by Jill Sanders
He was lying on the ground. He could see a faint light from one corner and rolled his body until he sat on his knees. When a wave of dizziness hit him, he shook his head lightly and took several deep breaths.
Then he remembered what had happened. Or what he assumed had happened. He hadn’t seen who had hit him and could only guess that whoever it had been had stolen his car and all of his belongings.
Panic set in when he realized he was in an unfinished basement. It was massive. The room was easily bigger than Amy’s entire townhouse and his apartment together.
Looking around again, he tried to find something to break his arms free. But so far there was only dirt and ceiling. There weren’t even windows, which had him looking back toward the faint light in shock.
Terror overcame him as he saw that the small spot had grown and was now a deep red. Flames were now visible, and he could see smoke billowing around that section of ceiling.
Taking a few deep breaths, he patted his pocket and groaned when he realized he’d left his cell phone in the middle console of his car after the call from Amy.
He rolled onto his back and tried to stand up, only to have something jab him.
“You’ll need your keys. Don’t forget your keys are in your back pocket.” He heard Xina’s voice in his head.
Rolling again, he twisted until he felt the bulge of his keys in his back pocket. Whoever had jumped him hadn’t taken his car keys after all. Carefully taking them out, he used his car key to work on the duct tape that held his hands secure.
“So far he hasn’t checked in with the office.” Gary shut off his phone as Amy concentrated on the road. “They haven’t heard from him and he still isn’t answering his phone.” He slammed the End button and growled, “They got word from the clients that the road had been blocked and they had assumed the meeting was canceled.”
“I’m sure he’s just out of the service area. This is a new construction area above Black Hawk. Maybe they haven’t put in towers yet?” She kept trying to convince herself.
They were less than five minutes away when she realized that this is probably how Logan had felt that day the Jeep wouldn’t start. Chuckling to herself, she glanced over at Gary, who was looking at her like she was crazy.
At the moment, she did feel crazy. Panic had consumed her mind since they’d left the office. Just the thought of never seeing Logan again had her eyes burning and her chest tightening. She’d never felt like this about a man before. Then realization dawned on her and she felt her heart skip.
“I love him,” she said out loud.
Gary blinked a few times and then laughed. “Hell, everyone in the office knows that, dear.”
“Well, someone should have told me then.” She felt her shoulders start to relax.
“I’m sure you’re right. He probably just has no reception. After all, the house looks huge.”
She chanced a glance down at the paperwork he held. “Yeah, easily seven thousand square feet.”
When they took the turnoff that led to the mountain, they saw the blockade the clients had talked about.
“Stay here. I’ll see what’s up,” Gary said, getting out of the car.
She watched him approach the barricades. There weren’t any police officers around, or for that matter, any other cars. So, after he looked around, he pushed the barricade aside and motioned for her to drive through.
“Are you going to put it back?” she asked when he got back in the Jeep.
“No, I have a bad feeling about this.” He frowned over at her as he picked up his phone. “Maybe you’d better step on it while I call the police.”
Logan felt his wrists bleeding from the constant back and forth motion, but he kept on using his keys to cut through layer after layer of duct tape. Whoever had secured him didn’t want him to get loose.
His eyes kept traveling back to the flames. He’d even taken time out from cutting to roll to the other side of the basement, which was no more than a crawl-space size.
Finally, he felt the tape start to give way and wrenched his hands several times until they broke free.
Tucking his keys back in his pocket, he glanced around and wondered what was next. Since there weren’t any windows, he had to find another way out. Surely whoever had put him here had used a door. He looked back to where he’d been lying when he woke and saw a sliver of light above the spot.
As he rushed over, he felt panic hit as the flames licked above his head. Gone, his only exit route was gone. He rushed back to his safe corner and huddled down trying to think of another way out.
Images of Amy flooded his mind. He’d been cheated out of telling her exactly how he felt. And of the family he’d dreamed of having with her. Even seeing Daisy’s puppies grow up.
Tears stung his eyes as smoke flooded the area.
“You’ll need your keys. Don’t forget your keys are in your back pocket.” Xina’s voice sounded again in his head.
“Yeah, what good are these going to do me now?” He looked down at them. Taking a chance, he hit the alarm button on the key and heard his car alarm start to squawk.
Gary hung up the phone with the police the second the Jeep turned the last corner and they saw the bright orange of the flames ahead. Then she heard him talking to the fire department.
Amy’s heart fell and she felt a wave of panic overtake her. The Jeep’s tires threw up gravel as they stopped right beside Logan’s SUV.
“Logan!” Gary and she jumped out of the Jeep and started yelling at the same time.
“You go that way.” Gary pointed to the left. “Don’t go running in there. It’s too far gone at this point.”
She nodded and ran to the left. They sprinted around the entire building, screaming his name and listening for any sounds. When they finally made it back to the Jeep, the fire truck was coming up the drive.
The house was sixty percent gone by the time they hooked up their hoses.
“Please,” she cried, watching the flames. “Please just give us a sign he’s okay.” She couldn’t get her eyes to look away from the building.
“Is anyone inside?” A fireman rushed over to them and pulled them both back a few steps.
“Logan,” she whispered.
“We think my nephew is in there,” Gary said in a stressed voice.
“Any idea where?” the fireman asked.
They both shook their heads, then jumped when his car alarm started going off. Then it beeped secure, then back to the alarm. This happened five times. Then it dawned on her that Logan must be doing it.
“He’s in there. He’s alive,” she cried as the fireman and Gary held her back. “Help him!”
The fireman rushed away.
“There! He’s got to be close to the car. I’ve got the same model and the damn key won’t work unless I’m within ten feet,” a different fireman said, pointing to the corner of the house. He pushed past them with a hose in his hands.
For the next ten minutes, they fought the flames back from the corner of the house that wasn’t yet burning. Firemen entered the main floor of the building only to come back out the windows empty-handed.
“He’s not in here,” he said over the alarm that kept turning on and off again.
“He has to be,” she cried, just as the floor on the other side of the building collapsed and sank into the ground.
“The basement!” someone screamed. “Cut through the floor.”
Logan was getting tired. He huddled in the dark corner in the dirt with his jacket over his mouth and nose as he continued to hit his alarm. He prayed that someone was out there, trying to help him. At one point, he thought there was water spraying on his head, but shook the thought off, believing it had been just his imagination when he reached up and touched his dry hair.
He was getting faint from the lack of oxygen, so he lay down in the dirt and wedged himself between the cool earth and the concrete wall. His mind kept playing over images from his dreams as he continued to set off his car alarm.
In his mind he saw Amy walking down a long church aisle in a flowing white dress. Her long hair was pinned up, diamonds sparkled around her face. Then the scene flashed to a home in the hills. Daisy and her puppies ran free in a large green backyard. There was a swing set and Amy was pushing a little girl on a swing while a boy chased the dogs around.
Then he felt Amy hovering over him, her hair framing her face as she looked down at him.
“Wake up, Logan. Please,” she begged him over and over again. “Don’t leave me.” He felt her tears running down his cheek. But when he raised his hands to wipe them from her eyes, his body wouldn’t move. Instead, his hands were tied behind his back again as flames crept closer and closer.
“Here!” someone shouted. “They have him.”
Amy’s attention moved over to where two men were pulling a very limp black mass from the basement. The firemen had broken through to the basement by cutting into the floor above and dropping a ladder down. She’d never seen firemen work before, but had instantly been impressed that four men had forsaken their own safety and climbed into the heart of a fire for a stranger.
“He’s not breathing,” someone yelled as they carried Logan toward the ambulance, which had parked directly behind her Jeep.
Gary and she were beside the gurney on which they laid him down. They stood back as a fireman tossed off his gloves and hat and started CPR on Logan immediately. Amy’s heart felt like it had stopped as she watched the man kneeling over Logan and pounding against his chest. Every time they pumped oxygen into him, she held her breath. She couldn’t look away as the EMTs continued to pump oxygen into his lungs.
Quickly, her mind flashed to a future without Logan. She physically felt her heart hurt as she thought of it. Her stomach rolled and she tried to focus on what was going on instead of the horror of possibilities.
Since the driveway was gravel, they had a hard time moving the gurney back toward the ambulance and the fireman actually had to get off and help carry it toward the vehicle.
“I’m going with them,” she told Gary. “Here.” She shoved her keys into his hands. “Follow us.”
Tears were streaming down his face, and he used his sleeves to wipe them away. “I’ll call his mother.”
She jumped into the back of the ambulance as they continued to pump oxygen into Logan’s lifeless body.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Logan was drifting. This was a hell of a lot more peaceful than dying in a fire, he thought, which only shook him out of the surreal mind-set. The word fire flashed memories into his brain as he screamed to his body to wake up. Amy!
His eyes opened slowly. His entire body felt like he’d jogged a thousand miles. His lungs burned when he tried to take a deep breath.
“No, don’t move.” He heard Amy, and blinked frantically, desperate to see her. “You’re safe.” He couldn’t see her, but heard the relief in her voice. “We’re at St. Anthony’s.” He felt her take his hand and tried to open his eyes again. “Easy, don’t worry. Give your eyes some time. They say there’s a lot of smoke and dirt in them still.”
He continued to blink, but so far his vision was still too fuzzy to make anything out clearly. Then he tried to open his mouth.
“No.” She brought his hand up to her face and he felt a tear fall down her cheek. “They don’t want you to speak either. I guess for the next few days you’re going to have to let me do all the talking.”
He nodded slowly and swallowed.
“They don’t want you to have any water just yet.” He knew her voice well and he could tell that she’d been very worried. She sounded as if she hadn’t slept for days. “I know you probably want some, but you’ll have to hang on.” She brushed at his hair and she sat next to him on the bed.
He nodded slightly, enjoying the touch of her fingers on his skin.
“They’re looking for whoever tied you up and did this to you.” He felt her touch the bruised spot on the side of his head lightly. He remembered the pain and the blood then. Reaching up with his free hand, he took hers and squeezed. Then brought it to his lips and left it there until he heard her sob.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” he tried to say, but it came out only as a croak.
Then she rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m in love with you,” she cried out against his chest. “Don’t you ever leave me,” she sobbed.
He shook his head and held her close, running his fingers through her hair. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling down his cheeks as he held her. Now, when he needed his voice the most, it was gone. Once he opened his eyes, he realized the tears had cleared the smoke from them and he was able to see a little better. Still, everything had a hazy film and he blinked a few more times to try to focus more.
“Oh,” he heard a new voice. “How wonderful.” He smiled when he looked over and recognized his mother’s shape. Holding out his hand, he motioned for her to come closer.
He watched a dark gray blob move toward him, and when he felt his mother’s hand in his, he tugged Amy’s up to meet hers. “I guess this is his way of introducing us.” He smiled when Amy started nervously twisting her watch.
“Well, dear, I already know who you are of course.” He could tell that Amy had crossed the room and assumed the two women were hugging. “Logan used to be such a pain to you. Wasn’t he?”
He heard Amy chuckle and he felt his cheeks go hot.
“There you are, boy!” His uncle burst into the conversation. He didn’t know if the man had stood back and watched the last few minutes or if he’d just stepped into the room. Either way, it was perfect timing. “You know, there are better ways to get out of a meeting with me than this.” His uncle laughed at his own joke.
Logan just shook his head and motioned for him to spill it.
“What? What’s that, my boy?”
“I think he wants to know what your meeting was about,” Amy said. Logan nodded his head a few times.
His uncle laughed. “Well, you’ll just have to get better to find out. Won’t you?”
Amy groaned, and Logan would have, too, if he could have.
“They want to keep him for a few days. Until he’s back to his old self.” He heard Amy tell the room, but he couldn’t see her face clearly to tell if she was hiding something.
He held out his hand until she took it. Then he squeezed.
“Really, they just want to make sure your eyes are okay.” He tilted his head. “Okay, they’re really worried about your head.” She sighed. “You stopped breathing for over ten minutes.” He heard her sob. “The fireman who pulled you out of the house pounded on your chest until we were halfway down the mountain.”
He tugged on her hand until she laid her head on his chest. He heard his mother crying and hoped his uncle was comforting her.
“There, there,” his uncle finally said, sniffling. “He’s awake now. No use crying about what might have been.”
He smiled when Amy used a tissue to softly dry his own tears. He blinked a few times and could see a little more clearly to make out the outline of her face.
“Beautiful.” It came out as a whisper as his fingers brushed against her soft skin.
“Logan!” she exclaimed. “You’re not supposed to talk.”
Just the sound of her voice was doing more than any rest could do to his system. Having her beside him was the best medicine he could ever get.
“I love you,” he said hoarsely. He’d pay the price for those three words later as he felt flames shoot up his throat.
His vision cleared further, and he watched tears start to flood her beautiful eyes as she bit her bottom lip. As her eyes moved to his, her lips turned upward into a smile.
“I love you too.” She laughed. “Now shut up.” She hugged him and he felt her body shake. He held onto her until he heard his mother and uncle leave the room quietly.
His heart was beating fast as she placed soft kisses along his chin. He’d never imagined that he could have gotten so lucky.
>
The next day, Amy was still in Logan’s room when they were visited by a state investigator who, at this point, had more questions than answers about what had happened. In the end, she had stood her ground and asked the man to leave because Logan couldn’t use his voice yet.
So far, Amy had left his side only to rush home to shower and change. She’d persuaded Kristen to stay at her place see to the dogs’ needs until Logan was out of the hospital.
The day before he was set to be released, three crime-scene investigators knocked on his door.
“Mr. Miller.” The oldest of the group was a silver-haired man who looked to be in his early fifties. “I’m Carl Wither, I’m an arson inspector for McWilliams Insurance. These gentlemen are from the state and county.”
Logan nodded and shook all three men’s hands. The men sat down and explained how the owner of the construction company that had built the home had been caught trying to get into Canada with his wife. They had over a million dollars taped to their bodies. Apparently, they had been using the homeowner’s money to gamble instead of using it to finish the house. The investigators had proof that the pair had lost big at the casino a few weeks ago and had withdrawn the remaining cash.
“The fire initially looked legit,” Mr. Wither said. “It started at the fuse box and spread without help. That is, if you don’t count the cheap material that they used in the home. The only thing that tipped us off that it could be arson was you . . . what happened to you,” he corrected.
“Why . . . ?” he started to ask, but Amy jumped in.
“Why did they attack Logan?” She squeezed his hand, not wanting him to use his voice too much.
“They claimed that they didn’t know the owner had scheduled an appointment with Mr. Miller. They never even imagined that the owner would try to sell the house, since construction wasn’t completed yet,” one of the other men said.
“Why did they attack him?” she persisted.
Mr. Wither jumped in. “We’re not too sure on why. Maybe they saw him drive up as they were starting the fire and panicked?” The older man ran his hands through his hair. “Either way, they’ll be charged with attempted murder as well as fraud and a long list of other things.”