Witness Protection (Defenders of Love Book 1) (7 page)

"So how did you get stuck with the school gig?" She tried to change the subject a little and flashed him a wry smile which Logan promptly returned.

"I do my best work when I don't have to worry about anyone else."

"Is that why they put you undercover at the school?"

"I guess so.”

"You are about as convincing as a teacher as I am."

"I thought I did a pretty good job. The students seemed to think so anyway."

"Please,
Mr. Smith
—such a generic name by the way—anyone with a brain could tell you were
not
a teacher. The girls thought you were cute, that's all."

"I am kind of cute, don't you think?" He winked at her. "And my real name is Logan James. My L.T. isn't

the creative sort. Smith was the best he could do, I guess."

"Logan James. That suits you. Smith was so...blah."

"You are stalling, Ms. Taylor." The words were a reprimand but his eyes twinkled with humor. She relaxed back against the sofa and continued her tale.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I have kept my secrets for so long it feels almost illegal to share them with anyone. My real name is Angelina Ferrara. My own Italian heritage gave me the perfect cover. I pretended to fall for Salvatore Junior, son of the head of the family." She dropped her head in shame. "Only he was so dashing, so romantic..."

"That you fell for him for real."

"Yes," she barely whispered the word. "I broke protocol. And then I found out what sort of imports Sal Junior was involved in and I confronted him."

She could feel the horror all over again; hear the screams, the pleas in languages she couldn't understand. Tears filled her eyes as she refused to meet Logan's gaze. Lucy was embarrassed to have loved a man who could sell women and girls like they were cattle.

Logan was quiet as Lucy worked through all the anger and frustration and sadness that had been locked away for so long. The emotions of it nearly overwhelmed her. The anger surfaced all over again as she remembered the dark cargo container, the smell of feces and urine and fear that mingled together in a pungent mix that made her want to throw up even now.

Logan reached for her and pulled her close; Lucy didn't fight the embrace. She didn't want to.

Logan's arms felt so good, so safe, and she had been alone for so long. He had rescued her, not once but twice, and for a woman used to taking care of herself it was awfully nice to have someone to depend on. It didn't hurt that his hand on the back of her neck while he played with the curls that had returned after her shower felt so good.

She pulled back and studied Logan for a moment before speaking. "One night I met Sal for dinner at his uncle's restaurant. Things were pretty serious by that time but I kept telling myself it was all part of my cover. Still, when he handed me the little blue box from Tiffany's with the most beautiful diamond solitaire you would ever see, I knew things had gone too far. I
wanted
to say yes, in the worst way."

"Did you?" Logan asked coldly, eyeing her left hand. If Lucy weren't mistaken, he actually sounded jealous.

"I told him I would let him know the next day. That it was all so sudden. I don't make rash decisions and our romance was a whirlwind of impetuous behavior. The idea of marriage to anyone after such a tumultuous affair frightened me and that's what I told him. Sal was angry, but he covered it well. For me, it was a hard slap in the face. I had gotten
too
deep into my cover and I had no idea how to backpedal without blowing the entire operation. My hasty answer was supposed to buy me some time to either figure a way out or return to the precinct, tail between my legs, and admit defeat."

Logan studied her intently, his eyes full of compassion. "What did you end up telling him?"

"I never got the opportunity to discuss it with him again. His cell rang when we were choking down

dessert. Salvatore was all about appearances. It was blasphemy to walk out on an Italian meal before it was complete—even one you paid for."

"Who called him?"

"I never found out. All I knew was that the call was important. He cut dinner short with a cold goodbye, dropped some money on the table, and left."

"I'm not sure if I see a connection between all that and witness protection."

"I followed him when he left the restaurant."

"Ohhh...." Logan let out a long, low whistle.

"I knew something big...something important...was going down. Sal
never
left the table without finishing his dessert and at least two cups of coffee. Anyway, I figured this was the big break I'd been waiting for, so I followed him. We were just a few blocks from Chelsea Piers. When he didn't get in a cab but instead made his way down the street to the water, I knew the phone call had been related to work."

"And so you followed this man
alone
? What is wrong with you, girl?"

She didn't understand why Logan was so angry with her. She was a cop on an undercover assignment. It was her
job
to find out what sort of secrets Sal was harboring.

"I was undercover! Of course I went alone! If it was nothing, I could explain away my presence with our little lovers' quarrel, beg forgiveness. But if an army of SWAT cops descended upon him, the operation was over."

Logan nodded in agreement, placated somewhat. He reached for her hand again and held it in his large, warm one as he stared at her intently waiting for the rest of the story. Lucy couldn't explain why but

his touch was oddly comforting.

The warmth radiated through her body, saturating her brain with long dormant desire. How easily this man awakened feelings she had all but forgotten existed. Her own body was betraying her again.

Pulling her hand back and folding them both in her lap, Lucy looked away as she continued her tale. "Sal climbed aboard a small cargo boat stacked three high with steel containers. A man I had never seen before met him. He was foreign and spoke with a heavy accent but I have no idea which country or dialect it was. Together, they walked to a container that had been set apart from the others on the deck of the boat. I stayed hidden in the shadows but I had to get close enough to hear what they were saying."

Logan nodded in understanding. "Salvatore saw you?"

"Not exactly. Not right away, anyway. I managed to stay hidden for most of the meeting, listening as they worked a business deal. It wasn't until the foreigner opened the cargo container did I learn what sort of deal they were brokering."

"Machine guns?"

Lucy shook her head.

"Bombs?" Logan looked confused as Lucy shook her head. "If not weapons, then what?"

"Women. Girls in their teens. Children as young as four or five. The cargo container was full. Probably four or five dozen speaking in the same tongue as the foreign man."

"Salvatore Ricci was brokering slaves." Logan let out a long whistle in disbelief.

Lucy nodded sadly. "I knew Sal and his father

were into some bad things but it never occurred to me he was into human trafficking. I was so shocked I almost gave myself away right then and there."

"What happened next? I suppose you took the two of them on single handedly and rescued all those women?" His words were teasing but she saw a light of admiration in his eyes as though Logan actually believed she was capable of what he suggested.

"One of the little girls—she couldn't have been more than four—ran from the container crying and yelling. Salvatore knocked her to the ground and held a gun to her head. A woman I can only assume was her mother ran out to try and save her but she never made it. The Asian man pulled a gun and dropped her in one shot right in front of her daughter."

"Did it occur to you to call for backup before you gave yourself away?" Logan snapped, sounding furious with her. His attitude made her angry, she was a trained police officer just like he was.

"I wouldn't be sitting here if I hadn't. I sent a text to my boss once I saw Salvatore meet up with the other man. Back up was already on its way by the time I stepped from my hiding spot."

She shivered as she remembered the look of pure evil in Salvatore's eyes when he spotted her with her gun drawn on him. "Sal was furious. When he said the words '
you're a cop'
there was pure venom in his voice. I knew he wouldn't think twice about killing me and dropping my body in the ocean if I were anyone else, but my being a cop meant they knew I was with him. That gave me hope that I could reason with him. Get the little girl away at least."

Logan stretched and leaned back against the sofa. The action did little to relieve the deep lines of

tension on his face. "Well, you're sitting here telling me the story, so I am going to guess something else happened."

Lucy sighed as the horror of the dark, dank cargo container washed over her again. "While Sal and I were having our face off, the Asian man herded all the women and the little girl back in to the container. Just as he was about to lock it up, Sal ambushed me knocking the gun from my hand, throwing me over his shoulder, and tossing me in to the container."

Logan sucked in a deep breath of air and sat up again, taking both her hands into his again. Lucy marveled at how nice it felt to be touched, even so innocently by a man again. The last year had been long and lonely. "That must have been terrifying."

"You have absolutely no idea."

Chapter Seven

The urge to beat Salvatore Ricci into a bloody mess tore at him, growing stronger as Lucy revealed her story. How dare he do that to those women! And Lucy...well, Ricci was just lucky he wasn't standing in that room.

Lucy watched him with an odd look in her fake blue eyes. He reached up and pushed a still slightly damp lock of bleached hair out of her face.

"You're right, I can't imagine at all. I'm so sorry that dirt bag did that to you. If I ever get my hands on him..."

His hands were shaking, his body so tense he jumped up from the sofa and started pacing just to release the pent up energy before he combusted or something.

"It's okay, Logan. Really, it is."

"It is so not okay. Men like Ricci should be shot. How many lives did he destroy? Human beings lost forever in the underground world of slavery. Many are probably—perhaps mercifully—dead by now."

He was getting angrier by the minute. Pictures, flash backs really, filled his mind from days gone by. Horrible abuses he had been powerless to stop. His

mother's tear streaked face, bruised and swollen. Death had been the most merciful thing that could have befallen her. Too bad she had died beside
him.

Lucy studied him intently, a hint of fear in her eyes. "Logan? Are you all right?"

Without any forethought, Logan turned and punched his hand straight through the drywall that separated the living area from the bedroom.

"Damn it!" He followed that up with a string of foul language. Lucy just sat there quietly watching him. Logan felt horrible. His hand throbbed, the knuckles were already starting to swell, and Lucy looked downright afraid of him. He had become his own worst nightmare in a single heartbeat. Oh God, he
was
just like his father.

She jumped up and ran to the kitchenette area. Rummaging through the freezer, Lucy grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables and swiftly crossed the small cabin to where he stood holding his sore hand.

"Here." She placed the cold package over his knuckles. "I can't imagine what that wall might have done to offend you but do you think you settled the score?"

Her attempt at mild humor tamped his rage down enough for Logan to trust himself with words. "I...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

His weakness at controlling the sleeping dragon embarrassed him beyond comprehension. Logan was supposed to be the strong one, protector of Lucy. After all, he had failed to protect his own mother, the least he could do was keep this woman safe. Instead, he lost control, just like the kind of man he had vowed to spend his life hunting down and locking away.

When she spoke he couldn't take his eyes off

her full lips. "I think I do."

"What do you mean?" Logan was genuinely confused. Whatever blood wasn't rushing to the injury in his hand was rushing below his belt making him lightheaded and unable to concentrate.

"I think I know what made you so angry. I was telling you my story and your eyes kept changing, like you were remembering something horrible. Something that maybe happened to someone you cared about?"

Her insight was amazing. It was as though she knew him as well, if not better than he knew himself. He hung his head, overcome with the familiar shame he felt whenever he thought of his mother and how he couldn't protect her from the evil that was his father.

"Logan? Logan, look at me." Lucy's voice was gentle, but insistent. She reminded him so much of his mother. Slowly, he lifted his head to meet her eyes.

"I couldn't protect her. I tried, but I failed."

"Who, Logan? Who couldn't you protect?" She tugged his elbow gently as she spoke, directing him back to the sofa where the conversation had begun. She settled in next to him still holding the frozen vegetables on his sore hand. He marveled at the comfort her presence brought him. Logan was a man used to being on his own; he rarely worked with a partner and relationships in his life were at a minimum. On most days, he liked his space and solitude but on this particular night, the last thing he wanted was to be alone. He sighed heavily as he used his uninjured hand to cover Lucy's smaller one.

"My mother. I couldn't protect my own mother."

"Who or what did she need protecting from?" Lucy cocked her head to the side, studying him intently

as she waited for him to answer.

"That rotten bastard that she was married to."

"Her husband?" Understanding flashed in her eyes. Her next words were little more than a whisper. "Oh. Your
father
."

"Yes. He took pleasure in causing her pain. It started small with a hard pinch or slap. Eventually, it evolved to punches and beatings. The night she died, he used my baseball bat to beat her to death."

"Oh, Logan. I am
so
sorry. What a horrible thing for you to have gone through." Her eyes were warm with sympathy.

"I could have stopped him, I was strong. I could have protected her if...if he...if he hadn't gotten to the bat first. He used it to break my arm and give me a concussion before he turned on her."

Lucy sat quiet for a moment, the fingers of her free hand working the threads in the sofa before she looked up and reached to touch his cheek. The soft feel of her fingers on his cold skin were more comforting than anything he ever remembered experiencing. The pain in his hand, and in his heart, began to ebb ever so slightly.

"You were a child, weren't you?"

"She died on my twelfth birthday. The bat was a birthday present. I wanted that bat in the worst way. Baseball was my life at that age. It was a year before I could even look at a baseball bat again. I played through high school but my heart was never really in it the same way. Every time I swung at a ball I remembered
him
swinging at her face."

"And my story about the women being abused brought all those angry feelings back again. I am so sorry, Logan, for what happened to you and your

mother. Somehow, I managed to drag you into the made for television movie that has become my life and you've had more than enough drama of your own. You really didn't need to get involved with someone like me."

Logan slumped back against the couch cushions dropping the nearly defrosted bag of vegetables on the coffee table. He flexed his injured hand, pleased to be able to open and close his fist with little trouble. It didn't appear anything was broken thankfully.

"It's not your fault, Lucy. The memories haunt me day and night. Why do you think I went into police work? Every day I work to avenge her death. Every rotten bastard who hurts a woman or a child that I lock away is one step closer to vindication for the way I failed her."

"You don't need vindication. You were a child. Your parents were supposed to protect you, not the other way around."

"Not so easy to convince my damaged psyche of such things. Years of counseling did nothing except teach me how to keep it all bottled up. And mostly I'm successful."

Lucy smiled gently. "Except on rare occasions. Like when a woman you have just met tells you she's in witness protection because she broke up a human trafficking ring."

Logan smiled back. "Exactly. I'm sorry I lost it. I didn't mean to scare you."

"A little hole in the wall won't frighten me. I'm a New York City cop, remember? At least, I was..." There was a note of sadness in her voice as her words faded away and her eyes became distant.

"You miss being on the job?"

"I really do. Being a cop was all I ever wanted. Much to the dismay of my socialite mother. She fully expected her little girl would grow up and marry a wealthy Italian businessman and make lots of little
bambinos
for her."

Logan laughed. "Your mother actually wants to be a grandmother? My mom used to talk about it like it was a fate worse than death."

"I broke her heart when I let those 'heathens' pin a badge on my shirt. No little girl of hers was going to be with all those 'dirty' people all the time. She thought I would spend my days surrounded by addicts, dealers, hookers, and johns. She never considered all the other things I would be doing. All the good I could do as a cop. She swooned for weeks about how her baby girl was dead to her."

"Swooned?" Logan chuckled. "Does anyone actually use that word anymore?"

"My mother always fancied herself a southern belle despite the fact that she was born and raised in Queens. In her mind I think our townhouse was a southern plantation house right before the start of the civil war."

"How did you end up so level headed with a mother like that?"

"She wasn't all bad. Despite the teas and cotillions she forced on me, Mom insisted I get educated, learn to cook, and take care of myself. Her only daughter was going to be headstrong and independent, not ever forced to rely on any man for anything ever. I guess I just took that to a level she never imagined."

"Sounds to me like your mother had some skeletons of her own in her closet that haunted her."

Lucy looked at him pointedly. "Don't we all?"

Logan nodded with a smile. "Point taken. I am assuming you know who the Riccis do business with?"

"Far from everyone but Salvatore Senior has some of the best hit men in the business working for the family, if one of them wants me gone, they will get their way for certain."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Lucy patted the back of his uninjured hand the way a mother would reassure her young child. "I appreciate what you have done for me so far but I don't want you getting any deeper in this than you already are. I couldn't bear to see you hurt and besides, don't you have some kind of undercover gig to get back to at the school?"

Logan had completely forgotten about the undercover work he was supposed to be doing. Red flags would go up all over town if both he and Lucy were absent from work the next morning. He could be in real trouble for ignoring his assignment. But there was no way he was leaving Lucy at the mercy of crazed hit men.

"Don't worry about that. I'll give my lieutenant a call, have them call me in sick for a few days. If I spin it like you are part of the case he won't even question me a bit."

Lucy eyed him suspiciously.
"Am
I part of the case?"

"Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Well you don't have to be so full of yourself. How would I know what you were investigating if you just
happened
to be passing by after my car was run off the road."

"You think I was following you?" Logan asked.

"Weren't you?"

"I don't think there was room for me with the guy right behind you trying to kill you." He sounded annoyed but he didn't care. It was pretty cocky of the cute little woman next to him to assume he was following her around after just meeting her.

"How did you find me then?"

"I got lost on my way to my new apartment, made a wrong turn, and happened upon some skid marks."

Lucy seemed to consider his explanation for a moment.

"Well," she finally spoke again, "I am very grateful that you happened by. I'd still be lying on the bottom of the ravine if you hadn't. So, thank you for finding me."

"I'm glad I got lost. I can't imagine you spending the night down there."

The air became suddenly tense as Lucy avoided his eyes, her cheeks flaming a bright red. He couldn't deny the heavy hint of attraction in his voice. In just the short time they had been together, he'd begun forming a strong attachment to the woman on the sofa next to him. It wasn't his usual
M.O.
, and it actually made him a little nervous when he thought about it, but Lucy was someone he could get used to having on the sofa next to him.

"I should call Jack. Let him know where I am. Have you seen my phone?"

"Jack? Who's Jack? Do you have a boyfriend?" Logan didn't know why but the idea of someone named Jack with his arms around Lucy made him very angry.

"Jack is my handler with witsec. He called this afternoon to give me a heads up right before that truck

ran me off the road."

"He knew that someone was going to try to kill you? Shouldn't he have come to your rescue? Maybe give you some place safe to go?"

"I didn't think I needed any help. Besides, I just got used to being Lucy Taylor. There was no way I could learn a whole new identity again, so soon. I didn't really believe Salvatore had found me anyway."

"Oh." He could understand that. It was in his cop's nature to believe he could handle anything. It would make sense if Angelina, would believe the same. He glanced at his watch.

"It's way past midnight. Your Jack is probably sound asleep. Why don't you catch a few winks yourself? When you get up in the morning, we can figure out what to do."

As if on cue, Lucy let out a long yawn. "I am pretty tired. Jack does have a wife and kids. I don't want to disturb his whole house. You sure this place is really safe and off the radar?"