Angelina jumped from the bed and stepped into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Ignoring the red, swollen eyes that stared back at her, she tied her wild curls into a knot with a rubber band. Now if only the curls were brown again.
Wishing she had the Sig Sauer she had been forced to leave behind when she fled the city, Angelina made her way to the front of the bunker, eyes searching for something she could carry as a weapon. When they settled on Logan, there was no mistaking the tiny smile that played the corner of his lips when she looked up at him.
"I missed you," he whispered next her ear, his breath warm against her skin.
"It's only been ten minutes."
"Felt like a lifetime," Logan whispered again as
his lips brushed her cheek.
Kaiden strode into the kitchen right then. "You all set, cousin?"
Logan straightened up and Angelina studied the stone floor, her cheeks flooded with embarrassment.
Logan released the safety on the gun he held in his hand and nodded. "You bet. Never been more ready for anything."
"Keegan's up in the crow's nest on top of the bunker. Says there are definitely three dudes heading our way circling the cabin. He's got his eye on the one coming up behind us but the others have gotten lost in the trees."
"Did you set up a diversion?"
"Does a bear defecate in the woods?" Kaiden laughed at his own joke and headed down the hall toward the door. "I'm heading up the windmill. You stay here and protect your lady friend."
"I don't need protecting!" Angelina snapped.
Kaiden eyed her, one light eyebrow raised in question.
Quickly backtracking, she apologized. "What I meant was, I want to fight too. That bastard is trying to kill me. Give me a gun, I am a crack shot."
Without another word, Kaiden tossed her a Glock .45 and several loaded clips then disappeared toward the back of the bunker.
"Where is your aunt?" Angelina realized she hadn't seen the other woman in quite some time. She held the weapon up and inspected it. It was heavier
than she was used to but it felt so good to have a gun in her hand again she almost laughed.
"Probably in her foxhole."
"Foxhole?"
Logan grinned. "Yeah, it's a little underground bunker she designed to help her greet unwanted visitors."
"And how does she do that?"
"Usually she shoots at them. Maybe tosses a few explosives into the roadway."
"Seriously?"
Logan laughed as he pushed a stray curl behind her ear. "No. But she would if she had to. She's been itching to try it out."
A loud explosion sounded then, rocking the ground beneath their feet.
"Guess Aunt Clara found some unwanted guests!" Logan called out as he made his way to the front door. Angelina followed, the Glock poised and ready to start shooting the moment Logan opened the front door. Only he didn't open the door. Instead, he touched something with his finger and the wall next to them slid open.
"What on earth?" Angelina stammered even as the sounds of gunfire filled the air.
Logan grabbed her by the arm dragging her into the surprisingly large space and sliding the door closed behind them. A single bulb suspended from the ceiling bathed them in red light.
"What is this place?" Angelina asked as Logan hurried past her.
"A safe room. Look there." He motioned to an opening in the wall where he peered out into the yard.
"A gun turret," Angelina whispered to herself as
she peered out into the courtyard. Bright spotlights flooded the area with fluorescent light. Flashes of gunfire filled the surrounding woods. There was a complete war going on outside. A war waged on her
account by people she didn't know. The whole thing was wrong on so many levels; she was suddenly beyond angry.
Her budding anger was stifled though by the approach of a darkly clothed figure inching its way along the wood line. As the figure turned and aimed up at the windmill, she saw the muzzle flash at almost the time she heard the shout, "I'm hit!"
"Damn it all to hell!" Logan cursed, spitting out a few words Angelina hadn't heard in a good long time. Not since her days on the NYPD.
"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
"One of those bastards got Kaiden. I'm going out there!"
"I'll back you up."
Logan stopped and turned around. "No! Don't go out there. I'll be fine. Stay here so I know you're safe."
"Logan!" she called after him but he was already gone. The door to the safe room was sliding shut. Without thinking, Angelina slipped through the opening just as Logan disappeared into the back of the house. She wouldn't be surprised if the whole mountain was full of underground passages designed to protect the James family from the oft-predicted zombie apocalypse.
There was a lull in the gunfire. Angelina peeked out the small opening in the front door but she saw nothing at first. The air was quiet. Way too quiet. Like
the calm before a tsunami or an F5 tornado.
Off to the right of the bunker she caught sight of slight movement along the tree line. A flash of blue told her it was Logan making his way to his cousin. Across the courtyard, half hidden behind Logan's Jeep,
Angelina saw a dark form. One of the assassins was using the vehicle for cover and had the long, black barrel of his rifle trained on Logan who was now making his way up the rungs of the windmill tower.
Why wasn't Keegan covering him?
Maybe the other man was struck down as well! That meant only she could see the looming figure with the deadly rifle. She had to do something to stop him from shooting Logan off that ladder like a tin can on a fence.
Create a diversion! Whipping the door open she ran toward the Jeep, gun blazing and screaming for all she was worth.
The gunman turned to her, his onyx colored eyes hard with hatred and anger. The last thing she saw was the bright orange glow of muzzle flash as her body slammed backward onto the hard ground.
***
"No! Angelina, don't!" Logan bellowed as he saw the small form dash out from behind the front door.
What the hell is she doing? Why wasn't she in the safe room?
Logan jumped from where he crouched by Kaiden and sprayed the courtyard with bullets but the man who had fired at Angelina was gone.
"You okay, man?" he asked his cousin.
Kaiden was holding his blood soaked shoulder with his other hand, his tanned skin pale.
"I'm good. Go check on your woman."
Logan hesitated for a split second, torn between his cousin and the woman he was falling in love with.
"I'm all right!" Kaiden shouted insistently. "Go! It's a through and through to my shoulder, I'll be fine.
See about Angelina!"
The water tower began to shake. Logan whipped around aiming his rifle down the ladder.
"Whoa there, young cousin! Hold your fire!" It was Keegan. "I'll take care of Kaiden!" he shouted as he pulled up over the ledge and onto the small platform. "Get to your lady friend!"
Logan took the rungs two at a time, dropping to the ground from ten feet up in his hurry to get to Angelina.
Aunt Clara was faster. The woman materialized out of nowhere, crouching at Angelina's side as she frantically punched in numbers on her cell phone.
Angelina's bronze skin had gone pale, her body much too still. He watched for the rise and fall of her chest but saw nothing. Logan felt for a pulse, relieved when he found one, thready and weak, but there.
"Keegan!" Aunt Clara called out. "How's your brother!"
"Alive, ma! We're coming down now!" Keegan yelled back.
"Tell that boy I'm gonna whoop his behind for getting himself shot!"
"You gotta catch me first, Ma!" Kaiden called back, voice weak but solid.
"Come on, Angelina, hang on!" Logan whispered as he tried to locate her wounds and put pressure on them. There were more holes than he had hands. "Don't let Salvatore win!"
"Salvator
e?" Aunt Clara had shut off her phone
and dropped it into her pocket. "Who is Salvatore?"
"What does it matter, Aunt Clara? We need to get Angelina to a hospital!" Panic had set in, and he knew he wasn't thinking clearly. The only thing he
could think of was how much Angelina was bleeding and how desperately he needed to get her help. Reaching down to scoop her up—he would run all the way down the mountain if he had to—it took all his self-control not to strike when his aunt lay a gentle hand on his arm.
"Let her be, boy. There is help on the way."
He reached for her again. "No damned ambulance is going to find us! I need to get her to the main road."
Logan paced around Angelina. His nerves wouldn't let him sit still. He couldn't stop the blood. Couldn't save her, just like he couldn't save his mother.
Clara sat with a towel putting pressure on Angelina's chest and nodded off into the distance. "Who said anything about an ambulance?" The distant chopping sound of helicopter blades made him look up at the sky in the direction his aunt was now pointing.
"A helicopter? Who do you know that owns a helicopter?"
"I know a lot of people. Now, settle down a minute. All that pacing you have taken to is making me dizzy."
Logan slowed, but he didn't stop. Instead he changed direction, heading back toward the house. With every step he monitored Angelina's labored breathing as though his movement kept her lungs rising and falling.
"Now, tell me, Logan. Who is Salvatore?"
"Some mobster in New York City. Angelina
was undercover in the family. He's the one who wants her dead."
Aunt Clara's face went as close to white as her deeply tanned, leathery skin could manage. "Salvatore
Ricci? Please tell me she's not mixed up with the Ricci family."
Logan did stop walking then. "Yeah, why?"
"I've heard of them through some friends. That is one dangerous family. No wonder he has such...talented...employees." Clara motioned to the bodies of the two hit men lying in the courtyard.
The helo was getting closer. Logan could feel the thud of its blades in his chest as adrenaline coursed through his body and pounded in his veins.
"Hang on, Angelina. Help is on the way," he whispered close to her ear. She didn't move but her eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly. Did that mean she heard him?
"Come on, baby, stay with me. I can't live this life without you now that I have found you."
Logan thought he saw her lips move but he couldn't be sure. All he knew was his shirt was soaked in blood, and she was losing it way too quickly.
The helicopter lifted over the tops of the trees. Logan sucked in a breath. Thank God, help was there.
Keegan, with his twin tossed over his shoulder fireman style, was dismounting the last rung of the windmill's ladder. Setting his injured brother on his feet, he assisted him across the courtyard, stopping only to check the two bodies of the intruders for signs of life.
"That Sully flying in, Ma?" Kaiden called out.
"Quickest way I knew to get you and our guest to a proper hospital!"
"I'm fine, Ma. Really. Bullet didn't hit anything
that won't heal."
"Come on, boy, let's get you to the hospital." Clara gathered up her weapons and set them inside the still open front door. "Keegan, get Kaiden up to the
helipad!"
The helicopter settled on top of the bunker as she spoke. Keegan helped his brother while Logan scooped up Angelina and ran to the bird.
Chapter Fifteen
The pungent smell of antiseptic burned her nose making Angelina want to hold her breath. Doing so hurt way too much though. The first thing she noticed was how sore her body was. Every muscle ached leaving her feeling like she had tussled with a bobcat and lost. She opened first one eye and then the other.
"Well, hello there, sleeping beauty."
Turning her head slowly to one side, Angelina bit down hard on her lip against the dizzying sense of vertigo that stirred up the nausea and made her want to vomit. Logan, looking more handsome than she remembered, stood beside the bed smiling down at her. She was absolutely sure she looked like that bobcat had had a good old time but Logan didn't seem to notice.
"Hi," she managed in a dry rasp between her parched lips. "What happened?"
"One of Salvatore's goons got you when you made that crazy dash across the yard after I told you to stay put." His gentle smile softened the reprimand.
"He was going to kill you," Angelina managed before a coughing fit seized her aching chest. Every cough felt like a knife searing through her lungs.
"Careful there, Angelina. You are going to tear your stitches." Logan held a plastic cup of water to her lips. "Here, try drinking some water."
Angelina accepted a drop or two but the water felt like acid going down her throat. "Why does my throat hurt so much?" she croaked.
Logan pulled up a chair and took her cold hand in his larger, warmer one. "The bullet hit you in the lung. There was surgery and you have been on a ventilator for a couple of days."
"Oh." Her eyes closed as she absorbed the news. "A couple of days?"
She felt the warmth of his lips as Logan leaned over the bed and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Yes, nearly three actually. The doctors felt you would heal better if you were asleep so they placed you in a drug induced coma."
"Hmmm....it was that bad?" She didn't open her eyes yet, as much as she wanted to see Logan's face again. The bright lights of the hospital gave her a headache. His hand holding hers was soothing, it was enough for the time being.
"I'm so sorry. It was pretty bad." He reached up with his free hand and brushed her tangled hair back from her forehead. "I was...well, I was pretty worried. I don't know why you didn't stay in the house, you crazy girl. If anything had happened to you..."
"They were going to kill you. I couldn't sit back and watch those goons kill you in front of your aunt and cousins...not when you wouldn't have been in that position if it weren't for me. Everyone I care about already thinks I'm dead. What did I have to lose?"
"Everyone you care about?" Logan whispered.
Angelina didn't answer. She wasn't sure what to
say. With all the craziness of the past few days, how could she be sure that what she and Logan had shared wasn't more than the stress of being, well, under extreme stress? She just lay there, eyes closed, remembering the feel of his lips, the things his touch did to her body. It had all felt so right, how could it not be meant to be?
The room was quiet for so long, Angelina was almost afraid to be the one to break the silence. And then Logan released his hold on her hand and shifted in his chair.
Her eyes flew open as his hand released hers. "Where are you going?" she whispered hoarsely.
Logan sat back down and picked her hand up again. The simple touch felt so right it almost brought tears to her eyes. "I thought you'd fallen asleep. I didn't want to disturb you."
"It will disturb me more if you leave." She tried to squeeze his hand but her strength was less than that of a newborn, it seemed.
"Then I'll stay."
"Good," she rasped. "Does Salvatore think I'm dead?"
"My lieutenant called in a few contacts in New York. Word on the street is you are deader than a doornail and the last assassin is bragging it up all over town."
"Good. Maybe I can just get back to living my life then."
Logan looked away. Something was wrong. Angelina could feel it. Something was very wrong. "What else did I miss, Logan?"
"L.T. also put out some feelers with the witness protection regional office."
"Where Jack works."
"Turns out Jack Mulholland is under investigation. He received a large sum of money in his bank account not long ago. And it wasn't the first."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that he's dirty. Most likely he sells out his charges to the highest bidder. At least three of his other witnesses have gon
e missing or wound up dead in the last three years."
"That son of a bitch!" Angelina croaked out, struggling to sit up. Agonizing pain in her left lung dropped her like yesterday's mail against the stiff hospital bed.
"Relax, Angelina. If he got paid, then everyone thinks you are dead. This is a good thing."
She did relax a little. What Logan said made sense. "Let them think I'm gone. I'll disappear for real this time. I'm a pro at undercover."
"I was thinking about that. If the Riccis think you are dead, and Jack's celebrating with fifty thousand dollars, then couldn't you just stay on here? It's the last place anyone would look for a dead woman. We could do it up big, a real fancy funeral and everything." There was a glimmer of hope in Logan's eyes that brought a tear to her eye. In the short time before the shootout, she had felt such a strong attraction to Logan. The warmth traveling through her veins originating from his touch said she still did. But danger and fear can do that—make people feel things they wouldn't normally feel under everyday circumstances.
This would be her one and only opportunity to disappear again. Maybe she would head to Mexico.
Make sure no one ever heard the name Lucy Taylor—or Angelia Ferrara—ever again.
"I'm not sure I can, Logan. This is Jack's territory. He will shoot me point blank if he finds out I am alive. If he doesn't, the Riccis will kill him."
"Don't worry about Mulholland," Logan replied gruffly, his grip on her hand tightening some. "That bastard won't stand a chance against my boss. Lieutenant George is a wild pit bull when it comes to dirty cops."
What surprised her most is how much she suddenly wanted to stay. From the day Jack Mulholland dropped her off at her rented home, Angelina had despised Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains, her job, and everything and everyone around her. She had missed the city, being on the job, and her family terribly over the past months, there was no doubt about that. Maybe she hadn't given her circumstances a fair shake.
Near death by an assassin didn't even seem enough reason not to re-examine her current life, give things another try. As long as that included getting to know handsome lawman Logan James a whole lot better, she could put up with the country life.
Witness Protection (Defenders of Love Book 1) Page 14
