by Angie Martin
“What are you doing?” Mary asked. “I can’t see him anymore.”
“We look like giddy schoolgirls that just found their first crush.”
“He’s my first, second, and third crush.”
Sara laughed. “He is a bit on the side of good-looking.”
“Just roll down the damn window so I can look at the eye candy while we have him captive.”
Sara swatted Mary’s arm. “You’re so bad. Just don’t be obvious, okay?”
“I can’t guarantee anything.”
Sara rolled down the window between them and the driver. She kept her eyes focused on her hands in her lap. Out of the corner of her eye, Mary molested the driver with her gaze.
“Ma’am?” the driver asked, making eye contact with Sara in the rearview mirror.
Sara realized he thought she rolled down the window because she needed something. “We’re fine,” she said. “Just wanted some fresh air.”
Mary giggled at her words. “I need a little more of that fresh air, please.”
Sara pressed her lips together to stop even more laughter. After a few minutes passed, she lifted her eyes to the rearview mirror to get another look at him. Focused on the traffic in front of him, the driver didn’t notice her scrutiny. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, but had small lines jutting out from his ice blue eyes, which mesmerized her with the stories they told. Hard and weary with lots of pain, and something else she couldn’t quite grasp. Regret, maybe. She couldn’t explain why they drew her in, but it was the first time she had looked into someone’s eyes and caught a glimpse of their soul.
His gaze rose to the mirror and he caught her staring. She tore her eyes away and crimson filled her cheeks. She focused instead on the view outside the tinted window and rested the side of her head against the glass.
A loud crash came from behind the car, just after they flew through an intersection. Sara jumped and looked out the slanted, rear window.
“What was that?” Mary asked, also turned around.
“Looks like an accident,” the driver replied.
Though they were moving farther away, Sara recognized one of the cars in the accident. “Oh, no! That’s my security detail.” She whipped around in the seat. “Sir, I’m so sorry, but can we go back? I need to make sure they are okay.”
The driver nodded. “I’ll turn around up here.”
“Thank you so much,” Sara said. “I just can’t leave them there.”
She turned back to look at the accident, but enough distance had passed that she couldn’t see it. She bounced up and down in her seat, anxiety flowing through her veins. The driver turned right into an alley and slowed the speed of the car.
“I hope they’re okay,” Mary said.
“I hope so, too. It’s my fault those two guys were there.”
“How do you figure?”
“I got the other two fired, remember?”
Mary touched her arm. “If it hadn’t been these two guys, it would have been the other two. It’s not your fault.”
“How much farther?” Sara asked the driver.
“We’re here,” he replied. The car stopped.
Every instinct in Sara’s body sounded an alarm. “What are you doing?” she asked, looking at the driver in the rearview mirror. “Why did we stop?”
The blue eyes she had admired for most of the drive gave away nothing. The silent stare of the driver raised her heart rate and level of fear. Sara jumped as her door opened up at the same time as Mary’s. A man reached in and grabbed her. She screamed, competing with Mary for volume.
She turned her head back to the driver. “Help us!”
The man slapped a hand down over her mouth and told her to be quiet. The driver continued watching her without moving to save them.
Something pierced her neck and her vision dimmed, not once taking her eyes off the driver’s, pleading with him for help that never came.
Chapter Fourteen
Guilt consumed Logan while he watched Sara struggle with Jack. Her eyes begged him to help her, but he remained still while the needle slipped into her neck and she faded away. He fought his instinct to help her and reminded himself that it had to be done to save her life.
As soon as both women were asleep, he jumped out of the car and Carlos got in. Jack and Tuck dragged Sara and Mary out of the car and into the cars that contained the teams assigned to them. Logan shut the doors to the car, and Carlos climbed into the driver’s seat. Logan raced back to the car that had Sara in the back and hopped in the front seat next to Lester. Right on schedule, all three cars took off in their assigned directions.
Logan buckled his seatbelt and turned around to look at Sara seated between Jack and Charlie. With her head leaning on Jack’s shoulder, a peaceful sleep claimed her face. The easy part of the job was done. Now they had to convince her that her father had taken a hit out on her and she needed to cooperate with the FBI. Her whole world was about to be turned upside-down.
“Did you have to stick her in the neck?” Logan asked Jack.
“She was struggling and I couldn’t get to her arm. The needle would’ve snapped in two had I tried.”
Logan frowned and kept his eyes on her, hoping Jack didn’t hurt her too much.
“You okay?” Jack asked.
Logan nodded and shifted in his seat until he faced the front again. According to Allie’s instructions, they would give her another sedative as soon as she started waking from the first one, in order to keep her out for almost a full day. If they could keep her asleep until after the scheduled time of her wedding, she would have one less reason to fight to get away. The wedding was scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow, which meant keeping her asleep for just under 19 hours.
Everything had gone perfectly so far, but when she woke up tomorrow afternoon, anything could happen.
He wished there was a way to have taken Sara without the trauma of being kidnapped. During all the time they planned, he hadn’t thought about how a kidnapping could affect both of the girls, but walking up to Sara and telling her that her father was trying to kill her would never have worked. Her security wouldn’t have given him the chance. He kept telling himself he was saving her life, but he couldn’t help but wonder if there had been another way.
The panic in her eyes during her struggle with Jack did that to him. Made him question everything they did and everything they were about to do. They had never kidnapped anyone before, let alone two people. The complexities of the job were difficult enough without having to see Sara’s amber eyes in the back of his mind.
From the moment he saw her waiting on the sidewalk, he knew she wasn’t caught up in her father’s business. She had no idea what he did or how he got his money. She didn’t have it in her to set up Logan and his team, nor did she have anything to do with Karen’s death. Yet he still had to treat her as if she did until he confirmed otherwise.
“I talked to Schaffer before we left,” Charlie said, interrupting Logan’s thoughts. “The safe houses are both well-stocked with food and everything else. We could live there for a few weeks if we need to.”
“Thanks, Charlie,” Logan said without looking at him. He didn’t want to see Sara’s sleeping face again. He shifted his attention to the passing scenery.
An hour later, Lester pulled the car into the safe house driveway. Though they had safe houses all over the country, they were all in different settings. Some were apartments in the middle of a busy city block, while others had more rural locations. The safe house they picked out for Sara fell into the latter category. Sitting on five acres, it allowed plenty of privacy. With four bedrooms on the main level, a fully furnished basement, and a large, second-story loft, the house satisfied every need for their job.
Sara would stay in a secret room at the back of the house. After Schaffer acquired the home, he blocked off part of the master bedroom along with an entrance hidden in the back corner of the walk-in closet. Most of their safe homes had similar rooms or hiding places
for emergencies. Sara’s room allotted her a separate bathroom and plenty of space, but before she could sleep there, they had to proof the room.
Logan instructed Jack and Charlie to put Sara in a smaller bedroom until they could finish preparing her room. He had Charlie stay with her while he, Jack, and Lester went to work. They first removed all furniture except the bed, relocating the furniture to another room. They then went to work on the bathroom, removing the shower curtain and rod, the towel racks, all items from the drawers, and the lid of the toilet tank.
After they cleared the bathroom, they took the mattress and box springs off the frame and hauled the frame into the other room. Logan did one last check throughout the room to make sure they had everything. There was only one window in the bedroom, which Lester boarded up. Jack installed a new lock on the door, one that could be locked or unlocked from either side using a key.
Looking at the bare room, Logan felt disgust. They were treating her like a prisoner, but they had little choice until she accepted the circumstances of her kidnapping. As he gave Jack the okay to bring Sara in, he hoped she would soon understand that the situation necessitated their actions.
Chapter Fifteen
“Schaffer said to turn on the news.”
Logan lifted his head off the back of the couch at Charlie’s voice behind him. He had almost fallen asleep, having sat in the same position for several hours. Lester had taken his shift to watch over Sara in her room, while Logan and Jack passed time in the living room.
Charlie set a plate of sandwiches for dinner on the coffee table. Logan picked up the remote next to him and turned on the television. He flipped the channels until he came across a news broadcast.
The words “Breaking News” filled the bottom of the screen and Logan’s heart seized. He’d assumed that once Langston and Mathers knew of Sara’s disappearance, they would work quickly to find her, but seeing a press conference already made him worry about their chances of success.
On either side of a man in front of the podium stood Hugh Langston and Stephen Mathers. Logan caught his breath and pushed his anger aside. He’d only seen Langston a handful of times since Karen’s death. A tall, gangly man with wire-rimmed glasses, at first glance Langston didn’t appear capable of causing anyone’s nightmares. Logan knew much better, as he once underestimated Langston’s reach. Never again.
The bottom of the screen identified the man in the middle as FBI agent John Shelby, who spoke to the cameras. Logan turned up the volume with the remote and leaned back against the couch.
“…kidnapper or kidnappers have not yet been identified. We are interested in speaking to the driver that picked up both Sara and Mary this evening so we could get more information on where he dropped them off.”
“Could they be any more obvious?” Jack asked. “They want to find you because they think you took them.”
“Good thing they have no witnesses to do a sketch,” Charlie said. “Langston would recognize you in a heartbeat.”
Logan knew that even if Langston knew it was him who took his daughter, the only way he would find Logan is if there was an informant on the inside. Though the FBI was already investigating, Schaffer had far more prominent contacts there than Langston could ever imagine. The agent with Langston and Mathers probably had no idea that a couple of his higher-ups were helping to cover Logan’s tracks.
A reporter shouted off an indecipherable question. “We have not yet received a ransom demand,” Agent Shelby said. “Sara’s fiancé would like to say a few words to the kidnappers.”
Mathers stepped up to the microphones. He looked far worse off than Logan had anticipated. Reddened, tired eyes combined with constricted facial muscles gave the impression of a man who experienced loss. Logan recognized himself in the face that filled the screen. For the first time he wondered if Mathers knew about the hit on Sara.
“I would like to speak to the man or men who have Sara and Mary. Sara is my fiancée and we are to be married tomorrow. She’s 26-years old and is very smart with a bright future. She has asthma and…” He looked down at the podium. “We just want her home safe, so she can be with those who love her. Sara is…” he broke off as tears streamed down his cheeks. “She’s… I can’t…” he shook his head and walked away from the podium, wiping his eyes. A nearby woman helped him away from the prying lens of the camera.
“As you can imagine,” Agent Shelby said, “this is a very trying time for both Sara and Mary’s families. We ask for any witnesses to please come forward and help find them. Thank you.”
Reporters shouted out unanswered questions and Logan muted the television.
“What do you think?” Charlie asked.
“Mathers is sincere,” Jack said. “You can’t fake that.”
“You can fake it,” Logan said. “I just didn’t expect him to be so good at it, if that’s what he’s doing.”
“Why didn’t Langston speak?” Charlie asked. “And where is Mary’s family?”
“They know Sara’s the real target, so they had her family front and center,” Logan said. He snatched a sandwich off the tray on the coffee table. “Langston didn’t speak because he can’t fake emotion, not like Mathers.” He took a bite of his sandwich, happy to find it was turkey instead of ham, Charlie’s favorite.
“Nah, man,” Jack said. “Mathers convinced me. He doesn’t know anything.”
Charlie picked up the tray. “I think I’ll get a couple sandwiches to Lester and see how he’s doing.”
Logan lifted his eyes to Charlie and watched him walk out of the room.
“What’s going on with you lately?” Jack asked, sitting in the recliner next to the couch.
Logan took another bite of his sandwich instead of answering.
“You’ve been on edge, not acting like yourself. It’s like this job is too much for you, not that anyone would blame you for—”
“I was sleeping with Allie.” Logan hadn’t intended to blurt out the confession, but out of everyone, he trusted Jack the most.
“Doctor Connors?” Jack laughed, a reaction Logan hadn’t expected. “No way.”
A corner of Logan’s mouth turned up. “Yes, way.”
“You lucky son of a—”
“Not that lucky,” Logan said. “I mean, yeah, it was fun, but I never had any feelings toward her and she did for me and it all became a mess. Then Schaffer found out—”
“Schaffer? Oh, man. That must have been hell.”
“More for her than me, I suppose. He told her I was using her.”
“Were you?”
“Yeah, I was,” Logan said. “I told myself I wasn’t and I told her I wasn’t, but the more I think about it, I definitely used her. I sure didn’t mean to.”
“Well, if you meant to, it would tarnish your armor a bit.” Jack shook his head. “Doctor Connors. Man, if the other guys knew that—”
“They don’t know and they won’t know. Ever.”
Jack studied him for a moment. “Karen was a good woman. We all loved her. All of us lost something that day, and not just Karen. We lost you, too.”
Logan blinked several times to stop the tears that welled in his eyes.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but there are other women out there. Karen wouldn’t be mad at you for sleeping with Doctor Connors or even if you found someone else to spend your life with. But she’d be pissed as hell that you’re living like a zombie. It’s been two years, Logan, and you’re acting like it happened yesterday.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s been ten years.”
“Time does heal, man, but only if you let it. This job is opening up a lot of wounds. You have Langston’s daughter in the next room and it’s a very bad reminder of the past.”
“I’m going to take some time off when we’re done here.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve done in a long time. Besides baggin’ Doctor Connors, that is.” Jack let out a roar, and Logan couldn’t help but laugh a bit himself.
“What is it?”
Logan shook his head. “Never mind. I’m not thinking quite straight.” He had almost told Jack about the suspected leak. He knew Jack was safe, but he didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone. If only he and Schaffer knew, he could keep it contained.
Charlie came back in the room. “I’m going to relieve Les for a bit so he can get some rest. It’s about time for his sleep shift.”
“How is she?” Logan asked.
“Still snoozing,” Charlie said. He set the tray with two remaining sandwiches on the coffee table. “How are the sandwiches?”
“Fine, but I want to know where our steak is,” Jack said.
“I’m saving all the good stuff for Sara,” Charlie said.
“I need some fresh air.” Logan stood up and yawned. “I’m going to take a walk around the back, make sure everything’s okay.
“Don’t forget your gun,” Jack said.
“I’ll get it now. If Schaffer calls back, let him know that I need to talk to him.” Logan made his way back to the bedroom where he stashed his go-bag. He retrieved his gun, then secured it in the harness he pulled on over his shoulders.
When he stepped back through the door, he turned to the right and looked at the door to the master bedroom. He walked through the room and opened the door in the closet, where Lester greeted him.
“How’s she doing?” Logan asked.
“She’s good. Not a peep outta her.”
Logan crept to the bed and stood over her sleeping figure. She seemed so peaceful, and he had to focus to see the rise and fall of her torso with each breath underneath the blanket. Lost in merciful dreams, she had no idea she was missing or that her father was trying to kill her. Logan wished he could keep her in that state forever, but eventually she would have to wake up and face the truth. No matter when it happened—tonight, tomorrow, in a year—it wouldn’t be pleasant for her.