Page 95 of Duty Devoted

The crack of gunfire shattered the morning calm.

One second, Logan was beside me, the next, he was gone, tackled to the ground by someone I couldn’t see. Hands grabbed me from behind, yanking me backward.

“Logan!”

A hood came down over my head, blinding me. I screamed, kicking out, but the hands were too strong. I heard Logan’s voice, muffled and distant, shouting my name.

Car doors. Movement. The prick of a needle in my arm.

Then nothing but darkness pulling me under.

Chapter 28

Logan

The Taser hitmy neck like a lightning strike. Fifty thousand volts of “should have been paying attention rather than falling in love” shot through my nervous system, every muscle seizing at once. My legs went out from under me, and I crashed to the pavement, skull cracking against concrete with a sound I felt more than heard.

Still, I yelled Lauren’s name.

The world tilted sideways, reality fracturing into disconnected pieces. Lauren’s scream cut through the chaos, high and terrified, before something muffled it. Car doors slammed. Tires squealed.

I fought against the paralysis, trying to force my body to respond, to move, to dosomething. But the electricity had scrambled every signal between brain and muscle. All I could do was lie there, cheek pressed to cold concrete, watching Lauren’s bag spill its contents across the sidewalk.

The ringing in my ears drowned out everything else. My vision swam, doubling and tripling before snapping back into focus. Blood trickled warm down my neck from where the Taser prongs had punctured skin.

“Sir! Sir, are you all right?” The doorman’s face appeared above me, eyes wide with panic. Other faces crowded in—concerned citizens, someone already on their phone, probably calling 911.

I forced my mouth to work. “Lauren. Where?—”

“They took her. Black van, no plates. I couldn’t—I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop them.”

Lauren was gone.

The realization hit harder than the pavement had. I rolled onto my side, ignoring the wave of nausea that followed. My muscles were starting to respond again, pins and needles flooding through every limb as sensation returned.

“Should I call an ambulance?” someone asked.

“No.” I pushed myself to sitting, the world spinning around me. Blood dripped onto my shirt from where my head had met sidewalk. Possible concussion. Didn’t matter. “No ambulance.”

Lauren was gone. They’d taken her right in front of me, and I’d been useless. Helpless. All my training, all my experience, worthless against a well-timed ambush.

I fumbled for my phone, fingers still clumsy from the electrical disruption. As I brought it to my face, something else registered. A cigarette butt lay inches from my face where I’d fallen, still smoldering. The scent sparked a memory two months back—sweet tobacco mixed with something else, something herbal and distinctly regional.

My blood went cold.

That smell. I’d been about to mention it to Lauren right before the attack. The same exact scent from the jungle, whenwe’d hidden in vegetation while Silva’s men passed within feet of us. The weird floral cigarette that had annoyed us both.

I grabbed the cigarette butt, careful not to contaminate it more than necessary. Evidence. Maybe Jace could analyze it, confirm what I already knew in my gut.

The Silva cartel had her.

My hands steadied as training took over. I pulled up my contacts, initiating a Citadel conference call. The phone rang once before Jace’s voice came through.

“Logan? Everything all right?”

“No.” I struggled to my feet, waving off the doorman’s attempt to steady me. “The Silva cartel has Lauren. We’ve got to move now.”

“What?”