Page 28

Logan

The room was still dark, though I could sense dawn wasn’t far off. Lauren’s breathing had evened out against my chest, her body still wrapped around mine.

I shifted carefully, trying not to wake her, but she let out a soft moan of pain in her sleep. The sound hit me hard. She’d run miles through the jungle with a gunshot wound, bleeding the whole time, while I pushed her harder, demanded more speed.

Then I’d had a complete mental breakdown when she needed me to be strong.

And let’s not even talk about the sex. Two-pump chump here couldn’t have exactly given her the thrill of her life. Still, she was pressed against me, one hand splayed across my chest, so she couldn’t be feeling that bad about it. But I still was.

I eased myself away from her warmth, every muscle protesting the movement. The cheap mattress creaked. In the dim light filtering through the boarded window, I could see the dark circles under her eyes. She was exhausted, and I couldn’t blame her.

The bathroom was barely more than a closet with a toilet and sink, but the water ran clear when I tested it.

I wet a washcloth and returned to the bed.

Dirt still dulled her honey-blonde hair from where I’d tried to disguise it.

Her stitches looked okay. At least I’d gotten those done before I fell apart.

I cleaned myself first, then wet the cloth again and began gently washing the blood from around her wound. She stirred at the touch, green eyes fluttering open.

“Time to go?” Her voice came out rough with sleep.

“Almost. Getting you cleaned up a little first.” I kept my movements careful around the wound.

“Logan.” She caught my wrist as I reached for fresh bandages. “Stop.”

“The wound needs?—”

“Not the wound. The guilt.” She pushed herself up on one elbow, wincing. “I can see it all over your face.”

“You don’t know what you’re seeing.”

“Don’t I?” She studied me. “You’re cataloging failures—not noticing I was hurt, having a trauma response, the sex.”

I pulled my hand free, got up to rinse out the cloth, and then came back.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“You ran three miles bleeding because I didn’t?—”

“Because we both made tactical decisions based on the situation.” She hissed as I touched a sensitive spot. “If you’d slowed down to baby me, we’d both be dead.”

“And the rest?” I couldn’t meet her eyes. “Using you when you’re hurt because I couldn’t keep my shit together?”

Her hand found my face, forcing me to look at her. “You didn’t use me. We helped each other. That’s what people do when they care about each other.”

I wanted to believe her, but I wasn’t sure I should get off that easily. “Let me finish this.”

She released my face, but her eyes stayed on mine as I worked. Once I’d gotten as much dried blood and dirt from the area as I could, I applied fresh gauze, taping it carefully.

“There’s food,” I said, nodding toward the small table where someone had left bread, dried fruit, and bottled water. “We should eat before we move.”

She sat up fully, pulling the sheet around herself. “I can’t wait for a shower. Between your dirt hair treatment and three days in the jungle and…everything…I must smell like a disaster zone.”

“You smell like survival.” The words came out before I could stop them. “It’s pretty damned sexy if you ask me.”

A smile ghosted across her face. “That’s definitely one way to put it.”

“Hopefully, we’ll have you out of the country and into a shower by the end of the day.”

We ate in silence. And then it was almost time to go. We needed to time it right. We didn’t want to waste time exposed down on the pier, but I would like to be there the second Jace and Ty showed up.

“Ready?” It was time. The sun would be coming up soon.

“As I’ll ever be.”

We moved silently out of the room, down narrow stairs that groaned under our weight. The bar sat empty, chairs overturned on tables, the smell of stale beer and rum thick in the air. I eased the door open, scanning the street before motioning Lauren forward.

In the predawn darkness, the town looked like a giant had used it for a tantrum.

Corrugated metal roofing wrapped around palm trees.

A fishing boat sat in what used to be someone’s living room, carried there by the storm surge.

Power lines draped between tilted poles, and every surface was coated in dried mud that cracked like broken pottery.

The destruction gave us cover. I kept us close to the buildings, moving in short bursts. Lauren matched my pace without complaint, though I could see how she favored her left side.

“There,” I whispered, pointing ahead.

The dock stretched into dark water, a pier extending maybe a hundred feet out.

It was hard to make out in the darkness, and what I could see wasn’t reassuring.

The planking was missing, and the whole structure tilted like a drunk trying to stand straight, but it was there and looked like it would hold us.

Five minutes until Jace and Ty arrived. We were going to make it.

The sound of engines killed my relief. SUVs, moving fast.

“Run!” I grabbed Lauren’s hand, pulling her toward a fishing shack at the land side of the pier. We dove through the doorway as headlights swept where we’d been standing.

The shack walls were sun-bleached plywood that wouldn’t stop a thrown rock, much less bullets. Through gaps in the boards, I counted vehicles. Four SUVs. Doors opening. Men with rifles.

“Dr. Valentino! My dear Lauren.” Mateo Silva’s voice carried across the salt air. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me.”

Fuck.

I checked my weapon. Fifteen rounds against maybe twenty men. Now would be a great time to start believing in the magic bullet theory.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Mateo continued.

“On the one hand, I’m glad to have found you.

But sadly, that also confirms my worst suspicions about my men who told me you were gone.

I’ll deal with them later.” His voice hardened.

“Come out so I can see your beautiful face again. I’ve been so patient, chasing you through the jungle, waiting through that tedious hurricane. But my patience has limits.”

“We’re trapped,” Lauren breathed.

“Come out to me now, and I’ll even let your friend live. He can walk away, even though I’m pretty sure he’s not a weatherman.” Mateo’s voice turned coaxing. “This is between you and me, Lauren. It always has been.”

My mind ran scenarios. Each one ended the same: me dead, her taken.

“I’ll go out,” I said. “Draw their fire. You run for the water.” It wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only one that offered even a possibility for her to escape.

“That’s suicide. They’ll kill you.”

“That’s better than what he’s got planned for you.”

“No.” Her jaw set. “He won’t shoot me. You heard him, he’s been chasing me for days. He’s not going to kill me now.”

“Lauren—”

“Listen to me.” She gripped my shoulders. “Pretend I’m your hostage. Put your gun to my head and use me to get us to the boat.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s the only play that doesn’t end with you dead.” Her eyes blazed. “He wants me alive. That’s our advantage.”

“Ten seconds, my dear!” Mateo’s voice hardened. “We have better things to be doing than wasting the dawn on this filthy pier. We could be getting to know each other.”

“Logan, please.” Her hands found mine, pressed the Glock against her temple. “Trust me. Like I trust you.”

I hesitated, muscles locking. But she was right.

“Stay close,” I said. “Move when I move. We just have to make it to the boat.”

And pray to God they weren’t late. If they didn’t show up in two minutes, then Lauren and I would be walking into a dead end.

I pulled her against me, one arm around her waist, grasping the uninjured side, the other holding the Glock to her head. My hand trembled slightly before I forced it steady.

“We’re coming out!” I shouted. “I’ve got the woman! Anyone shoots, she dies!”

I kicked the door open and emerged, keeping Lauren’s body between me and the weapons pointed our way. The dock stretched behind us, dark water beyond.

Every instinct I’d developed over years of combat screamed against this position.

Using her as a shield violated everything I’d been trained to do—protect civilians, never endanger them.

The Glock pressed to her temple felt like it weighed fifty pounds.

My hand wanted to shake, to pull away, to point the weapon anywhere but at this woman I’d sworn to protect.

“Ahh…” Mateo stood beside the lead SUV, his white linen suit unmarked by the destruction around us. “So, not a friend . He’s been keeping you from me?”

“Back up,” I commanded, beginning our slow retreat toward the pier. “Everyone stays where they are, or she gets a bullet.”

The words burned my throat. Using Lauren’s body to block sight lines from twenty armed men made my skin crawl. I could feel her heartbeat where my arm wrapped around her waist—too fast, but steady. Trusting me even as I held death to her head.

“Help me,” Lauren called out, her voice pitched perfectly between fear and hope. “Please, Mateo. He kidnapped me from the clinic. I…I wanted to come to you, but he wouldn’t let me.”

I felt her performance hit Mateo exactly where she’d aimed—his ego. His chest puffed slightly, that smile growing more satisfied. Of course, she’d wanted him. Of course, this was all a misunderstanding that could be fixed once the soldier was dealt with.

Mateo smiled, following at a leisurely pace, his men spreading in a semicircle. “Why would you kill such a fine specimen of a woman? Leave her with me unharmed, and you can go.”

“Right.” I kept us moving backward, boots finding the pier’s warped planking. “Because you’re so trustworthy.”

“I’m a man of my word.” His smile widened. “Besides, what I have planned for her requires her very much alive.”

Lauren shuddered at his words, but we kept moving backward on the pier.