The Boys Club (17 page)

Sara watched Logan walk in the
direction of the car for a moment before she gathered the courage to move. Her
heart slammed against her rib cage with each beat and she wondered if others
could hear her fear.

As Logan had instructed, she moved around the back of the
restrooms, keeping her pace even and steady. She tried not to think about Logan
and if he would be successful in hotwiring the car. If someone caught him and
he didn’t get away, he could end up in jail, leaving her all alone. It had been
hard enough with just the two of them. If Logan disappeared, she would never
survive.

She smiled at a woman and child passing by, then returned
her eyes to the couple Logan told her to watch. The woman was sitting down
under a tree, while the man snapped pictures of her. Sara wasn’t sure how much
time Logan had, but it didn’t appear the couple would leave soon.

Picking up her pace, Sara shifted her direction when she
passed the restrooms and headed toward a tree near the rest stop exit. She turned
her head to look for Logan and the Escort, but the many cars and trucks in the
parking lot blocked her view.

When she reached the pavement, she shoved her hands in her
jean’s pockets and sauntered along the side of the on ramp. A diesel truck
whooshed by her, making her heart jump into her throat. Only then did she worry
about how long Logan was taking to hotwire the car. She didn’t know the
timeframes involved with something like that, but she had assumed it would be
quicker than this.

The Escort pulled up next to her. Logan shouted to her
through the open window and she raced to the door. She had barely pulled her
feet inside when he took off again. She slammed the door shut and turned to
look out the back window. The couple ran into the parking lot, screaming and
waving their hands, but they quickly disappeared into the horizon.

Sara put her seatbelt on and laid her head back on the
headrest. “They’re probably calling the cops right now.”

Logan held up a black cell phone. “They probably are, but
only if one of them still has their cell phone with them.” He chucked the phone
out the window and rolled it up.

“Couldn’t you have used that to call Schaffer?”

“Can’t risk it. We need a good old fashioned pay phone.”

“What happens if the police catch up to us?”

“They won’t,” he said, his voice much calmer than Sara could
ever be in the situation. “There are a few highway interchanges ahead, which
we’ll use to put some distance between us. Then we’ll move onto some back
roads. The highway patrol will probably stick to the interstates and highways
to search for us, but they’ll give up soon enough.”

“I feel so bad for them.”

“Don’t,” Logan said. “They’ll be well taken care of.”

“I know that, and I believe you, but I don’t know how you do
this.” She shook her head. “Too much excitement for me.”

“Trust me. I prefer my jobs much quieter than this one’s
been.”

Sara twisted her neck and stared out the window, as Logan
took an onramp onto another highway. No cars followed them onto the new stretch
of road. “Do you know where we’re going?” she asked, turning back around.

“I have an idea of where Schaffer might send us, but first
we need to find a phone. He may have already sent a team out to the safe house
to find out what’s going on since we’ve been out of communication for about 12
hours now.”

“How often do you normally talk to him?”

“Protocol is to check in every two hours. That’s why we have
to get to a phone. He needs to know I’m alive and you’re safe.”

The thought of another team going out to the house to find
the bodies of Logan’s friends saddened her again. Though Logan told her she
wasn’t to blame, she still felt responsible for their deaths. She had just
started to get to know the others, and then they died, all because her father
wanted to kill her.

Sara leaned her head back against the headrest and watched
the mountains fly by outside her window. Life had changed so drastically in the
past few days, leaving her feeling out of sorts and scattered. She wanted to
talk to Logan to pass the time, to take her mind off everything, but making
small talk seemed a ridiculous idea.

“What are you thinking about?”

She raised her head at Logan’s question. Shrugging her
shoulders, she said, “Nothing, really.” She paused for a moment, then turned to
look at him. “I guess I’m not sure what I’m thinking about. I just feel so lost
right now.”

Logan kept his eyes on the road in front of them. “I can’t
imagine. Honestly, I’m not sure how you’ve kept it together, not with the
bombshell we dropped on you about your father and with everything that’s
happened since.”

“How have you kept it together? Your entire team is gone.”

“We’ve lost people before. It doesn’t happen very often, but
it does happen.”

“But you seemed so close to them,” Sara said. “Especially
Jack.”

Pain flashed in his eyes and he grimaced. “Jack and I
practically grew up together.”

A hint of melancholy mixed with sadness laced his voice, and
Sara wanted nothing more than to comfort him. “I am so sorry,” she said.

He shot her a sideways glance. “You have nothing to be sorry
for,” he said, ending the discussion.

She frowned and focused on her hands in her lap, trying to
think of something more to say.

“What was it like growing up with Langston?” Logan asked
after a few moments of silence.

“Our relationship was disconnected. I never knew him. I
guess I still don’t.” She sighed and turned her eyes back to Logan. “I was
always gone from the house and when I was there, he wasn’t too interested in
me. I think he was happy when he passed me off to Stephen. It was like the best
thing about me graduating from college and being an adult was that he no longer
had to take care of me. I became someone else’s problem.”

“When did he introduce you to Mathers?”

“A little over a year ago. I tried to break it off a few times,
but Dad kept pushing me to stick it out.” She shook her head. “All because
Stephen is his number one.”

Logan remained silent, while Sara mulled over her last
words. An unbidden thought entered her head, one she hadn’t considered before.
Realization dawned on her, and her eyes glazed over.

“His number one,” she said under her breath.

“What’s that?” Logan asked.

“Didn’t you say that Dad was grooming you to be his
right-hand man? But Stephen wanted the job, so he did all those things to try
to prove you weren’t legitimate?”

“Yes.”

“If you were legitimate and not working at The Boys Club,
would you have gotten the job?”

“I think so,” he said. “I worked very hard to get to the top
in a short amount of time.”

“That’s so weird.” An incredulous smile crossed her face and
she shook her head. “If you had been legitimately working for my dad and moved
into Stephen’s position instead of him, then my dad would have pushed me to
marry you, not Stephen.”

Logan’s eyes widened, but only for a moment. “I suppose
you’re right.”

“Strange how that worked out,” Sara said, shaking her head.
“Now you’re protecting me from him.”

“I guess I never thought about that before. I’m glad that’s
not the way it was.”

Sara’s eyes flew to his face. “Thanks a lot,” she said,
overplaying her sarcasm.

“That’s not what I meant. You shouldn’t have let him push
you to be with Mathers to begin with, so I’m glad it wasn’t me that he tried to
force on you.”

“Something tells me if you had worked for him legitimately,
you never would have gone for it. You’re a much different person than Stephen.
And, though the circumstances could have been better, I’m glad it happened this
way.”

His eyes connected with hers for a moment. “Me, too.”

“You know I never dated anyone before Stephen.” The words
tumbled out of her mouth and she instantly regretted sharing something so
personal.

“Never?”

Sara shook her head. “Dad didn’t like the idea of me dating
anyone. Sometimes I wonder if he always had this plan to marry me off to
someone high up in his organization.”

“He may have,” Logan said. “He always thinks about the
long-term when he makes a decision. But how did he stop you from dating if you
were never around him?”

“My security detail did his dirty work for him. I guess I did
go on one date before I met Stephen. I was 16 and this guy took me to a movie.
We were sitting in the back of the theater, and I was so nervous since it was
my first date. After the movie started, we held hands, and then about halfway
through the movie, he kissed me.” Sara smiled at the memory. “My first kiss.”

“So what happened that you stopped seeing him?”

“My dad happened. He had told my security detail that I
wasn’t allowed to have any physical contact with the guy, so in the middle of a
crowded theater, they yanked us up and dragged us out of there. They pushed the
guy around, made sure he understood he couldn’t come near me again, and then
drove me back to the dorms.”

“That’s pretty extreme.”

“I was so embarrassed. The theater was filled with kids from
our school, so word spread pretty quickly. No guy even would talk to me after
that, let alone ask me out on a date. Then, somehow, the story followed me to
college. It was my curse. That’s what it was like growing up with Dad. If I
should even call him that anymore.”

“It’s hard, growing up with the feeling that no one cares
about you. I know you had your mom, but after she passed away and you were left
with Langston, it was probably a lot like what I went through on the streets.
No one seemed to care.”

“We do have that in common, I suppose. Although I wasn’t
homeless.”

“I wasn’t for too long. Schaffer took me in after a few
years.”

Sara studied Logan’s face for a moment and thought she
caught a hint of a smile. “He sounds like a wonderful man. I can’t wait to meet
him.”

“You’ll get along with him very well.”

She leaned her head back again and turned to the window.

“Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” Logan asked. “I’ll
wake you when we get near a stopping point.”

Until he suggested it, Sara had not noticed her exhaustion
from their adventurous morning. Her eyes grew heavy and she yawned. With Logan
next to her, she could rest comfortably again, knowing he would do everything
he could to keep her safe.

When Logan pulled the car into a
truck stop two hours later, Sara was still in a deep sleep. She had barely
moved since drifting off, and Logan did not want to wake her. Though he had
chosen a parking space at the far end of the lot, closest to the pay phone, he
could not go inside and leave her in the car for a nosy patron to find her and
possibly recognize her.

Logan touched her shoulder. “Sara?”

She stirred a bit, but didn’t wake.

“Hey, Sara,” he said again, his tone light. “Time to wake
up.”

Her eyelids snapped open and she jumped forward in the seat.
Frantic, her eyes darted about the car before landing on Logan.

“You okay?” he asked.

She lifted her hand to her chest. Taking deep breaths, she
said, “I thought something was wrong and they had found us again.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”

She looked out the windshield, toward the truck stop. “Can I
go inside with you?”

He grabbed his bag from the backseat. Digging through it, he
found his stash of money and handed her six twenties. Gesturing to the pay phone
near the car, he said, “I’m going to use the phone to call Schaffer. Go on into
the store, use the restroom or whatever, and get some food and water. The safe
house won’t have anything for women, so get what you need for two or three
nights. Keep your head down and don’t linger. Don’t look anyone in the eye if
you don’t have to. I’ll meet you in there.”

“I’ll be as quick as I can,” she said.

Her confident tone erased any doubts he had about leaving
her alone for a few minutes. “I won’t be long,” he said, opening the car door.

Logan watched her walk to the gas station, her head bowed as
he had asked. When she disappeared behind the door, he made his way to the pay
phone, nervously jingling change in his hand. He deposited the coins, waited
for the dial tone, and punched in the numbers for Schaffer’s emergency cell
phone. He didn’t want to risk the leak answering the phone at the Church.

The phone clicked, but no one spoke on the other end. Logan
recognized it as Schaffer being cautious. “It’s me,” he said.

A sigh of relief came from the other end. “Logan,” Schaffer
said. “Where the hell are you?”

“Just across the Arizona border at a truck stop.”

“I sent in a team to the safe house when I hadn’t heard from
you. What happened?”

“We were ambushed. Jack, Charlie, Les…”

“Damn,” Schaffer said. “We didn’t know who the bodies were.”

“What do you mean?” When Logan saw the lifeless bodies of
his friends, he knew immediately who they were, even in the darkened room.

“The safe house was burned down. There were just three
bodies, but we had no way to identify them. I’m glad you’re safe. Is Sara with
you?”

“She is. What about the team that has Mary?”

“They’re fine,” Schaffer said. “They relocated Mary two days
ago. She reunited with her parents and now they’re all in a safe house up in
Oregon. As soon as Sara is with the FBI, we’ll look at getting Mary back to her
normal life.”

“Sara will be glad to hear that, but I need to get her to a
safe place. What’s our next move? I thought maybe you’d send us to Flagstaff.”

“That’s the best place to be right now, so head to the safe
house there. But I want you to get to the Church tomorrow.”

Logan hesitated. Though he wanted to get back more than
anything, he still had no idea who was working with Langston from the inside.
“I can’t bring her there, Schaffer. Not until I know who the leak is.” He
tightened his hand around the receiver. “They’ve killed three of us now. Jack…
Jack’s gone—”

“I know this isn’t easy for you, but I need you to stay
focused on keeping Sara safe. I’m still working on the leak from this end, but
we have to get you both out of the open. Call me when you get to the safe
house. Tomorrow, we’ll figure out where to go from here.”

Logan ended the call and leaned against the top of the pay
phone with his eyes squeezed shut. He had been so focused on his job until now
that he hadn’t thought about his friends being killed. He knew he had to get
Sara to safety, but he didn’t know how much more he could handle before he
broke.

He took several deep breaths to decompress and align his
thoughts with Schaffer’s instructions. Sara’s life now rested entirely on his
shoulders and he could not fail, not after three men gave their lives for her.
As he walked toward the truck stop to find her, he resolved to stop at nothing
to bring Langston down.