All he had to do now was make his words come true.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I didn’t want to like you.”
Dani smiled and zipped her suitcase closed before glancing at Maria, leaning against the door frame. “I know. Have a seat and keep me company for a few minutes.”
Logan’s sister sauntered in and sat on the bed. “I didn’t like the way he looked at you, and I guess I had the silly idea you were going to take my brother away. From as far back as I can remember, he’s been there for me. Kind of like he’s always been mine, and then he brings you home, something he’s never done before. Has Logan told you about our mother?”
“He’s talked about her some,” Dani said, cautiously. She was positive she knew things about their mother that Logan had never shared with Maria.
Curiosity lit Maria’s eyes. “He never talks about her to anyone, even me.”
“Well, you have to admit it’s not a pretty subject.”
Maria snorted. “Now there’s an understatement. I shudder to think where I’d be today if not for my brother.” She glanced away. “Probably headed down the same path as Lovey Dovey.”
Dani thought there was no “probably” about it. “I’m very glad you had him, then.”
“The thing is, I’ve never seen him this happy before, and it’s because of you. He’s barely growled at me since he brought you home, so I guess I’m going to have to like you for that, if nothing else.”
“Dani, Maria, let’s go,” Logan’s voice sounded from the hallway.
Maria jumped up and gave Dani a fierce hug. “He deserves to be happy, so thank you. I’m going to miss you. You have to promise to come back and see me.”
“I promise, and you have an open invitation to visit me any time you want.”
“Cool.”
Since his confessions their first night, Logan had started smiling more, even laughing more, as each day passed. No matter what happened between them when everything was over, Dani hoped it was a permanent change for him. It felt good to know she’d played a role in helping him slay his demons.
Maria’s claim that his happiness was because of her made Dani uneasy, though. Where their relationship went from here, she didn’t know. She still had a big issue with the danger he put himself in.
Leaving Regan in the care of Mrs. Jankowski, Dani rode with Logan and Maria to K2. In the conference room, she sat down with them, Jake, and Jamie Turner, who’d returned from Texas the night before.
“We’ll start with you, Turner,” Logan said. “Your text said you found a source who knew the details of what happened between Prescott’s parents.”
Dani leaned forward. It seemed strange she was about to hear details of Evan’s life that he’d never known.
Jamie read from the screen of the open laptop in front of him. “The man’s name is Roger Milton. He, his wife Patti, and Prescott’s parents, Tom and Ruth, were best friends. Tom Prescott was an evangelist, going to different churches for revival services, usually staying for a week. Milton was his music man.”
“Music man?” Logan asked.
Jamie nodded. “Yeah, according to Milton, he had the voice of an angel, and after Prescott preached his fire-and-brimstone sermons, he would end the revival by singing ‘Amazing Grace.’ He said there wasn’t a soul standing under the tent that could resist the two of them. He must have sensed my skepticism because he started to sing. I gotta tell you, I’ve never been so moved in my life. If Prescott’s preaching was on a level with Milton’s voice, they were a hell of a team.”
“While that’s interesting,” Logan said, “how does it relate to Evan and Eli?”
Dani glanced at Logan. He winked and her heart did its pitter-patter thing. Forgetting where she was and the seriousness of the discussion, and because she was sitting to his right and within easy reach, she slipped her foot out of her flip-flop and danced her toes up his leg under the conference table.
“You okay, boss?” Buchanan asked when Logan choked.
“Swallowed wrong,” Logan gasped, and reached for the water in front of him.
Smoldering brown eyes focused on her over the rim of the glass, their message promising delicious retribution. She lifted an eyebrow.
“Excuse us a minute,” he said, standing and grabbing her hand. He towed her out of the conference room, closing the door behind him.
“Was there something you wanted, Dani?”
She lifted her eyes to the ceiling and thought about it. “Nope, can’t think of anything.”
“Little liar,” he growled right before his mouth crashed down on hers.
God, the man could kiss.
He pulled away and stared down at her, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Behave and pay attention.” With that order given, he put his hand under her elbow and escorted her back inside. The others gave them curious looks when she and Logan walked back in.
“Sorry,” Logan said. “I needed to talk to Dani about something.”
Buchanan smirked. “If you say so, boss.”
Dani blushed. Even without looking in a mirror, she knew her lips were pink and swollen. Maria grinned, puckered her lips, and made a smacking noise, causing everyone to laugh. Dani felt her cheeks grow even hotter, but decided to fall back on the old adage that if you can’t beat them, then join them.
“Busted,” she said.
That set them off even more. Sneaking a peek at Logan, she thought he looked rather proud of himself. Well, who could blame him? For the first time in his life, he had a girlfriend, and it was probably the first time he truly felt like one of the guys. She took a satisfied breath knowing she’d played a part in putting that gleam of pride in his eyes.
“Let’s get back to business,” Logan said gruffly. “Give us what you have, Turner.”
“Right. Enter Herbert Ballard. When the twins were two, Prescott and Milton were invited to lead a revival at Ballard’s Christ’s Gospel Church. They were scheduled to be there for a week, and according to Milton, that’s when it all went wrong. He said sometimes they took their wives and kids, sometimes not, and this was one of the times they did. Milton said if he could go back and change one thing in his life, they would have left the women at home that time.”
“I don’t think Evan was aware his dad had once been an evangelist. The only job his father had that he knew of was as an insurance salesman,” Dani said.
“Were they close?” Buchanan asked.
Dani shrugged. “His father died before I met Evan, but he always spoke fondly of his dad, so I suppose they were.”
“What happened then?” Logan asked Turner.
“Prescott caught his wife in bed with Ballard. Milton said a nasty scene ensued, with Ruth refusing to leave Ballard.”
By the thinning of Logan’s lips, Dani was sure he’d just put Ruth Prescott into the same league as his mother. Not caring about their audience, she rested her hand on his arm. He was tense under her palm, his muscles tight, but amazingly, she felt him calm under her touch.
“Continue,” Logan said, his gaze on Dani.
Turner opened a folder, removed some pages, and handed them to Logan. “These are over twenty-five years old, but I managed to get copies of the Prescotts’ and Ballard’s driver’s licenses.”
While the group studied the photos, he continued. “The end result was Prescott returning home minus one wife and one child. Milton said Ruth wanted both of the boys, as did Prescott. After a lot of yelling and angry words, Ruth and Tom somehow came to the agreement that they would each get one, so they flipped a coin to decide.”
Dani gasped and glanced at the others around the table, seeing that they were as horrified as she. “Poor Eli.”
“How can you say that, considering he’s out to harm you?” Logan demanded.
She turned to him. His eyes had turned to ice, his expression hard
and unrelenting. This must be how he looked on a mission, dangerous and deadly. Strangely, it turned her on. She would like to go to bed with him when he was in his Iceman persona. Talk about playing with fire.
“Dani?”
Shaking her head to clear it, she shrugged. “It’s obvious Evan won that coin toss. He grew up okay and apparently his twin didn’t. I just feel sorry for him.”
Logan glared at her. “Don’t get it in your head to invite him in for tea and crumpets.”
“Damn, there went that plan.” If he thought he was intimidating her with that look, she wondered how he would feel if he knew it just made her want to jump his bones.
Realizing everyone watched her and Logan with rapt fascination, she waved a hand at Jamie. “Continue, please.”
His lips twitched and then he slid a questioning glance to Logan, who gave a terse nod.
“Right. Milton said Prescott returned home, told everyone his wife and Eli had been killed in a car wreck, packed up his belongings, and moved to Austin. Nowadays, I doubt you could get away with something like that, but no one thought to question it. Milton said he and his wife only wanted to stay out of it, so they kept silent.”
“So Ruth’s still alive?” Dani asked. All these years Evan had believed his mother dead. This story was getting sadder by the minute.
Jamie shook his head. “No, she died ten years ago. The details are murky, but Maria found a death certificate filed in the state of Arkansas, which made it easier to follow Ballard’s trail. He left Christ’s Gospel, moved Ruth and Eli to Arkansas, settled on some land in the Ozarks, and founded The Temple of God’s Divine Children. They have a website you’ll want to look at. Ballard claims he’s God’s son reborn.”
“Wow,” Dani breathed.
“Jamie sent me a text with the name of the cult before he boarded his return flight,” Maria said. “Jake and I have been researching them. There’s not much on them, or at least we haven’t found it yet. One disturbing thing did turn up, though.”
She flicked through some pages and pulled one out. “Five years ago there was a complaint filed against The Temple of God’s Children by a Mr. Gerald Scanlon. He claimed his wife cleaned out their savings and joined the cult. Since there was nothing else on the report, I called Mr. Scanlon. According to him, his wife, Amy, met Herbert Ballard and his son, Eli, at a local music festival. Next thing he knew, she was attending their church. Four months later, he came home from work and she was gone.”
“What made him think she’d joined the cult?” Dani asked.
“She left him a note apologizing for taking the money but explaining that Herbert needed it for his ministry. She said, ‘God told Herbert you would forgive me.’ Mr. Scanlon went to the sheriff and filed his complaint. Said he didn’t give a damn about his wife by then, that she’d turned into a woman he didn’t recognize since meeting Ballard, but he did want”—she made air quotes—“his damn money back.”
This was getting downright creepy. Dani glanced at Logan, but his face gave nothing away. “What did the sheriff say?”
“That Mrs. Scanlon’s name was on the savings account and she had as much right to the money as he did. I got the impression he doesn’t have a high opinion of the sheriff. One other thing, Mr. Scanlon told me he’s found two other men in the area whose wives joined the cult after meeting Herbert Ballard. Both of them cleaned out their bank accounts before leaving their husbands.”
“Do you know if Eli was involved with the other two?” Dani understood Logan’s opinion that she shouldn’t feel sorry for Eli, but he was Evan’s twin, shared Evan’s DNA. For the life of her, she couldn’t rubber-stamp evil over Eli’s face.
Maria nodded. “Yeah, according to Mr. Scanlon, Eli was there each time the women first met Ballard.”
“Maybe he wasn’t given a choice.”
A throaty growl sounded from the man sitting next to her, and she turned to Logan.
“Dani, you can’t—”
“I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t help feeling sorry for him. Doesn’t mean I’m going to invite him in for tea and crumpets.” His fingers drummed hard on the tabletop, and she covered his hand with hers. “I understand how serious this is. I do. Just because my heart goes out to a little boy separated from his twin doesn’t mean I’m going to welcome him with open arms.”
“That relieves my mind.” He held her gaze for a few more seconds before turning to Jake. “Do we know how many members there are in the cult?”
“As far as we can tell, fifty, give or take. The closest person I could think of to do some recon was Andre Decourdeau. He called this morning to report back. The compound is fenced in and heavily guarded. Dogs, regular patrols with rifles slung over their backs walking the fence line, that kind of thing. This is no little church on the corner your grandma goes to, boss.”
“Decourdeau’s a good man to have watching them,” Logan said. “Can he get vacation time and hang out there? Tell him he’ll be well compensated.”
“Already done. Andre said he was getting bored anyway, wrestling alligators and catching water moccasins for dinner.”
“Wrestling alligators, eating snakes?” Dani asked.
Logan grinned. “He’s not bullshitting. Dude lives in some swamp in the bayou somewhere. Served on Team Three. Man was spooky the way he could disappear right in front of your eyes.”
“Sounds like you should hire him,” she said.
“Believe me, I’ve tried. Said he’s had enough of being ordered around, but if I ever needed him for something special, he was my man.”
“Ken’s getting us satellite pictures. Should have them before you leave,” Maria said.
“Good,” Logan replied. “It seems we have you to thank for getting us this far.”
Logan’s sister blushed, making Dani glad he had complimented her. The girl adored her brother, but unlike in most families, he’d been not only her handsome big brother, but her father and mother, too.
“Really?” Dani asked, wanting to keep the spotlight on Maria for a few more minutes. “How did you do it?”
“It wasn’t hard.” She held up her fingers and wriggled them. “Just these and this,” she said, pointing to her head.
“Impressive,” Dani said, returning Maria’s pleased smile.
“We needed to follow the trail of the dummy companies. The fastest way to do that was to put her in front of a computer, put her fingers on the keys, and then get out of her way,” Jake said in obvious admiration.
Dani noted three things happening at once. Maria gave Jake a pleased smile, Jake’s eyes softened, and Logan’s eyes narrowed. She put her hand over Logan’s and squeezed. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. The poor man still struggled with the idea of Maria and Jake together, but he’d get over it. Eventually.
“Anything else?” Logan asked. “Dani and I have a plane to catch.”
“Just this,” Jake said. “I talked to a buddy of mine, an FBI profiler. If it turns out Eli’s not acting alone—that if the cult is involved—it’s possible Eli’s been brainwashed by this Ballard dude. He said since Eli’s been with him since the age of two, it would be an easy thing for Ballard to have done.”
“If so, that changes everything,” Dani said. She couldn’t help but think that Evan had avoided a life with Herbert Ballard by a simple toss of a coin. Poor Eli.
“It changes nothing,” Logan replied, glaring at her. “Go see if those satellite pictures are ready, Buchanan. I want to take a copy of them with me.”
Dani carried Regan onto the chartered Learjet, every bone in her body wanting to grab Logan’s hand and drag him back to the car, demanding that Jake take them back to Logan’s house. It was safe there. Logan had worshipped her body and loved her there.
Her time in Pensacola had been the best days she’d had since Evan died. She and Logan had played in the gulf
with Regan, had taken long walks on the beach, and one night, roasted marshmallows and smashed them between graham crackers and bars of chocolate.
Amazed he’d never had s’mores, she’d insisted he couldn’t go through life without tasting the decadent treats. They’d eaten the damn things until they were sick, and then made love on the cool sand next to the fire. Like everything else he took a mind to, Logan was becoming quite an expert at the business of making love.
She watched the buildings below grow small beneath them as the Lear lifted. What was awaiting them back home? She couldn’t rid herself of the unsettling feeling that they’d angered Eli by leaving like they had. What Evan’s twin wanted and why he was focused on her, she couldn’t imagine.
If Eli had been brainwashed, however, it meant Herbert Ballard pulled the strings—something worse than watching a Freddy Krueger movie, number one on her list of things that scared the living hell out of her, until now.
“What do you think’s going to happen when we get back?”
His chest lifted as he took in a deep breath, and he wrapped his hand around hers. “I don’t know but my gut tells me whatever it is, it’s going to happen soon.” He twisted toward her. “I’m sorry, Dani. I shouldn’t have let things go on this long.”
That didn’t make any sense. “Don’t be silly, you’re doing everything you can.”
“Now I am, but I wasn’t before. I could have caught Eli if I’d really wanted to.”
She pulled her hand away and frowned. “What are you saying?”
His head fell back on the seat, and he closed his eyes. “I could have caught him the first day, but if I had, there wouldn’t have been a reason for me to stay.”
Oh. Dani examined how she felt about his admission. With the advantage of hindsight, she realized she was glad he was still with her. Although, if he’d caught Eli and ended the threat, she would have never known what she was missing. She had no regrets. If given a choice, she would not give up these past days spent with Logan.
“Logan?”
“Yes?”
“There’s something I’ve been wondering.”
Crazy for Her (A K2 Team Novel) Page 20