by Sheri Landry
“Yes.” He nods solemnly.
“And you can’t take me with you.” I fill in the pieces he’s worried about sharing with me, and he nods. Of course I can’t go near there, and he can’t be in two places at once.
I get the feeling his decision isn’t an easy one. After all our fighting with each other, his concern surprises me. I never thought I would see Logan in a different light. Watching him struggle with his decision to leave me unprotected makes me reevaluate my perception of him.
Sure, he’s an arrogant ass who throws his weight around whenever it suits him. But now we appear to be on the same side, and his personality is one of his best qualities—when he isn’t using it against me. For the first time, I see him differently. He isn’t my favorite person, but I don’t see him as my enemy anymore.
His entire team is missing, presumed taken. Who am I kidding? He looks terrified. This is obviously something they hadn’t anticipated. The GPS to both vehicles has been cut, and all four of his men aren’t checking in.
“Dana, I—” He stops mid-sentence and a weight shifts, bridging the gap we’ve created between us. I never gave him the chance to be anyone other than the bad guy.
Now I see a guy who knows he is up against someone better prepared than he is, but he’s still going to try to save his teammates, and I understand him. I could have left Jessa at any time in the last ten years, and I never did. Not until the end.
I never wondered what my life would have been like if I’d just walked away and left her to fend for herself. It was never my fight until I made it mine, and leaving her was never an option for me.
Logan and I have some common ground after all.
“I know.” My bottom lip trembles as I finish his sentence, and his eyes settle on mine in understanding.
“She’s safe with me.” Dale’s shirt brushes my arm as he stands next to me.
Logan’s eyes leave mine to focus on him. “I need your truck. I also need you to take her and run. Can you get another vehicle out here?”
“I’ll call the guys at the bar and have them bring my bike. I’ll have her in Spokane by nightfall. I know some people who can help.” Dale checks his phone while he speaks, and Logan wastes no time heading for a cabinet beside the computers.
Joining us, he places a gun and a clip on the table, then moves back. Dale steps forward, taking the gun in one hand before loading it and sliding it into his jeans like it’s a normal accessory.
“Here’s a burner phone. Link’s number is in it. Contact him if you get into anything you can’t get out of. He will help you.” Handing me the phone, Logan turns to Dale, who is already holding out his keys. “I’m sorry. I wish I had more time to figure something out.”
“Save it. You can tell me how sorry you are when I see you again.” I’m not sure if my words carry any confidence, and his smile goes nowhere near his eyes.
“Thank you—for helping her.” Logan extends his arm toward Dale, and they shake before he breaks away and heads out the door, taking the tracking tablet and a duffel bag with him.
“Gather your things. I’m going to call the guys.” Dale turns his back to me, and I spin, finally making my way to the table where my backpack sits. Unzipping the bag, I pull out my phone and pocket it before I catch a glimpse of the only printed picture I have of Jessa and me.
Our smiles look like they belong to other people. I don’t remember the life that created mine anymore. My heart is heavy as I think about what else I’m carrying. Below the photo, wrapped in a sweater, Zane lies in secret. The magnitude of my predicament gives me pause, and I turn to look at the fire, still burning in the fireplace behind me, while I sling one of the straps of my backpack over my shoulder.
“Something’s wrong.” Dale holds his phone out to me. “I don’t have cell service.”
I shrug. “That always happens out here.”
“Yes, but I checked before he left, and we had it. Now it’s gone. That’s a coincidence I don’t like.” He looks around the room and I freeze, afraid to move a muscle, as though any little movement will push something into motion I am not ready for. “Gather your things. Pack light. We’re leaving on foot, and we’re going now.” Emphasizing his last word, Dale reaches around, pulling the gun from his belt.
The front door clicks open, and Dale aims as Logan comes into view. Breathing deeply, he sighs out a relieved breath, lowering his gun as they make eye contact with each other.
Dale’s arms relax a fraction. “Jesus. I thought—”
An unfamiliar face peeks around Logan as he raises his arms, shaking his head at Dale.
“Drop it,” she says as her eyes scan the room and land on me. “She’s here.” She angles a gun away from Logan to show us she’s armed, and everyone moves in slow motion, careful not to startle those holding the guns.
She walks Logan a few more steps into the room. Another person steps in with them and raises his gun at Dale as he bends over, placing his gun on the ground in front of him before kicking it away and raising his hands.
My backpack feels heavy on my shoulder. I’m holding everything they need, and I can’t let them have the files. Jessa died trying to destroy what I have. I can’t let her sacrifice be for nothing.
Grabbing the strap from my arm, I spin in place. They’re going to kill me anyway.
Using the momentum from my body, I swing the bag around and toss it onto the fire before stepping back and lifting my arms in surrender.
The hint of triumph tugs at the corner of my lips as someone shouts from behind me. Two more women with guns drawn enter the room from the back door.
“Get the bag.” The blond trains her gun on me and shouts her orders as the other secures her weapon and grabs the poker hanging by the fire.
Helpless and out of options, I watch as she pulls the bag onto the stone in front of the fireplace and pats out the little flames that barely got started before standing. Everyone stays still as the back door opens once more and footsteps tread from the hall before the next person joins us.
“You!” Logan’s face is a kaleidoscope of emotions, and none of them are good.
“Me.” The woman smiles calmly at Logan, and he tenses further—if that’s possible. Walking over to the fireplace, she takes the backpack and acknowledges me with only her eyes. As she passes, her raven hair catches my eye, the sun picking up midnight shades of blue in her strands.
Opening the bag, she takes out the photo and glances at me over her shoulder before pulling out the rest of the supplies I packed away. As she drops the sweater to the table, the gentle thud of the drive wrapped up inside makes me cringe.
She hears it too, and she pauses for a second before unwrapping the knit fabric and holding up the drive.
“I’m going to assume these are the files we need?” Her words carry a balance between question and statement, and I stay frozen in place. Logan shifts in my peripheral vision.
I don’t want to look at him. I lied to all of them. Four of them might be dead right now trying to protect me, and I lied to them. My reasons don’t matter.
“You said it was destroyed.” My betrayal crushes me as Logan realizes, once again, we aren’t on the same team.
“I was going to destroy it. Jessa is dead and no one should have it.” My excuse is pathetic. Contrary to what I expect to happen, Logan’s face softens. The severity of our situation must be sinking in.
“Interesting.” The woman speaks to herself as she pockets the drive, then turns to address the room. “Load—”
“Wait.” She stops at my interruption, turning toward my voice. “Let them go. You have the files and me. That’s what the contract says, right?” The shock on her face turns to an amused smile and I keep blabbering. “Just let them go. I’ll go with you. Please don’t hurt any of them.”
Tears threaten my eyes. I don’t want my last stand to be me crying in front of everyone. I glance at Logan, who meets my eyes before quickly turning back to glare at this woman. The tension comes mos
tly from him. She continues to move like she’s unaffected by the anger he radiates.
“That’s very brave of you, Dana.” The woman looks around at everyone before circling back to me. “We are taking him.” She points her finger in Logan’s direction, and he straightens at the finality in her tone. “But I’m willing to leave this one behind.” She points at Dale. “He will have to be knocked out though. We need time to complete our contract.”
“No.” Dale tries to answer for me.
“Deal.” Nodding, I accept her bargain. One of the women steps behind me, then my hands are pulled down and secured behind my back as Logan is led out the front door.
21
Michael
The pain in my wrists is the first sensation I have as I become aware of my breathing and the voices nearby. With my eyes still closed, I reach one hand to the other to rub away the pain, but my arms don’t move.
“Michael? Are you awake?” Dana’s voice is a fraction above a whisper, and my mind swirls, trying to fit my timeline together like the pieces in a puzzle.
Tightened muscles in my neck scream at me as I lift my head and attempt to open my heavy eyelids, turning my head in the direction of her voice.
The first thing I see sprawled out in front of me are my legs, and I’m not alone. To my right, Jack is unconscious and bound to a metal railing. He’s in a seated position, and the frigid pain in my ass tells me I am too.
“Mi—Grizz.” There it is again. Moving past my teammate, Dana’s worried eyes meet mine, and I jerk in place. She’s tied up and sitting beside the girl from her coffee shop.
My arms ache. Following where the sharp pain is coming from, I see my own arms are hooked over the railing I am leaning against and tied behind me.
Realization sets in as I remember the girl, Kaley. She was with us when we were taken, and now Dana is here too.
“What—they do—you?” I slur my words. The kid sitting beside Dana looks down at her leg, which is wrapped and propped up on an old crate.
Kaley looks at me and then to Dana. Her eyes are wide, and she looks terrified.
“They didn’t do anything to her. She got scared and tried to run, but she rolled her ankle in a gopher hole before they got her into the vehicle. They propped it up for her.” Dana speaks for her as she sits still.
Her answer doesn’t make sense. In most scenarios, Kaley would be considered collateral damage, but they’ve taken precautions to help her. The only conclusion I reach is that they really are only here for Dana.
Jack and Logan are out cold, but their chests rise and fall with their breath.
“Wherrr…we?” My lips feel puffy. Jack’s leg twitches beside me. He’s waking up.
“It’s an old mining building…in the middle of nowhere.” Dana’s eyes focus on Jack as she answers me, and I follow her stare. His eyes are open, and he looks like I feel.
Worry settles in as I do the head count. We are missing Grey and Charlie. I take a look around, hoping to see them in a corner, but they are nowhere to be found.
Large iron machinery lies dormant on a cement platform almost twenty feet thick, and the sun peeks through wooden boards that have deteriorated over the years. The levels, stairs, and ladders I see from my position tell me this place is at least three stories high, and the odd flutter of wings tells me it is abandoned. There is nothing else here but the wildlife that has claimed the building as their own.
Jack groans as he comes to. Since we were knocked out at the same time, he doesn’t know anything either, so I stay quiet, trying to figure out a plan.
The number of people who took us is my first worry. There is no one with us right now, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t being watched.
A sob startles me, and I join Jack in looking at the girl.
“Hey, hey, Kaley. You’re going to be okay.” Dana tries to comfort her, and I watch her push down her own fear as she turns to me to back her up, but I don’t have the words.
I don’t want to tell her she probably is going to be okay, because it is Dana they will kill. If Maxwell is here to watch her assassination, he won’t leave without killing at least Jack, and maybe Logan too. Or do I tell her that maybe Jessa, the friend Dana thinks is dead, might show up to save her and walk right into Maxwell’s arms?
My hesitation leaves Dana on her own, just like she always believed she was, but she doesn’t stay down. Taking a deep breath, she turns her attention back to Kaley.
“I’ll do everything I can to get you out of here. Look—they took care of your leg. If they were going to kill you, they wouldn’t have used their supplies to wrap your ankle, okay?”
Kaley nods, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I’m scared,” she admits, and Dana reaches her tied hands out, resting them on Kaley’s arm.
“I know. I am too.”
Both women sit in silence as Jack and I make eye contact before we turn our attention to Logan, who’s tied along the same railing with his head bowed down.
“Hey. Do you know about the grow op?” Dana changes the subject, and Kaley’s eyes bug out as she purses her lips together.
“Um, yeah. We all do. How do you know about that?”
“It’s a long story. Why don’t you tell me about it?” I know what Dana’s doing. She’s trying to distract Kaley from the worry of what is going to happen here, and it seems to be working. Kaley’s eyes drift over to Jack and I as we listen in.
She starts on defense. “It’s not what you think. They have strict rules with how everything is run and who it gets sold to. It’s the only thing that’s keeping us from becoming a ghost town.” Her attention turns to Dana.
“How so?” Dana keeps her own eyes on Kaley, and her body relaxes a little at the visual connection.
“Those fields are what pays us all. Well, the adults anyway. Minors aren’t allowed to work there. We can only work harvesting and planting the lavender. Once we come of age, it will be our choice to stay on and help out. Dale coordinates most things. He’s kind of a natural leader, and everyone listens to him.”
“I thought you were going to college?”
“Oh, I am. Where do you think the scholarship came from?” The way she says the word makes me think she once lied to Dana about funding her higher learning. “The reason for all of it is to keep us afloat, and to help us kids get a good start in life, should we want to. Our town is made up of old folks who don’t want to give up their homes. Many are displaced, some are vets, and then there’s us kids. We take care of each other. Not everyone works directly in all of that, but we stick together. The money we make gets saved for things like health, medical bills, school. We buy our coffee from a local coffee shop to keep the new owner in business.” She lets her sentence linger to give her words the chance to settle in.
Kaley is telling Dana they do this to keep their humble way of life going, to keep the local businesses operating.
“What about Gerri and the ladies? What do they do?” Dana asks.
Kaley’s smile is unrestrained. “They were our pioneers. It was their husbands who started the op decades ago. It was smaller back then. A few of them returned from the Vietnam War to a town that was almost gone. There was nothing left at home for them, and they started growing and selling in the city to make ends meet. Long story short, but the rest of it is super interesting, too; they stepped on some toes that belonged to organized crime, and they made some changes.” She keeps her voice low. I sit quietly beside Jack; neither of us have looked away since she started speaking. “They changed their model. They focused on selling it to middle- and low-income classes who used it more for medicine than recreation. Then, when Betty’s daughter came up with the idea to start a lavender farm, everything kind of fell into place. The farm is totally legit, but it is also a front.”
“So Bonnie is Betty’s daughter, and she runs the lavender side with her husband?”
Kaley nods at Dana’s question. “But it’s not what you think. We’re not like a criminal gang. I guess on paper we
are, but none of them would choose to grow and sell if there were any other options. We can’t keep everyone safe and healthy if we have no income, and this isn’t exactly a tourist destination. We don’t want our neighbors to lose their homes, and they don’t want their kids to get shipped off to child services, or our friends to get shoved into a system that won’t think twice about leaving any of us behind. All we have is each other.” Kaley shifts in her spot, then winces as she looks down to her leg and the reminder of where we all are floats back to the surface.
“Betty had a sawed-off shotgun today in the shop.” Dana can’t hide the shock in her tone as her eyes go wide, and Kaley snorts.
“Yeah. She was kind of a badass in her day. Still is.”
Dana nods in agreement.
No court of law would allow this town to go unpunished, but Kaley’s argument is a strong one, and it speaks to my compassion for all of them. This town shares the goal of survival. Not expansion, not greed, not violence. These are just people who want to wake up in their homes, mind their own business, see their kids grow up, and keep to themselves, and I wonder if Kaley is right. Would they walk away from it all if they could?
Without a word, I exchange a glance with Jack before turning to Logan, who is now awake and listening just as intently.
“Grey, Charlie?” He speaks low, and I shake my head, telling him we don’t know anything. Then I follow his gaze over to Dana, who is staring back at him as well.
“What’s going on?” Instinct pushes me to ask the question without thinking.
Logan pauses for a long minute, glancing between Dana and me. “They have the files.” His disappointment is evident, but I’m confused.
“What files?” I lower my voice. “And who are they?”
He pauses again; an uncomfortable tension hangs in the room. I get the feeling Logan doesn’t want to be the one to tell me whatever I should be hearing, but he doesn’t have the luxury of a choice.
“It turns out Dana had the files we were looking for in her backpack.” I contort my face as Logan answers. I checked her backpack last night before I—