The Boys Club (14 page)

She opened her mouth to say something, anything to break the
tense, emotionally-charged silence, when the back door opened.

“There you two are,” Jack said, stepping onto the back
porch. He aimed his large smile in her direction.

Sara blushed and averted her eyes, not so much at Jack’s
obvious flirting, but at him catching her and Logan in a moment, though she was
still unsure what had transpired between them.

“We were just heading inside,” Logan said.

“That’s why I was coming to get you,” Jack said. “The news says
there is a hell of a storm heading this way.”

Sara looked up at the dark skies, but could only see the
clouds around the full moon. A flash of lightning in the distance caught her
attention.

“We better get you inside,” Jack said, holding his arm out to
her.

She glanced at Logan for direction.

“You two go ahead,” he said. “I’m going to stay out here for
a bit longer.”

“Did you want to stay up with us and watch television?” Jack
asked.

“I think I’ll just head on to bed. I’m pretty tired and I
want to be rested for our run in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Sara,” Logan said.

Sara watched him walk toward the woods until he disappeared
into the night shadows. She turned and slid her arm through Jack’s.

Smiling, Jack escorted her in the house and back to her
bedroom. “Last chance,” he said after they reached her room. “In a few days,
you’ll be with the FBI and they are not nearly as good looking as I am.”

Unaccustomed to having a man so straightforward with his
flirting, Sara laughed and a deep blush crept into her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I
need some good sleep tonight, but tomorrow night I will. I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said with a wink.

As soon as he shut the door, Sara’s smile fell. As sweet and
cute as Jack was, Logan had not left her mind since she came inside. She didn’t
know what would have happened if Jack hadn’t come outside when he did, but she
had a strong sense that Logan would have kissed her. Though surprising, that
she had wanted him to do it shocked her even more.

She moistened her lips and lowered herself on her bed. “What
the hell is happening to me?” she whispered aloud. She had never so much as
fantasized about another man since she started dating Stephen and now she
couldn’t stop thinking about what Logan tasted like. Between that and the
revelations about Stephen and her father, it would take a miracle to fall
asleep.

After several hours of tossing and
turning in bed, sleep finally embraced Sara, but not for long. A strong hand
over her mouth dragged her out of her peaceful dream. Her eyes popped open to
find a face hovering over hers.

“Don’t scream.” Logan’s whisper cut through the silence and
set her on edge. “We have to go.”

He removed his hand from her mouth and she drew in a jagged
breath. Despite the seriousness of his voice, her body froze with fear.

“Now, Sara.”

She didn’t hesitate. The desperation in his command told her
everything she needed to know. He handed her a pair of jeans and shoes, and she
quickly slipped them on while he waited.

When she stood up, he grabbed her arm. “Stay behind me.”

Sara’s body stiffened against his, her hands on his back for
protection. His hand reached behind him and held onto her arm, guiding her to
walk with him. With every step she worked to control every frightened breath
that left her lips, scared that whoever Logan sheltered her from could hear
her.

Logan stopped and told her to step to the side, behind the
door. His fingers never left her skin as he poked his head out the door.
Faraway voices filtered through the crack between the wood and the wall, and he
eased the door closed.

“We have to go through the window,” he whispered, as he
locked the door from the inside.

“How?” Sara asked.

He knelt down to his mattress, lifted it, and picked
something up. He handed her the item.

She ran her fingers over the cylindrical, heavy metal while
he dragged the mattress in front of the door. “A crowbar?” In all her time
looking for a weapon or means of escape, she never dreamed he kept the one
thing she needed so near.

He had her stay behind the door and he took the mattress
from her bed and added it to the makeshift barricade. He took the crowbar from
her hands, picked his bag up from the floor, and told her to stay in front of
him. As they walked to the window, with his body shielding her from the door,
adrenaline coursed through her limbs to the point that they ached. He pushed
her to the side when they reached the window, and her fear increased tenfold.

The crowbar slipped between the board and the wall and with
a strong pull, the board let loose on one side. He had her hold the board while
he worked on the other side. Together, they set the board down with care. He
gave her the crowbar again, slid the window open, and pushed out the screen.

Encouraging her to go first, he helped her up, and she
crawled through the window and into the night rain. After he climbed outside,
he took each strap of his bag and brought them over his arms, securing the bag
on his back. He turned his head from one side to the other, scanning the
terrain ahead. Sara handed the crowbar to him. Her tense neck snapped around
when the noise came from her bedroom, the sound of men breaking through the
door.

Logan circled his hand around her wrist, and she looked up
at his stern face. “Run as fast as you can toward the barn and keep up,” he
said.

As they raced in the direction of the barn through the
pellets of rain, Sara focused on her breathing to avoid thinking of the danger
behind them. She didn’t know if the men had broken through the door yet, or if
they were right on their heels, and she didn’t care. She only thought about her
breathing and keeping pace with Logan, a much faster runner than she.

Under the full moon, a man emerged from the side of the
barn. Logan skidded to a stop and held out his arms to catch her. He pulled her
behind a nearby tree. Trapped between the bark and his body, she leaned her
head against his chest and closed her eyes. She wanted to ask about the others,
but something told her not to. She held as still as possible, scared to take
even a breath.

One of his hands rubbed up and down her chilled, soaked arm.
“It’s okay, Sara,” he whispered, as if he sensed her fear. “I’ve got you.”

A momentary calm rushed over her soul. She knew he would do
everything he could to keep her safe, just as he had since he kidnapped her to
save her life.

Logan backed away from her and she lifted her eyes to his.
“Ready?”

“Yes.”

He slid his hand around hers, his other hand grasping the
crowbar, and guided her into the thickening trees behind them. She again kept
up the best she could, as they dodged trees and ducked under low-hanging
branches. Moving deeper into the woods, the darkness camouflaged the oncoming
obstacles and they slowed their pace.

Sara gripped Logan’s hand tighter. Her lifeline to safety,
she stayed right behind him and matched his steps without complaint.

Nothing else went through Logan’s
mind except Sara’s safety. He took every step and made every turn knowing he
could not fail in his job.

She didn’t know yet about the rest of his team and until
they stopped in a safe place, he wouldn’t tell her. Lying awake with another
restless night, he had heard the unusual noise coming from another part of the
house and his instincts kicked his gut. After leaving the bedroom, the first
body he stumbled over was Charlie at the end of the hall. A glimpse into the
living room showed two more shadowed bodies, one on the floor and one on the
couch, right where he had left Jack and Lester when he went to bed.

Creaks coming from the loft above him had spurred him into
action before he could investigate further. He didn’t know why those that
killed the others had yet to find him and Sara, but he took advantage of their
mistake to get her out of the house.

As he emerged from the woods with Sara, he closed off all
thoughts of his team so he could work out their next movements. It wouldn’t be
long before the men on the property found their way out here, but Logan had led
them to a dead end. In front of them, the edge of the small mountain had a long
drop to a lower ledge, far enough down for both of them to break some bones if
they tried to jump.

He had not been to this safe house in some time and did not
have an escape route planned that didn’t include the cars in the barn. The rain
only compounded the situation. Peering over the edge again, he saw headlights
coming from the winding main road that they had driven on their way to the
house. He just needed to find a way down there.

He told Sara to stay with him and they ran along the edge
until he found a mostly hidden dirt trail that appeared to led down to the
ledge below them. From there they could better figure out how to get to the
main road.

“We’re going to have to separate,” he said, as he stopped
walking.

Sara looked at him, her fear apparent. “You can’t leave me—”

“I’m not leaving you for long. I want you to take this trail
down to the next ledge. Then run north for ten minutes and find a place to
hide. If the path ends before ten minutes is up, turn east and run in that
direction for the rest of the time.” He removed his watch, illuminated the
face, showed her the compass on it, and handed it to her. “No more and no less
than ten minutes. If I’m not there in forty-five minutes, find a way down to
the main road, and follow it to the next town to get help. Don’t let any cars
see you, but run along the side and keep behind the trees.”

“What are you doing?”

“I need to even out the playing field a bit or we’ll never
get out of here.”

“What do you mean?”

He nodded his head in the direction of the woods. “We have
at least two men on our heels. Wherever we go, they’ll go. Just do what I tell
you. Ten minutes north.”

“Logan, I can’t—”

“Yes, you can.”

“But what are you—”

“I’m going to slow them down.” He rested his hand on her
shoulder. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes, I—”

“Do you trust me?” he asked again, stressing each word.

She hesitated and her dark eyes found his. “I trust you.”

“Good. Now go.” He watched her take off down the trail. He
hated leaving her on her own, but he couldn’t let her see what he needed to do.

As soon as she left his view, Logan removed his bag from his
back, retrieved his knife, and secured it on the left side of his belt. He
preferred using his gun, but he couldn’t draw attention to their location with
the noise. He stashed his bag in between the branches of a tree near the edge
of the woods and moved toward the sounds of the men searching the trees. He
hoped he only had to take care of two of them.

Voices came at him from the right. He ducked behind a large
tree and plastered his back against it. Peering over his shoulder and around
the tree, two men stood several trees away from his position.

“We’ve searched the woods already and they aren’t here,” the
first voice said.

“We have to be sure,” the second man said. “They could have
come back here after we searched.”

“They’re long gone. We just have to tell him that—”

“I’m not telling anyone anything until we search these woods
again. They told us to keep searching until we find them and we haven’t found
them. Head out that way and I’ll take this half. That should make it quicker.”

Logan unsnapped the knife holster for easy access if he
needed it. Closing his eyes, he focused his attention on the sound of
footsteps. Shoes hit the wet leaves on the ground, and he determined the man
approached from his left.

Within seconds, the man passed him by, without bothering to
look to his sides. When he passed, Logan launched himself at the man. His left
hand smothered the man’s mouth to silence him and his right arm wrapped around
the man’s neck. He contracted the muscles in his arm. The man struggled, but
not enough to get out of Logan’s grasp. Logan held on long after the man passed
out to finish the job. He couldn’t risk the man coming to and revealing their
location.

He lowered the man’s lifeless body onto the leaf-covered
ground. He took the gun out of the man’s hands, turned the safety on, and
tucked it into the waistband at his lower back. Now he had to find the other
man before he noticed his partner’s absence and called in the rest of the
troops to the area.

Keeping his footfalls light, he crept through the woods,
with long pauses between each footstep. Ears alert for any sound, he heard
nothing until he was a good distance away from the first body. He ceased moving
at the sound of rustling leaves coming in his direction, and he wrapped his
hand around the handle of his knife. A figure emerged from the shadows, and
Logan reassessed his plan. The position of the other man eliminated another
stealth attack.

Logan dashed to the side, behind another tree before the man
could see him. His movements alerted the other man to his presence, but he had
little other choice.

As expected, the man stopped walking. “Don?”

Anticipating the man to keep moving past the tree, Logan
inched to the left to stay hidden. A branch cracked under his soles and within
seconds the man stood at Logan’s side, gun aimed and finger on the trigger.

“Let’s go,” he said, walking backward. “Where’s the girl?”

“She’s gone,” Logan said, as he raised his hands up in front
of his shoulders.

“You’re lying. Where is she?”

“We moved her this afternoon.”

“We know she wasn’t moved.”

Logan took uneven steps in a diagonal direction, trying to
guide the other man’s backward steps and get him away from the tree where he
could act. He needed a lot more room if he wanted to turn the situation around.

“You obviously have old information,” Logan said. “She was
across the state line before sunset.”

The man followed Logan’s lead. “She’s here and we’ll find
her. You were easy enough to get to. I’ve been looking forward to this. You
killed my cousin a few days ago, Logan.”

That the man knew his name gave Logan pause, but only for a
moment. “Ah, is that who that was? Tell me, was he the dumb one or the stupid one?
Whoever he was, you can tell him hi for me in a few minutes.”

“That ain’t gonna happen. I’m the one with the gun here.”

Logan shrugged. “Details. Don also had a gun, but that
didn’t seem to matter much.”

“You killed Don?” He stumbled over a hidden obstacle in his
path.

Logan sprang into action. As the man tried to regain his
balance, Logan knocked the gun out of his hand and snatched his throat. Pushing
him back against a tree, he asked, “Who gave you our location?”

The man laughed, and Logan tightened his grip on his throat
until all noise ceased. “You have two choices. Tell me or join your buddy over
there.” He relaxed his hand to give the man a chance to talk.

With narrowed eyes, he said, “You’re getting nothing from
me.”

Logan pressed his forearm against the man’s chest to keep
him against the tree and reached for his knife. The blade flew up to the taut
flesh around the man’s throat. “Who are you working with?”

The man seemed unruffled by the new threat. “What does it
matter? Won’t be long before Langston has you and the girl.”

“Give me a name.”

“When he does get you, I’ll have my turn with you. Maybe
with the girl, too, although for much different reasons.”

The knife melted into the man’s skin, just enough to
demonstrate his intention. “A name. Now.”

“Your dead wife.”

Logan faltered and the knife almost fell out of his hand.

“Too bad it wasn’t you in that car instead of her. Waste of
a nice piece of—”

He buried the blade in the man’s neck. Warm blood spurted
onto his face and clothes, as he sliced through the carotid artery. The man’s
body tumbled to the ground as soon as he withdrew the embedded knife. With
every muscle in his body tensed, he focused his energy into kicking the dead
man several times before tiring.

He crouched on the ground and lowered his head with the tip
of the knife handle against his forehead. Anger and pain mixed in his veins and
shook his arms. He wanted to rush to the safe house and kill every man in it
and around it, but he held himself back. Somewhere on that trail, Sara waited
for him. He couldn’t save Karen, but he could still save Sara. Through her, he
could find the vengeance he sought. He could find peace.

Logan swiped the blade of the knife on his shirt and
sheathed it. He tugged his shirt over his head, turned it inside out, and
cleaned as much blood off his face and neck as he could. He dropped his shirt
on the corpse. He didn’t want to leave his shirt somewhere that would tip them
off to where he and Sara had gone.

He made his way back to his bag at the edge of the woods,
where the rain fell more freely outside the cover of the tall trees. Cupping
his hands, he collected as much rainwater as he could and splashed it over his
already soaked face to wash the rest of the blood off his skin. He dug around
in his bag until he found a clean shirt. After he put it on, he secured his bag
on his back and headed to the trail where he last saw Sara.

Skating down the slick, steep mud trail, he caught his
balance several times. His mind wandered to Sara and he hoped she had been able
to make it to safety without hurting herself. At the bottom of the trail, he
turned north and started his run while keeping time. Trees covered most of the
part of the path, and Logan found it easier to keep steady and not fall.

Approximately nine minutes, he converted his run into a
brisk walk. Sara may have stopped short or run too far, and he did not want to
accidentally pass her. He also had to keep his eyes peeled so he could spot her
before she did him. He didn’t want her thinking one of the men from the safe
house had found her.

A noise startled him, and he slowed down and crept along the
tree line. Out in the open and at a strong disadvantage, he hoped it was Sara
and not another one of the men.

“Logan?” Sara’s hushed whisper came from between two trees.

Tension flowed from his shoulders and back, as he moved
toward her. “It’s me, Sara,” he said.

She ran out from behind a tree and dropped a large rock from
her hands. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she hopped up on her tiptoes when
she reached him. Her arms flew around his neck and her body pressed against
him. Face buried in his shoulder, Logan couldn’t understand any of her garbled
words. Instead of asking her to repeat everything, he tightened his hold on her
and let her have a moment to decompress.

When her hold on him loosened, Logan pulled back and took
her arms. He locked eyes with her and asked, “Are you okay?”

She pressed her quivering lips together and nodded. “I’m
sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you
alone like that.” He looked over her head and scanned the landscape. “We need
to find a place to sleep tonight.”

“What about going down to the main road?”

“We can’t chance that they would drive by. They might expect
us to take that route.”

He took her hand and coaxed her to follow him into the
trees. Not far in, he found a fallen tree with enough brush over it to act as a
shelter. Leaning against the rock, the nature-made cave provided the perfect
amount of cover from the elements and their enemies so they could rest.

“This will work,” he said. When she hesitated, he gently
rubbed her back. “You’re freezing and we have little choice. They won’t find us
in here, but if they do, we’ll hear them coming.”

Sara ducked under the branches and nestled herself inside
the shelter. Logan took his bag off his shoulders and followed. He noticed her
arms wrapped around her legs, as she rocked back and forth to try and get warm.
He leaned his back against the rock and opened his bag.

“Take off your shoes and socks,” he told her. “They’re
soaked.”

He waited until she complied, and then did the same. He
pulled out two fresh pairs of socks from his bag and handed her one. “I know
they’re not your size, but we have to make do.”

“I’m not complaining,” she said. Once they were on her feet,
she tucked her legs back up against her body.

He took the confiscated gun out from his waistband and put
it into his bag, then removed his own gun and the blanket. After loading his
gun, he set it on the ground, then grabbed the blanket and fanned it out. “Come
here,” he said, gesturing for her to move closer to him. “It will be easier to
stay warm together.

She looked at him for a moment before scooting a little
closer to him.

“I’m not going to bite,” he said.

She smiled and moved under his arm. With her body close to
his, he covered them with the blanket. She snuggled up against him, pressing
her cheek into his shoulder and gripping his shirt. Her chest heaved with every
breath, and desire for her stirred in the pit of his stomach.