Without Fear

by Reese Knightley

  “Any news?”

  “No, but I couldn’t find another agency to take the Carson case. Brick was on it, but Ryder said he’d take it since it’s a day job.”

  “That’s fine.”

  Logan couldn’t blame Ryder. If he had someone like Harrison to come home to at night, he’d opt for the day job too.

  A vision of Macy’s sweet face drifted through his mind and he swallowed around the lump in his throat.

  Brick came around the jeep and lifted his duffle bag.

  “Anything?” Brick asked gruffly.

  “No. All Forest said was that the safe house had been compromised and he’s sending down some men.”

  “Where’s Hayden?” Logan opened the back door to the jeep. Echo jumped in and Logan joined the dog.

  “He and Felix are checking out a lead on Siegel.”

  Jaxon got behind the wheel and Brick slid into the passenger seat.

  “So, what are you thinking?”

  He glanced up and briefly met Jaxon’s eyes through the rear-view mirror.

  “He’s hiding.”

  “You don’t think Siegel has him?”

  “No.” He didn’t voice his greatest fear, he stuck to what he knew of Macy.

  The man was brave, smart, and tenacious.

  They reached his office building and Felix and Hayden were there.

  “How’d the lead go?”

  “Didn’t pan out. I’ve put out the word to our contacts,” Hayden said, dropping into step with him.

  “Something should pop up soon,” Felix offered.

  Stepping into the lobby, he found a group of men waiting for him.

  “Mr. Cobalt,” his front desk staff called out. “This is the FBI.”

  A man wearing the ASAC badge and oozing power approached with a hand outstretched.

  “Logan Cobalt,” he said, shaking the man’s hand. A small team of smartly dressed people wearing badges stood behind the FBI ASAC.

  “ASAC Alexander Channing. Call me Alexander,” the man offered.

  “Logan,” he murmured back.

  “Do you have a secure place we can set up?” Alexander asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Hayden gave Alexander a smirk. “Cobalt security leads the nation in advanced technology.”

  “Hayden,” he warned.

  “No, I’m serious. Logan Cobalt has worked with Phoenix. That’s how fucking top notch this place is.”

  Alexander held up one hand, stopping the flow of words from Hayden. “I wasn’t questioning him or this facility. In fact, it’s FBI Assistant Director Forest Taylor who suggested I come here.”

  “Oh.” Hayden sent his fingers thrusting through his hair and backed down.

  Logan might have chuckled if the situation wasn’t so dire. He turned toward the head of his building security.

  “Sir?”

  “Please set them up with badges.”

  His head of security issued the FBI visitors temporary badges and they headed upstairs.

  He’d had been kept in the dark about Macy’s whereabouts while under the marshals’ protection.

  Now the marshals had fucked up and the FBI needed him and his team.

  Karma had a way of sorting shit out.

  Logan

  “Logan!”

  A voice called out just before they reached the elevators and he turned, finding a familiar figure walking toward them.

  The Phoenix operative known only as Wild brushed blondish brown hair from his shoulders and dimples flashed when he grinned.

  “Wild.” Logan gripped the man’s hand. “How’s the family?”

  Wild was married to Phoenix operatives Roscoe and Storm, and the men were raising three children.

  “We’re all doing great,” Wild replied with a smile and then sobered. “Rossi said you needed some help.”

  It didn’t surprise him that Rossi had sent Wild. Wild was called “The Tracker” because of his expertise in finding people.

  “I do. Forest sent ASAC Alexander Channing.” Logan introduced Wild to Alexander.

  Although Wild had met a few of his team, he made the introductions again.

  “And this is my team. Jaxon, Brick, Felix, and you remember Hayden.”

  “I do.” Wild and Hayden shook hands. The pair had previously met during a Cobalt Security and Phoenix joint operation.

  Once all the introductions were completed, they took the elevator to the third floor. Stepping out, they were greeted by one of his staff members.

  “I have the communication center cleared as you requested.”

  “Thank you, Pat,” he said and entered the room. It was his main control center. One whole wall was covered in electronic screens, and on each desk sat a state-of-the-art laptop or desktop computer.

  “Oh my god, it’s a Mac,” one of the FBI technicians murmured, running his fingers reverently over the keys.

  “You’re lame. We’ve got those,” another tech said, razzing the first.

  “Yeah, but this one is brand spanking new,” the first guy said with awe.

  “Setup,” Alexander ordered and effectively cut short the conversation about what software was the best. “All right, people, listen up. One of our own went missing roughly forty-eight hours ago. I want your full attention. No time off until Macy is found. I’ve picked you because I trust each and every one of you. Nothing gets out of this room.”

  “Problems with security?” Logan murmured with a frown.

  “I’m not taking any chances. What we know is that US Marshal James Stanton is dead, FBI agent Mercedes Giles is missing, along with US Marshal Flint Ashbridge,” Alexander said flatly. “I don’t know how they found that safe house, so the less people in on this, the better.”

  “Good,” Logan returned and turned to the wall of monitors. “Pull up the area of the safe house.”

  The screen flashed with the state of Idaho and zoomed into a populated area packed with apartment buildings not far from a warehouse district.

  “Hitch, give me Macy’s last known location in relation to the safe house,” Alexander ordered.

  “On it,” A young, smart looking man said and pushed a pair of black rimmed glasses up on his nose. “His phone was turned off here.” Hitch pointed to a rooftop a couple of blocks away from the safe house. “I picked up a burner phone signal from a nearby tower a few moments later.”

  “Get me eyes on the streets surrounding that tower. I want to see that rooftop,” Logan barked. He was probably raining all over Alexander’s parade, but he didn’t give two shits. Other than a quick nod of agreement, Alexander didn’t seem to mind.

  The screen flashed and the rooftop was located. It was a warehouse. “Get me local on the phone. Jett, Nathan, how fast can you get there?” Alexander turned to the two agents.

  “A flight is just a little under two hours,” Jett said.

  “Get moving,” Alexander ordered.

  The two agents nodded and grabbed their jackets.

  “I’ll go with them,” Wild said.

  “Wild?”

  “Yes?”

  “Take my jet,” Logan said.

  “Will do,” Wild responded and left the room along with Jett and Nathan.

  Logan turned to Alexander. “Did anything go down that you know of before Macy ran?”

  “They had a switch of one of the marshals,” Alexander said with a heavy sigh. “US Marshal Flint Ashbridge.”

  “What was the reason for the switch?” He squinted at the agent.

  “Whip Tauber was called away,” Alexander said, and then frowned.

  Logan turned to Jaxon. “Get me Marshal Whiplash Tauber on the phone.”

  “You got it, boss.”

  “I doubt Whip is in on this,” Alexander murmured.

  “Do you know him personally?”

  “I don’t, but Whip is a close personal friend to US Marshal Mac Mackenzie.”

  “Really?” Logan felt a lot better knowing that. Marshal Mackenzie was an honorable man, that W
hip was friends with the guy spoke volumes.

  “Yeah, Whip, Mac, and Stanton went through the academy together.”

  “Still, though, get Whip on the phone. He might know something about Flint that we don’t know.”

  “Logan?”

  He turned and spotted Detective Charles Dalton stepping through the door. He’d invited the man on the off chance that Macy made it to Colorado.

  “Charles.” Logan shook the cop’s hand and introduced him to Alexander.

  “Detective Dalton is our connection to the Denver Police Department. If you need any help on the streets, he’s the man.”

  “Thank you,” Alexander said and shook the detective’s hand.

  “You bet, anything for Logan.”

  Logan smiled. He’d worked numerous cases with the DPD through the years and had established a connection that had turned into friendship with a lot of the guys. As far as Logan was concerned, DPD was the best out there.

  “Sir?” Hitch called to Alexander.

  “What do you have?” The ASAC turned to the young agent.

  “US Marshal Ashbridge’s California address.”

  Alexander turned to him. “Got eyes out there?”

  “No,” Logan admitted. “Not unless we call Phoenix.”

  “Get me the local office,” Alexander told Hitch. Once on the phone, Alexander dispatched local FBI to Ashbridge’s house.

  “I still want my men out there,” Logan told Alexander and then turned to Brick. “Brick, you and Jaxon take the helicopter and meet up with the FBI at Ashbridge’s address.” His men could be there in just under two hours.

  Jaxon approached and Logan took the phone the man held out.

  “It’s Whip,” Jaxon said and left the room with Brick.

  “Whip Tauber?” Logan asked into the phone.

  “This is US Marshal Tauber,” a deep voice responded.

  Logan briefly explained the situation.

  “We really don’t know at this point if Ashbridge is friend or foe.”

  “I know Ashbridge personally. He’s been with the bureau for years. Axel and I are helping Stanton’s family make funeral arrangements, but after that we can make our way to you.” Whip’s voice sounded heavy with grief.

  “I’m sorry about Stanton,” he said.

  “Thank you.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Oregon.”

  “Can you head up to Washington instead of coming here and keep an eye on Crumpet?”

  “Will do. Let me know if you need anything.” Logan heard what he thought was guilt in the man’s voice.

  “You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

  “You’re right, but now that I do know, you can bet your ass if I see Ashbridge, he better have a good explanation or he’ll live to regret it,” Whip rasped.

  Logan rang off and turned back to the wall of monitors.

  “So, we don’t know if Ashbridge is involved,” Alexander said quietly at his side.

  “No,” he agreed, but something in his gut was telling him that the obvious was probably true. He hoped to god he was wrong and Ashbridge had Macy and they were in hiding from Siegel.

  The minutes ticked off as they all watched the screen showing the two teams converging on locations in two separate states.

  He could only hope Macy was at one of them.

  Please, baby, be at one of them.

  Logan

  “No sign of Ashbridge,” Brick said over the speaker.

  “His neighbors said he hasn’t been home for two weeks,” Jaxon added.

  “What do you want us to do?” Brick asked.

  “Hang on.” Logan turned to Detective Dalton. “Charles, we need LAPD watching Flint’s house.”

  “I have a contact out there. I’ll give him a call.” Charles lifted his cell phone and headed to the end of the room.

  “I’m having local watch Ashbridge’s house. I need you two to meet up with Wild, Jett and Nathan.”

  “On it,” Jaxon replied and ended the call.

  Logan carefully placed his cell phone on an empty desk in the command center and took a seat in the chair.

  For the first time in several hours, the room went quiet. Rubbing a hand over his face, he glanced up to find Alexander heading his way. The man looked beat and worried.

  “How about some food? I’m fucking starving.”

  “Me too,” he acknowledged and lifted the phone. “There’s a Chinese place that delivers.”

  “Perfect.” Alexander sat in the chair across from the desk.

  When the food arrived, Hitch and the rest of the staff gathered around the break table. Logan retrieved a container and brought that back to his desk. It wasn’t until he took his first bite that he realized he’d gone a day without eating, and he found himself pounding down fried rice and orange chicken.

  Alexander brought his container over and reclaimed the seat in front of his desk.

  Logan fingered a fortune cookie through the crackling plastic paper.

  “Going to open it?” Alexander pointed at him with the little black plastic fork.

  “Nah.” He was saving it. Macy loved those things. When he’d picked up lunch one day and coaxed Macy to the park, Macy had snatched up the cookie first.

  “You’re supposed to eat that after your food.”

  “Says who?” Macy had rolled his eyes and read aloud, “The success you’ve been searching for is on the horizon.”

  Logan had huffed, “Of course, it is.”

  Macy had laughed and snatched up his unopened cookie. “Do you mind?”

  “Have at it.” He’d waved a hand at the small treat. “I don’t eat sugar.”

  “Okay, I’ve got one word for you.” Macy had gaped at him.

  “What?” He frowned.

  “Therapy.”

  Laughter burst from his chest and Macy had chuckled before tearing open the cellophane.

  He tucked the cookie into the desk drawer and turned back to Alexander.

  “Tell me about Macy,” he said, and smiled ruefully at the look of surprise on Alexander’s face.

  “I thought you two…” The agent waved his hand in the air.

  “We are. I want to know what you think of him as an agent.”

  “Macy is one of our best. And not only because he’s a damn good agent, but because he’s constantly underestimated by the suspects. That gives him an edge. I can send him in anywhere I need eyes on the inside and nobody suspects he’s there. He blends when he needs and stands out when he doesn’t. He’s one of the most efficient agents I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”

  Logan nodded. “How long have you known him?”

  “Five years. He was green out of the academy.” Alexander studied him and Logan didn’t have long to find out why. “He’s never been attracted to anyone like he is to you.”

  “Oh? How so?”

  Alexander smirked and tossed his empty container into the small trashcan next to the desk. “Right after Christmas in Crumpet, we had a week detail where we went over procedures and Macy was gaga. It was Logan this and Logan that and Echo this and Echo that.”

  It warmed his chest to know Macy had been talking about him even before he’d made his first return trip to Crumpet in pursuit of the lovely young agent.

  When Alexander stretched his legs out and lifted his iPhone, Logan swiveled in his chair to gaze out the window.

  The Denver skyline was gray from an oncoming rain storm. It suited his mood. All he could think about was apologizing to Macy when he got the chance, and he sent a silent prayer to the powers of the universe that he would get that chance.

  His cell buzzed and he turned around, lifting it up.

  “It’s Wild,” he said, glancing at Alexander.

  “Let me hear the conversation,” the agent said, leaning forward.

  Logan punched the answer button. “You’re on speaker, Wild, what did you find out?”

  “We located the Idaho warehouse. No sig
ns of Macy, but we did find where he stashed a duffle bag of his stuff. Jett was able to locate a car ordered near here around the time the safe house was hit. A person by the name of Mark Gleason hired an Uber to take him to the Boise train station. Gleason bought a ticket to Las Vegas, but never boarded.”

  “How do you know this Gleason is Macy?”

  “Nathan got ahold of the surveillance cameras, it’s him.”

  “What do you mean he never boarded? You think someone took him?” He clenched his fists.

  “No, I mean he never got on that train. He turned around and bought a bus ticket and got on the bus. My point is, he’s covering his tracks. Hopefully, he’s shaken off whoever is tailing him.”

  “He’s extremely smart.” Pride filled his chest.

  “We’re following that bus route. I’ll be in touch,” Wild said and hung up.

  Logan traded a glance with Alexander before the agent turned to the room.

  “Macy took a bus from Boise to Vegas,” Alexander barked and the room galvanized into action.

  The room was a whir of activity and it only died down when Wild rang again several hours later.

  Logan jerked the phone up and at the last minute, remembered to put it on speaker.

  “What do you have?” he asked.

  “Macy got off in Ely, Nevada, just north of Las Vegas. He rented a car to take him into the city from there. We were able to find he purchased another bus ticket that left at eight o’clock yesterday morning out of Vegas going to Colorado Springs,” Wild replied.

  “Here? As in Colorado?” He knew he sounded stupid, but he couldn’t hold back the words of hope.

  “Yeah. Hang on, I’ll show you a pic we got from the Greyhound bus terminal in Vegas. It’s grainy as hell, but that’s him.”

  Logan clenched the cell phone in his fist and waited. His heart lurched when the picture came through and he stared at the grainy picture of the man in a black beanie and bomber jacket. There was no mistaking those wide eyes, full lips, and that beautiful face.

  “It’s him. Did he get on the bus in Vegas?”

  “He did. We’re following the bus route. Jaxon and Brick are here. If Macy got off anywhere between Las Vegas and Colorado Springs, we’ll find him.”