“My office is through here.” He opened doublewide doors that led into a large room.
“This is at the back of the house, right?” she asked, because if Logan and Seth needed to get to her quickly, she wanted them to know where to look.
“Yes. Why?”
“I was just thinking it must be a nice quiet place to work because it’s away from the street. Most of the houses I decorate have the offices in the front.” She was babbling, and that was going to get her into trouble if she wasn’t careful.
“It’s a quiet neighborhood, so there isn’t a lot of noise from the street. I do have a nice view of the yard, though, and access to the back deck. I like to work out there sometimes. Go ahead and sit down. Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee?”
“No. Thanks.” She settled onto the edge of a high-backed leather chair, and he took a seat across from her.
“You’ve really gotten yourself into a mess, Laney. You know that, don’t you?”
“That’s why I’m here. I didn’t know who else to turn to.”
“I’m not a criminal lawyer, but I’ll do what I can to help you. Your father was my client, after all.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“Logan was staying at my parents’ place. I didn’t know it until I arrived. I didn’t kick him out. I couldn’t.” The truth was so easy, and she could tell that Chris was eating it up. He leaned toward her, his eyes hard hazel pebbles.
“He was there when I visited?”
“Yes.”
“And when the sheriff stopped by?”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t going to look good for you, Laney.”
“I know. The problem is, I always looked up to Logan when I was a kid. I thought he was some kind of hero when he helped me leave town. When he showed up in my life again, I wanted to help him.” Truth, truth and more truth.
“I can understand that.”
“Logan planned to leave because he didn’t want me to get into trouble with the police, but a guy broke into my house and attacked me. The next thing I knew, I was driving across the state with a bunch of people I didn’t know, and Logan was telling me that it was the only way to stay safe. Now, I think that he just wanted to make sure that I didn’t tell the police anything before he had a chance to escape.” Lie! Her face felt flushed with it, but Chris just leaned in closer.
“He left you in Seattle, right?”
“I didn’t even have a dollar on me.”
“Sounds like the kind of guy Logan is.”
“What do you mean?” Was it really going to be this easy? Was he really going to fall right into the plan and start confessing his hatred of Logan and his desire for revenge?
“Logan Randal is liar and a thief, Laney. If the crimes he was convicted of aren’t enough to convince you of that, take a look at his juvenile record. They clearly show a kid who was heading for trouble. He hit Green Bluff, and he found it.”
“He was a straight-A student and worked two jobs. He volunteered as a Special Olympics coach and helped kids train in track and field. How is that finding trouble?” She jumped to Logan’s defense without thought, and Chris scowled.
“Every word he said about your mother was a lie. He set her up and hoped she’d go to prison and rot. If you ask me, when he went to jail, he was finally getting his just deserts.”
“You’re probably right.”
“There is no probably about it. I know that you and your mother had your differences, but she’s a good woman who has had a tough life. She suffered a lot of loss, and losing her freedom was just one more cross she had to bear.” His words sounded so much like something Mildred would say that Laney stood, pacing to French doors that looked out over the dark yard. She couldn’t look in Chris’s eyes. She didn’t even want to look into his face, afraid that if she did, she’d let the truth spill out—tell him just how wrong he was, just how used he’d been.
A shadow swayed near a tall pine tree, the movement making Laney’s heart jump.
Logan, her heart whispered. She wanted to reach through the cold glass and grab hold of his strong and comforting hand.
It was a silly notion, but she could almost feel the warmth of his calloused palm. She had to do this. She had to convince Christopher that she wanted Logan punished as much as he did. It was the only way to save the man who’d once saved her.
“You’re right,” she said. “When Logan went after my family, I was young and naive. I wanted to believe in knights in shining armor. I’m way past that stage. I know there are no real heroes.” That was not part of the script, but she knew Chris bought it. She could feel him looming over her, coming in close. His arm dropped around her shoulder, and it was all she could do not to jerk away.
“I’m glad you’ve finally seen the light, Laney. It’s too bad it’s too late.” His words were ice water in her veins, and she jerked back and looked into his empty eyes.
“Too late? I thought you said you were going to try to help me.”
“I am. But probably not in the way you’d hoped.” His eyes were feverishly bright, and she stepped back, her body rigid with fear.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to make sure you never have to worry about Logan again.”
He lunged, pulling something from his robe pocket and shoving it against her neck.
She felt a moment of stark terror and then she felt nothing at all.
TWENTY-TWO
“We’ve lost contact.” Taryn’s terse words drifted through Logan’s radio.
He didn’t wait to hear more. He just ran toward the house. Seth met him halfway across the yard, gun already in hand, his face set and hard.
“Front or back?” he barked.
“Go in the French doors. I’ll go around the front.” Logan swerved around the side of the house, his blood running cold as an engine roared to life. Headlights splashed on Banks’s driveway, and a dark sedan pulled out of the garage. Slow and easy, like the driver had all the time in the world.
Logan pulled his gun and aimed for the sedan’s tires. One shot, and the car swerved but didn’t stop.
The driver stepped on the gas, pushing the sedan to its limit.
“He’s in a dark blue sedan heading east on Baker. I shot out one of his tires, but he’s not slowing down,” Logan shouted into his radio, running out onto the road and firing another shot. The neighbor’s lights went on and a dog barked, but he didn’t care.
There was no response from Taryn, and Logan wanted to shout into the radio again.
Footsteps pounded on the road behind him, and he turned and met Seth’s eyes. “He’s got her.”
“Good thing our ride is here then.” Seth gestured to the truck that was squealing around the corner. Taryn braked a few feet away, and Logan and Seth jumped in.
“I’ve already called the sheriff’s department and reported the kidnapping. Just so you know, we’re all going down if Banks gets away. I used your name to get people moving, and I think the sheriff’s department is more concerned with catching you than they are with finding Laney.”
“I don’t care what they’re concerned about as long as they get here quickly.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.” Taryn stepped on the gas, and the truck raced along the dark road, flying up a hill and around a curve in the road. Up ahead, brake lights glowed and disappeared.
“He turned off,” Stan muttered. “Anyone know where that road leads?”
“Spokane Mountain Park,” Logan responded.
“Plenty of places to hide a body, I bet,” Seth growled.
“She’s not a body yet. The mike is still picking up signals, and I’m pretty sure I he
ard Laney mumble something,” Taryn said.
Thank you, God.
All they had to do was get to her, make sure that she stayed alive.
The truck shimmied to the left, nearly bouncing off the road and into a ravine as Taryn turned onto the park road.
“Watch what you’re doing, kid. We lose our ride, and we lose Laney,” Stan snapped, his head bent close to the window, one hand clutching the door handle, the other pressing a cell phone close to his ear. “Anyone have an address? The 911 operator wants to know.”
Logan rattled it off, his body humming with the need for action, his eyes glued to the distant taillights. There. Then gone.
“Pull over,” he ordered.
“What?” Taryn eased off the gas, but she didn’t stop.
“He’s either decided to stop or he’s broken an axle and had to. If he sees us coming, there’s no telling what he’ll do. So, pull over.”
Taryn braked hard, turned off the engine and cut the lights. In the sudden silence, Logan could hear the faint sound of pursuit. Sirens but not close enough to save Laney.
He jumped out of the truck, cold wind biting through his jacket as he started up the steep hill. Snowflakes fell from the steel-gray sky, landing on his face and sliding down into his collar. For a moment, he was back on the mountain, running from the wrecked police cruiser, chains on his wrists. He hadn’t known where he was running to. Now he realized that he’d been running back home, to the place where he’d built his dreams then lost them. Now, maybe, he could find them again.
Had found them again. In Laney’s eyes. In her arms. In the sweet feel of her body pressed to his.
Seth grabbed his arm and dragged him to the side of the road. “You can’t go running in there half-cocked. You’ll get yourself and Laney killed.”
“If we don’t hurry, she will be killed.” He shrugged away, keeping to the shadowy edges of the road, letting the darkness hide him as he ran through the thickening snow.
Please, God. Don’t let me fail again. Please.
The prayer burst from the depth of his soul, echoing in the stillness.
Up ahead, the dark sedan sat abandoned in the middle of the road. Lights off, driver’s door open. Banks had to be somewhere, but Logan was more worried about finding Laney.
“Check the trunk. I’ll see if I can figure out which direction Banks headed. We’d both better hurry because from the sound of those sirens, I’d say we’ll be in handcuffs in about ten minutes.” Seth went to the front of the car and flashed a light on the ground while Logan popped the trunk. He looked inside, hope and dread filling him.
Nothing but a dark splotch on the pristine interior.
He frowned, leaning close. Blood. He knew what it looked like, the scent. He also knew it had to be from Laney, and his stomach heaved, every nightmare he’d ever had about failing her filling his head.
“Footprints over here,” Seth called, the sound of sirens growing louder.
Logan followed the glow of Seth’s light across the narrow road and into deep foliage. Pine trees pressed in on every side, and the ground was littered with dried needles and a thin layer of new snow. He crouched near Seth’s flashlight beam, studying the earth, his eyes tracking what looked to be footprints.
“He’s heading up the mountain,” he muttered, more to himself than to Seth.
“And he’s carrying Laney. He couldn’t have gotten too far.” Seth moved away, silent despite his big frame.
Logan eased through the woods behind him, stepping over fallen trees as they worked their way farther up a steep incline. Seth was right. Banks would be limited to how far he could go with Laney in his arms or tossed over his shoulder.
“There’s a scenic overlook a half mile from here.” Logan had been there many times with Amanda and even more times after her death. The view was breathtaking, the panorama of the valley floor reminding him of the immensity of God.
He needed that reminder now.
He needed to believe that God was holding Laney’s life in His hands.
“You think that’s where he’s heading?”
“If I wanted to dispose of a body, that’s where I’d go.” He said what he was thinking because hiding the truth from Seth or from himself wouldn’t help Laney.
“You lead the way then.” Seth stepped to the side, and Logan jogged ahead. The trees opened up as they neared the thirty-foot cliff.
A branch cracked to the left, and he froze, his heart jumping. It could be a deer or an elk. There were plenty of them in the woods, but the hair on his arms stood on end, his body going still and taut as another branch cracked.
He tensed, staring hard into the darkness.
A shadow weaved through the trees, heading down the mountain. One person. Not two. Tall and muscular. A man. Not a woman. Banks?
It had to be.
Logan stayed hidden by trees as he stalked the figure. Another few feet and he’d be close enough to lunge. Another foot.
Now!
He threw himself forward, slamming into a solid mass, the soft huff of someone’s breath spilling out and filling the air. A fist cuffed his jaw, the contact barely enough to register.
“Cool it!” He grabbed his opponent’s arm, dragging it up and back.
“Get off!” Banks bucked hard.
“Where’s Laney?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Where is she?” Logan upped the pressure on Banks’s arms, and the guy bucked again. “Keep moving, and your arm will snap.”
“Snap my arm, and that’ll be just one more charge added to the list of the ones stacked against you,” Banks bit out.
“Where is she?”
Banks didn’t respond, but he didn’t move either. Obviously, the pressure on his arm was enough to keep him still. It didn’t seem to be enough to get him talking, though.
Stalemate, and Laney was somewhere out in the snow.
“Leave him. We have better things to do with our time, and if we don’t get to doing it, we’ll be sitting in the back of a police cruiser instead of looking for Laney,” Seth said.
“Let’s take him along.” Logan dragged Banks to his feet, keeping the attorney’s arm at an angle designed for maximum pain.
A dog howled, the sound chilling.
K-9 unit already on the scent.
The cavalry rushing to the rescue.
Too bad it was probably rushing to save Banks.
* * *
A dog’s howl pulled Laney from blackness into the frigid gray night. She blinked snowflakes from her lashes, her breath a white cloud in the darkness. Cold seeped through her coat and jeans and bored its way into her bones.
She had to move or she’d freeze.
She pushed against pine needles and snow, her body protesting as she sat. Trees. Everywhere. She stood on wobbly legs, her heart beating erratically. Her neck throbbed, and she pressed her hand to it. Raised welts and hot skin.
Chris!
Had he used a TASER on her?
Was he still around?
She took a step, pain shooting through her head and down her neck, something wet and warm dripping into the collar of her coat. She touched it, then brought her hands away coated with slick blood. Had she hit her head when she’d fallen? Or had Chris knocked her out?
She couldn’t remember and didn’t think that it mattered. Not as much as getting...
Where?
She turned in a circle.
Trees. Trees. More trees.
She felt dizzy from them.
The dog howled again, and a man called out, the voice distant but clear.
“Hello!” She tried to shout above the throb of her pulse, but her voice seemed swallowed up by the trees and the sky and the snow.
She took a step, her body swaying, a wave of nausea stealing her breath. She doubled over, wanted to sit and close her eyes. Rest against a tree trunk for just a few minutes.
Move! Her sluggish brain commanded.
She took another step, her ankle twisting as her foot landed on something hard and smooth. She tumbled forward, her balance gone, blood still oozing down the back of her neck. She lay where she’d fallen, pine needles beneath her cheek and under her hand, snow falling harder. If she lay there long enough, she’d be covered with it. A warm blanket against the chill.
Get up! It was Logan’s voice this time, commanding and insistent, and she scrambled to her feet again, nearly slipping on whatever had tripped her the first time. She lifted it, fingering the smooth squarish box.
The TASER.
She clutched it in her fist as she stumbled forward, following the sound of voices, her stomach heaving, pain a white hot light behind her eyes.
Just keep moving forward, Laney. You’re almost there.
William this time, his voice echoing from the past.
She stumbled, her stomach twisting.
She couldn’t go another step.
Not one.
A dog barked, the sound so close she would have screamed if she could have, but there was nothing but emptiness inside. No fear. No pain. She knelt on cold wet ground, one hand against a tree trunk, the other clutching the TASER.
Get up!
She didn’t know the voice, but she had to listen. Had to try. She dropped the device into her coat pocket and used both hands to push against the tree. Upright again, voices swirling in her head. Past? Present? Dream?
The dog howled, bursting through the trees in front of her, floppy ears slapping at the ground.
Real?
She reached down to touch its velvety nose, warm fur vibrating beneath her hand.
“Laney Jefferson?” A woman appeared in front of her. Laney wanted to speak, but the words seemed lost in the recesses of her mind.
“I’m Officer Danielle Sharo.” The woman knelt beside her, opened a backpack and pulled a blanket out.
Laney closed her eyes. She opened them again and was lying on the ground, the blanket over her, the dog sitting nearby.
Fugitive Page 18
