he’d still be able to see Sam the minute they let her go.
With Kelly pregnant, he’d feel bad not letting her call the shots. Shoot, she shouldn’t even be here.
“You should go home and get some rest, Kelly,” he said when they reached the chairs and she lowered herself into one, leaning on his arm as she did so.
“I’ve tried telling her that, but she won’t budge,” came Jack’s voice behind them. Logan turned to take a tray of coffees and an orange juice from Jack. He handed the juice to Kelly and sat, taking the bag Jack offered.
“I’m pregnant, not helpless and useless, you two,” Kelly said with a bite to her tone.
Jack raised his hands. “I know, I know. All the same, I think as soon as Chad and Jennie get here, we should get you home. These chairs have to be brutal on your back, honey.”
Logan wondered why Jack didn’t just lift Kelly up and carry her to the car and take her home. What the hell was wrong with the man? If that was Sam, he’d never let her sit there in these stiff plastic chairs like that. He’d haul her ass—
What was he thinking? Logan sat frozen over the sandwich he’d been unwrapping and realized he’d been happily picturing Sam pregnant with his child. Quite happily.
“You okay, Logan?” Jack asked.
Logan looked up at his friend. He wanted what Jack and Kelly had so bad he could taste it. He wanted a family with Sam. He wanted a future with her. One filled with laughter and love and boat tons of kids. Twelve or thirteen of them, for sure. If she was up to that.
He tossed the sandwich aside.
“Get Kelly home, Jack,” he said over his shoulder as he headed down the hall toward Sam. “I’m getting Sam out of here. She’s had enough.”
He’d had enough. He wanted to go home and tell Sam all he wanted for them. All he hoped for, for them. He wanted to see if she loved him as much as he loved h
er. If she believed in them as much as he did. If she believed they could get through this. That he could get well enough again to have a family and a life together. God, he hoped so, because he didn’t know anymore how he’d live without her. How he’d give up the dream he’d seen.
Chapter 25
Sam was surprised by how gentle and polite the detectives were. Given the pressure they seemed to be under from Westbrook, she’d half expected them to grill her about the attack. To challenge her on whether her life had really been in danger.
But, they hadn’t. The female detective led and asked most of the questions. Whenever the male detective jumped in, he did it with a quiet voice and almost apologetically. She had to repeat all the details of the night, and she had to admit, she’d clenched her hands in her lap to get through it.
Then it was over. They thanked her for talking to them and led her out of the room.
And, smack into Logan.
“Sam!” he said, almost out of breath, as though he’d run down the hall and she looked down to see Billy standing by his side, watching them both.
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her to him. She loved the contact and loved the feel of him pressed against her, but she was concerned at the almost desperate tone in his voice.
“Are you okay, Logan?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
“Never better,” he said, with a laugh. “Can we go home now?”
She nodded, even though the detectives behind her answered yes as well.
Then Logan was almost lifting her as he walked down the hall, one arm around her waist.
“Thank you, Monique!” he said over his shoulder and Sam stifled a laugh.
“Want to tell me what your rush is?”
“In a minute,” he said.
They rounded the corner into another hallway and Logan looked around. They were alone. Sam laughed as he pulled her into his arms, hauling her body right up against his.