by Angie Martin
Instead of entering her room, he left the door unlocked. Leaning against the wall, he sat on the carpet next to the closet door. It wouldn’t be long before she decided to come out and talk.
Chapter Twenty-one
Sara had consumed almost all of her plate of food when she heard the click of the lock. She watched the door for a moment, but no one came through.
She set her plate down on the floor and cautiously rose from the bed and crept over to the door. She stood still for a moment before putting her ear to the door. No noises penetrated the wood, piquing her curiosity.
She moved back to the bed and finished her meal, keeping her eyes on the door. No one entered, not while she ate and not while she sat still, waiting for someone to turn the knob. She wondered if Logan was testing her to see if she would try to escape.
Sara decided to take her mind off the unlocked door by taking a shower. Seeing the missing shower curtain and no lock on the bathroom door dismayed her, but she had to shower at some point. Logan seemed genuine about not wanting to search her and she had no reason to think he would embarrass her by barging through a closed bathroom door. With him in charge of the others, she figured he’d keep everyone else in line as well.
The only question she had, besides why they kidnapped her was why there was a mattress on the floor by the door. She imagined they took turns sitting there while she slept, but she felt a bit awkward about someone being in the room while she rested.
In the bathroom, Sara turned the showerhead toward the wall so the water wouldn’t soak the floor too much. She stripped her clothes and laid them on top of the vanity countertop. After she climbed into the shower, she regretted breaking the mirror in the bathroom. She thought having a weapon would better her position, but she only ended up hurting Logan. She had never done anything like that to another person, and though remorse tugged at her heart over doing it, at least they knew she would fight back if pushed.
Sara finished her shower while wondering where Stephen was and if he was looking for her. Surely he knew she was missing, but did he miss her as much as she missed him? She wished she could see him now, but Logan’s words about her not loving Stephen plagued her heart. Logan had also said that she didn’t want to marry Stephen, as if he knew Stephen and didn’t approve of him. Yet out of all of Stephen’s friends, she had never met Logan before, or even Charlie. Maybe she would recognize one of the other two men in the house as an acquaintance of Stephen’s.
Dressed in the clothing she had on before, she contemplated asking one of the men to bring the suitcase back so she could find something else to wear. It would be a good excuse for opening the door. They might even let her out a bit, giving her a glimpse of the rest of the house. If she could map out the rest of her location, she might be able to find a way out.
First things first, she thought. She walked over to the boarded up window and examined it. Screws held the board into the wall on all sides. Though she knew it wouldn’t open, she pressed her fingers into the right side of the board and tugged. Nothing.
Sara leaned over and squinted as she studied one of the screws. They had used screws that required a funny shaped screwdriver, one that looked like a hexagon, she determined by counting the number of sides inside the little hole. She only knew about flatheads and Phillips screwdrivers from helping her mom fix things around the house as a kid. If they had used one of those types of screws, she could have figured out a way to open it, using a nail file, a pair of tweezers, or a knife, if she could get access to them.
She moved away from the window. Her escape would not be through there. She stared at the doorknob, inching closer to it. Just one little, quick turn of the knob and she could leave the room and find someone, hopefully Charlie.
She sealed her hand over the knob and opened the door before she lost her courage. She lifted a leg to walk out, but froze when she saw the wall in front of her. Turning left, she took careful steps down the small hallway. Only when she reached the light at the end of the hall and saw Logan sitting against the wall in another bedroom did she realize her room was hidden behind a closet. She sucked in her breath, worried he would get mad at her for leaving her room.
“Hi, Sara,” he said, as he got to his feet. “How was your meal?”
She hesitated before answering, wondering if his warm tone and question were a trick. “Um, good.”
“What can I help you with?”
She looked around the bedroom and every plan she had thought up for escape quickly left her mind. There was no getting through this maze and into the main house without someone noticing.
“Sara?”
She stumbled a bit on her words before asking, “Is Charlie here?”
“I can get him for you.”
“I think I’m ready to listen to what you have to say.” Though deceiving him with her words, she didn’t know what else to tell him except what he wanted to hear.
“Why don’t you take a seat in your room and I’ll grab Charlie?”
Her nerves shot up with his words. She wanted to find a way to escape, instead of listening to some fanatical tale they probably made up to make her think they were good people, but she had no way out. If she tried to run, Logan would catch her before she got more than a couple feet away. Best to go back into the room and listen to them. If she could convince them that she trusted them, maybe that trust would go both ways. Once she earned their trust, they would afford her more leniency and allow her to freely move around the house. Then she’d escape.
Chapter Twenty-two
Logan shut the door behind Sara and locked it. She had lied to him when she said she was ready to talk. She only opened the door to push her boundaries, but had to come up with a viable excuse when she saw him sitting there. He wasn’t about to take a chance that she would attempt an escape if he left the door unlocked with no guard.
He found Charlie in the living room with Lester watching a national news station that had on information about Sara’s kidnapping.
“Any news of importance?” Logan asked.
“Nothin’,” Lester said.
“They have no leads and no ransom demand has been made,” Charlie said. “Which we already knew. Oh, they’ve issued a reward for her safe return.”
“How much?” Logan asked.
“Two hundred grand,” Charlie said. “Langston and Mathers each contributed to the pot.”
Logan laughed and shook his head. “They’re billionaires and that’s the value they assigned her life?”
“Are you gonna tell her?” Lester asked.
“No,” Logan said. “It’s better not to say anything to her that she might construe as positive, even if we know it’s a measly amount.”
“Good point,” Charlie said.
“Speaking of which,” Logan said, “she’s ready for us.”
“Already?” Charlie asked, as he stood up.
“I tricked her into it. She’s still looking for a way to escape, so we need to watch her closely. Just ease her into this. Let’s not hit her with everything all at once.”
“Got it,” Charlie said.
After grabbing a chair from the kitchen, Logan followed Charlie into her room, where Sara sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed. She seemed to relax at the sight of Charlie, but tensed when she laid eyes on Logan. Her body language convinced Logan he needed to stay in the background of the conversation and contribute as little as possible to it.
He set the chair down for Charlie. Moving to the wall behind him, he stood off to the side so he could study Sara as she spoke. With Charlie guiding the conversation, it gave Logan a chance to watch Sara and determine where she was in terms of accepting the truth. He didn’t expect it to happen today, but he hoped she was at least a little closer by the end of their conversation.
“Why did you kidnap me?” she asked Charlie.
“What do you know about your father?” he asked.
Her gaze wavered. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“H
ow much do you know about what he does?”
“I don’t understand. What does he have to do with kidnapping me?”
Logan picked up on the frustration in her voice. “You do accounting for him, right?” he asked.
“I try.”
“Try?” Charlie asked.
“I mean… yes, I do. For one of his smaller companies.”
“Have you ever noticed anything out of sorts?”
Logan almost stopped Charlie from asking the question. Sara’s furrowed brow and constant fiddling with her necklace not only gave him the answer, but revealed her discomfort with the topic.
“I don’t understand what this has to do with you kidnapping me.”
Logan stepped up to the bed, unable to keep out of the conversation like he wanted. He knelt at the side of the bed, diagonal to her, in order to keep her at ease and not feel threatened. Softening his voice, he said, “You’ve noticed some discrepancies, right? Things you can’t figure out or explain?”
She turned to him, fear flooding her eyes alongside her tears. “Is that why you kidnapped me? Did I do something wrong? I won’t ask about it anymore if that’s what you want.” Her chin quivered and she rubbed her forehead. “I just want to go home.”
Logan wanted to put her at ease, but didn’t know how. “Charlie, this isn’t working. Can you give me a minute with her?”
Sara lifted her head and her chest heaved with deep, frantic breaths, as if he had asked Charlie to leave so he could kill her.
He placed his hand on her knee and caught her eyes. “Sara, I am not going to hurt you.”
Charlie stood up. “Let me know when you need me.”
Logan nodded at him and waited for him to leave. He took a seat in the chair and pulled it up so he sat inches in front of Sara. “I’m not going to hurt you. I meant what I said earlier. My job is to protect you. I need you unharmed and in one piece.”
Her tears slowed and her tongue darted across her lips. “Okay,” she said with a shaky voice.
“There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’m just going to tell you and whatever happens, happens. The reason Charlie asked about your father and your job is that those discrepancies are why you’re here. I don’t work for your father, but I think you understand that he’s not on the level. You wouldn’t be so frightened if you didn’t know at least that much.”
“I’m starting to learn that.”
“Good,” he said. “It’s important you know that so you understand why we took you.”
“How did you save my life?”
Her innocent question squeezed his heart. He wished he had told Schaffer to leave it up to the feds to talk to her about Langston and Mathers, but the situation left Logan little choice but to convince her of the truth and do the job the feds couldn’t.
“If you had married Mathers today and gone on your honeymoon, you would not have come home alive.”
Her expression cleared and her lips parted. “Why not?”
“Because your father hired someone to kill you.”
Sara pulled her head back and her eyes widened. “What?”
“Your father hired someone to kill you because of the questions you were asking about the discrepancies in the accounts. We kidnapped you so that wouldn’t happen.”
Her hands clasped the back of her neck. She rocked back and forth, her face contorting as she digested his words.
“The organization I work for needs you alive,” he said. “I need you alive. So does the FBI.”
Her eyes turned to him at his last words. “FBI?”
Logan recognized from her change of tone that he went too far. He never should have pursued the direct route and he should have left the conversation in Charlie’s capable hands. Instead, he backed himself into a corner with the mention of the FBI. Anything short of a full confession could make the situation worse.
“What does the FBI have to do with this?” she asked.
“They want to put you into WITSEC so you can testify against your father.”
“What’s WITSEC?”
“The Witness Security Program.”
“You mean witness protection?” She dropped her hands and smiled. “Witness protection?”
Her laugh set Logan back on all the progress he thought he had made. “Sara, this isn’t a joke. It’s very serious and your life is at stake.”
“Witness protection,” she said again, as if not hearing him. “I guess I should give you credit for coming up with an interesting explanation for kidnapping me.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Yeah, because the FBI goes around kidnapping people to place them in witness protection.”
“I’m not with the FBI. I was hired to take you to them.”
She threw her arms to the side. “Then where are they? I’ve not met one FBI agent during the entire time you’ve held me against my will.”
“They couldn’t approach you in your daily life without your father knowing about it.”
“Why not? What organization are you with that advocates kidnapping?”
Logan held his breath and bit back any words he might regret. Her questions were becoming more sarcastic and thinning his patience. “The organization I work for helps with things that fall outside the parameters of the law.”
She watched him for a moment. “So you’re a criminal.”
“Not exactly—”
“The FBI hired some criminals with a criminal organization to kidnap me and keep me captive so that my father, who they call a criminal, couldn’t have me killed on my honeymoon. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
Logan pushed his chair back and stood up. He held up his hand, but closed his mouth before he could say anything. Picking up the chair, he left the room and locked it behind him. There was no reasoning with her. The information needed to sit with her for a bit, where it could hopefully penetrate her resistant attitude.
He had told Charlie not to hit her with everything at once and then he did it himself. He should have listened to his instincts instead of taking the direct path. She needed an hour, maybe longer. That was if he decided to go back in there before she fell asleep. He didn’t have much tolerance left.
In the living room, he greeted Jack and Charlie. Before they could ask any questions, he made his way down the main hall to the front door. A cool breeze met him, as he stepped off the front porch and into the large yard. He moved to the shady oak tree and leaned against the bark. Looking up into the night sky, he stared at the full moon. He pulled in a deep breath, letting the air open his lungs and calm him.
The moon called to him, hypnotizing him with its memories. Karen always loved full moons, one of the many wonders of nature in which she found delight. Whenever the sky granted them one, she would stay up late just to see it among the stars. He couldn’t count the number of times she had dragged him outside to take a look with her. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she watched it with him now.
His chest swelled with the pain that accompanied thoughts of her and he closed his eyes. He had only spoken with Sara a handful of times and already the job had taken its toll. He wondered if he was being hard on Sara because of the things her father had done, though he couldn’t blame her for her lineage.
Schaffer was right to put Logan on the job, but he may have been wrong to put him in charge. Logan wasn’t able to protect Sara any more than he could save Karen, not just because of who was after him, but because of how Sara’s indirect association with Karen affected him. He turned to go back inside the house so he could call Schaffer for guidance.
Walking into the living room, he noticed on Charlie on the couch. “Where’s Jack?” he asked.
“He just went to bed.”
“Do you mind going to check on Sara? See if she needs anything, food or water, a breathing treatment, whatever.”
Charlie nodded. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
“Don’t mention anything else to her,” Logan said. “She’s had
enough for one night.”
Charlie disappeared down the hallway, leaving Logan alone to use the phone. He spoke briefly to Kyle before Schaffer came on the line.
“I need you to put someone else in charge,” Logan told him after they exchanged greetings.
“And why is that?”
“I’m no longer effective.”
After a long pause, Schaffer blew out his breath into the phone. “Sorry, Logan. I’m not reassigning the job.”
Logan hesitated. Schaffer would never leave someone in a position if they couldn’t do the job, but Logan no longer believed he could perform as expected. “I need you to. Jack is just as capable—”
“Jack doesn’t have your experience. You’re also vested in seeing this job through to the end and making sure it’s a success.”
“That’s precisely why I need you to put Jack in charge. I’m too vested. I made a mistake tonight and I don’t want to be in the position to make another one.”
“What mistake?”
“I gave Sara too much information at once. She wasn’t ready and I tried forcing it. Now she thinks we’re all crazy. She won’t listen to the truth, especially coming from me.”
“Yes, that was a mistake, but you’re the one who came to me and hinted that there’s a leak. If for no other reason than that, I need you in charge. I wouldn’t put you in this position if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. There’s no one else who can—”
“There has to be.”
“There isn’t. I know how hard this is, but Sara had nothing to do with Karen’s death. She has nothing to do with anything that Langston or Mathers or anyone else has done.”
“I know.”
“Then quit blaming her. You need to see her as a person, separate from Langston and Mathers. Get to know her. Recognize she’s someone who needs our help. Your help.”
Logan knew pushing the subject would end with another admonishment. If there was a leak, no one else could ensure Sara’s safety. Passing her off to someone else could get her killed.