LOGAN (BAD BOY BIKER ROMANCE) (26 page)

Chapter 10

Owen

"He's here!" Owen said.

Cole turned to look, his eyes widening at the sight of the other man so close to them. They had seconds before he was upon them.

"Here!" Cole said, and altered their course to run around the corner of a bungalow.

But instead of continuing on, Cole stopped and turned.

"Stay back," he said, the tension in his voice was palpable. Cole pushed him back away from him. Cole crouched at the corner of the building, like a football player about to tackle someone.

"What are you - ", Owen started to say when he gasped in surprise.

The other man ran around the corner at that exact moment. He hadn't altered his speed and was running flat out. His eyes widened in surprise at finding them right there in front of him.

Then Cole jumped at him.

With a loud grunt Cole connected before the man could react to the new situation. Both men tumbled to the ground.

Something landed beside Owen. Not wanting to look away from the Cole and the man now wrestling on the ground, he found himself looking to see what it was.

It was a pistol. The man must of dropped it when Cole connected with him.

Owen blinked at it then over at the men.

Cole was larger than the other man, but that didn't stop his opponent from putting up one heck of a fight. They grappled in the dirt, Cole trying to keep him pinned.

For several moments Owen watched transfixed, unable to move.

Cole now had the other man pinned to the ground beneath him, but  didn't seem sure what to do with him. Then Cole punched him once in the face.

The other man grunted in pain, but was not knocked out. It just seemed to annoy him.

Oh, God, Owen thought. What could he do? Jumping into the fray didn't seem to be the best idea. He wasn't any kind of fighter himself. Kick him, maybe?

Just then, the man got an arm free and punched Cole across the jaw. Cole's head snapped back and caused him to tumble off the man.

Oh, no! he thought.

Both Cole and the man stood, eyeing the other wearily.

The other man was definitely smaller than Cole, but wiry. He was Filipino, and wore dark trousers and a black shirt, which was now torn at one sleeve.

Cole seemed to have recovered and started to step toward the other man, his fists raised up, ready for more.

Then, the other man suddenly produced a small knife from his pocket.

Cole froze.

The Filipino grinned. He was missing some front teeth, and what was left was stained a deep yellow.

"To bad I can't kill you," the man said. His voice was high pitched, almost squeaky. "But I can still cut you good. Sell you piece by piece."

Cole looked grimly at the knife but he didn't back away. "Not today, you're not," he replied.

Owen was certain that it was pure bravado on Cole's part. He had a partial awareness of his research of him, and disarming thugs in a tropical setting was not in this billionaire's skill set.

The little man was enjoying the moment. The knife gave him all the advantage he needed now, regardless of Cole's size.

"Gonna carve my name in you," the man said, still grinning. "Then I'm gonna have a go at your stupid man-bitch."

Owen felt anger flare in his chest like a torch. Without thinking he scooped up the pistol. It felt odd. Not what he expected a pistol to feel like but he didn't care at that very moment.

The man took a step toward Cole, knife held out, ready to do damage.

Owen pointed the pistol at the man. "Who's stupid?" he asked, and fired.

The man had started to turn his head toward Owen when a dart pierced his throat. His eyes widened. Then they went cross eyed and he dropped the knife.

He fell to his knees, clutching the dart in his neck. He made a strange gurgling noise, then pitched forward onto his face. Then he was still.

Cole looked from the man to Owen, then to the man again.

"Wow," he said. "Thanks for that."

Owen was staring at the man in shock. "I... I shot him. I shot someone." His hands were shaking, and he dropped the pistol to the ground. What had he done?

Cole leaned over the man, cautiously. He scooped up the knife.

"Did I kill him?" Owen heard himself ask. He never in his life thought he would have to ask that question. He stared down at the inert form of the man with growing apprehension.

Cole put his finger the man's neck. After a few moments he shook his head. "No. He's not dead at all. Just out cold."

Relief flooded through Owen. Thank God. He wasn't a murderer. Still, the panic coursed through his veins and he found he could not stop shaking.

Cole was examining the dart that stuck out of the man's neck. "It some sort of knock out toxin. Not meant to kill. Just render you unconscious. Looks like it works really fast, too."

He picked up the pistol Owen had dropped. "Just a dart gun. Can't fire bullets." He opened the pistol exposing an empty chamber. "Just a one shot affair. Not much use to us." He tossed it to the ground.

It was then he noticed Owen shaking. He looked at him in concern. "Hey, easy there." He put his hands on Owen's shoulders, like he had when they were in the closet. "He's not dead. Just asleep. You did the right thing. Trust me."

"Yeah," Owen managed to say. His closeness was reassuring. He felt himself calm down. His shaking subsided.

Cole pocketed the knife, and looked around. "Well, we can't stay around here. Best we stick to the plan."

"Plan?" Owen asked dumbly. Was he still in a state of shock?

"Yeah," Cole said taking his hand again. "Running away."

Then they ran into the jungle.

Chapter 11

Gideon

This was not good.

Gideon stood at the bottom of the west wing fire escape, glaring up at the second floor's open door. They had been here. Grant and the other man. He cast his gaze about the dense jungle that crowded around him. They could be anywhere by now.

Things were not going according to plan.

After landing, and an initial search of the buildings immediate to the docks, his men then moved to scour the main complex. It was huge with hundreds of rooms. But neither he, or his men would be deterred. Their prey was here. They just had to find him.

But once it was clear that the Billionaire had vanished his men started to get irritable. Hadn't he promised them an easy catch? Shouldn't they be at sea by now, heading to the next staging area, then off to the Philippines. At least there no one would find them amongst the thousand of islands in the chain.

It had not happened that way, but Gideon had remained firm. He had to remind himself these were paid mercenaries, not true loyal soldiers.

"Find him safely, and I will triple the bonus," he had announced. This had the desired effect, and the men were off again. And if Gideon was being honest with himself, he was relieved. If they did not find the Billionaire, and soon, he could be in trouble himself. Triple bonus or not.

Suddenly, Sannik appeared at the north corner of the building. "Sir!" he said, "You should see this."

"Did you find him?" Gideon asked, as he starting moving. That would be a relief.

"No," said Sannik. "But bad news."

Gideon fumed, but followed. They passed the huge resort balcony and then through a small maze of bungalows. There he found several of his men standing over another man, who was leaning against a wall.

"What is this?" Gideon demanded. "What happened to him?"

The man was groggy, almost drunk, and Gideon immediately suspected what had happened. When the man spoke, Sannik translated. "He saw Grant with a man leave out the fire escape. He gave chase, but when he came to this spot he was jumped. He said Grant and him had a great fight, but Grant managed to wrestle his dart gun away and shot him with it."

Gideon frowned down at the man. It sounded plausible. Then he had a realization. "Did you have a machine gun? Did he take it?"

The man shook his head. Sannik said, "Just a knife. He only had the dart gun."

"Here it is," said another mercenary, holding up the spent gun.

"Well at least he isn't armed with a machine gun," said Gideon. "That would make this far more difficult." He turned to look at the jungle canopy before them.

Thick, and choking. If Grant wanted to hide he could do it in there. Gideon cursed himself inwardly for not bringing any heat vision equipment. There hadn't been any time.

If Grant took to hiding then his men still had a chance of finding him. And if night fell, so be it. His men would wait until dawn and try again, but not for much longer. By then, someone would come looking for the Billionaire.

There was another potential wrinkle. One they did not really consider because the mission had appeared to be so easy at first.

"Are there any other docks on the island?" he asked Sannik.

The head mercenary considered. "Not on the last set of maps we have. But that doesn't mean there could be a simple boat left behind by a fishermen, or tourists."

This was a potential hazard. There was no way to secure the entire shoreline of the island from other people coming ashore. Instead, they had pinned their hopes on scooping up Grant at the resort. Now, if there was a boat somewhere on a beach, he could get away, or at least get far enough out to sea to not be detected.

Gideon noticed the other men watching him think. He needed to stay the man of action. "Okay," he said, "we need to ensure he can't get off the island. We need to find any other boats and take care of them. Then, we flush him out."

He turned to Sannik. "Take some men and head up the east side of the island, and check the beaches. I'll take our boat and head around the west. We'll leave a guard behind here in case they double back. The rest of the men should search inland."

Sannik didn't react at first, but then turned and barked orders to the other men. They ran off into the jungle.

As Gideon turned to head back to the ship Sannik said, "We better find him soon. Boss."

Was that a scowl on his face? Gideon thought. Instead of getting angry, he said, "We will."

Sannik took some men and then headed into the jungle, going east.

Gideon walked back toward the dock. Sannik's disposition wasn't helping. Even dangerous, to a degree. But they would find that Billionaire soon.

Allowing himself to smile again Gideon just kept telling himself the same thought over and over in his mind.

There was no where Grant could hide.

Chapter 12

Cole

The jungle was difficult, but they pushed through.

At the point they had entered there were no paths, so they had to scamper and climb around the thick foliage. The topography of the island was hilly, and the trees were very tall which kept them from seeing exactly where they were going.

But it also meant it was far more difficult for them to be followed.

As Cole pushed aside a thick set of branches for them to move past, Owen sighed.

"I have to rest," Owen said, looking as tired as he sounded. "Can we risk a small break?" He then went over to a nearby fallen log and sat down.

Well, that settles it, Cole thought with a slight grin. He was tired, too. Dog tired. And we felt they could stop for a little while. They had been running for well over an hour non-stop. Their pursuers would probably be as lost as they were right now.

Cole sat beside him.

Owen seemed to remember he was still carrying his day bag, and pulled out a half full bottle of water. He guzzled at it with relish.

Cole watched him. This was one impressive guy. He had kept his wits about him despite all that was happening. Cole worried he might have a break down, or worse, become totally paralysed with fear. Yet, Owen was keeping up with him with little complaint.

Owen noticed him looking at him and offered the bottle. Cole took it and sipped.

"We should check our phones again. Just in case."

Still no signal for either of them.

"How long can they keep this up? Blocking the phones like this?" Owen said. His face was sheened with sweat. Cole found himself thinking it made his look even more attractive.

"I really don't know," he answered. "Not really my area of expertise. But I do know they are working against the clock."

"Our people," Owen said nodding.

"Yeah. Soon someone is going to start to wonder about us. And our would-be-kidnappers want to have use whisked away long before that."

"At least they don't want to kill you. They're use of the darts proves that," Owen said.

But that doesn't rule out harm to you, Cole thought. He did not say it aloud. "Yeah, how kind of them."

Owen eyes perked up. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

They listened. Sure enough, there was a low rumbling noise coming from a short distance way.

"What is that?" Owen said, perplexed.

"Sounds like water."

"We could use some," Owen said, taking the empty bottle from him and putting it in his bag again.

"Let's take a look," Cole said and stood. He offered his hand to Owen, and he took it with a smile and stood.

"Such a gentleman," Owen said. "Even in all this."

"Gentleman to the end," he said and lead them further through the jungle.

They almost immediately came upon a break in the jungle. They stood on the edge of a wide river that snaked off into the jungle to their right. To their left was a large waterfall splashing loudly which fed into a pool, the source of the river.

For a moment they both were stunned by how beautiful the sight was. Such an unexpected thing to come across.

"This looks so inviting," said Owen. "Do you think we have time for a bath?" He grinned.

It took a moment for Cole to realize that he was joking. "Maybe some other time. For now lets refill the water - ".

There was a distinct noise from behind them. They crouched and turned to look. Somewhere in the jungle something was moving toward them. Cole suspected it was more than one individual.

There was no time to head back into in the jungle and try to lose them. The only way to go was the water in front of them.

"Quick, hide your bag," he said, pointing to some thick bushes.

"Why?" Owen asked, but did as he said. He shoved his bag out of sight.

Cole took a few steps into the water. "Because were going to hide in that." He nodded toward the waterfall.

Owen's eyes widened, but didn't protest. It wasn't like they had many options at this point. He stepped into the water, too.

"Stay under and swim behind the falls if you can," Cole said. He submerged himself up to his shoulders, the bottom of the river too deep to touch with his feet anymore.

"Okay," Owen said. He took a few quick deep breaths then dove out of view.

Suddenly, at the jungle tree line, Cole saw several men push their way through.

With a quick breath, Cole dropped down fully into the water.

It was dark and murky. The water rushing into his ears and muffling his hearing. He looked about and saw Owen swimming under water, frog style. He was a natural.

Cole followed suit, and soon was up next to him.

There were no gunshots or sounds of pursuit, not that they would really notice under here.

But the sound of the waterfall was all encompassing. As they approached the point of the water curtain hitting the river, white bubbles frothed their view.

They pushed under. He felt pressure against his head and body, then nothing. They had made it to the other side.

Cole raised his head up first and looked about. He was in a narrow gap between the falling curtain of water, and the rock wall behind it. Satisfied everything was okay, he used his hand to guide Owen up.

Owen sputtered as he surfaced. They were both gasping for air.

He wasn't sure how long they were under water, but it was obvious they had both reached their limit.

Then, through the sheet of water, Cole saw movement. It was hard to see through the falling water, but he could tell it was a person moving along the shore line.

Instinct took over and he pressed himself up to the corner of the little alcove, pulling Owen along with him. When he could go no further he sunk down so just his head was above the water. Owen did the same.

From here, he was certain they would not be spotted through the water, or in the little corner with just a small part of themselves exposed. But he couldn't count on miracles with so much at stake.

He pulled Owen closer to him, and he hugged him almost eagerly. One arm around his shoulders, the other around his waist. He was tall enough to stand here, but Owen couldn't reach the bottom.

It was logical for hi to cling to me like that. Yeah, that made sense, Cole thought to himself.

With apprehension they watched the figure move along the water's edge. It stopped, and whomever it was seemed to be looking around. Had he discovered the bag and put two and two together?

They waited with bated breath, unsure of what was going to happen. Would they be spotted? Would the person think of the waterfall as a hiding place?

After a few moments, the man started moving again. He was joined with another who seemed to materialize out of the jungle. They conferred briefly.

Then, to Owen and his great relief, the two figures wondered further down the river and out of sight.

The two water born fugitives breathed a sigh. Owen was still pressed against his body. Owen looked up to him and smiled.

Cole was again struck with how stunning he was. How gorgeous.

He wasn't sure why, maybe it was the tenseness of the situation, or the danger which heightened his emotions but he felt a sudden and irresistible urge.

He pulled Owen closer, leaned down a little and kissed him.