by Sophie Oak
“I don’t know. I’m not into pain, man. I don’t know how you survived.”
“A part of me didn’t. Georgia handled it better than me. She’s a tough one, our girl. She figured out early on that the world isn’t perfect, and she didn’t wilt under the pressure. I damn near did, but I won’t anymore. I’ve figured something out about families. If we let them, the people in our lives can get lost. How long have you planned this trip to Bliss?”
Seth knew what he meant. How long had he been plotting to get Logan into a position where he had to come home? “Over six months. If we’re coming clean, then you should know that I did pay for your membership to The Club and I paid all of Leo’s fees, too. I paid for your moms’ anniversary party because I needed an excuse and I helped grease the wheels for Laura’s adoption. I didn’t have to do much. Caleb and Stef have a lot of pull, but I’ve done a bunch of business in China, so I made it work.”
So many plots, so many balls up in the air.
A little smile tugged Logan’s lips up. “You wouldn’t let me stay lost. If I hadn’t come home, I very likely would have hung around in Dallas for a couple of years and we would have gotten involved in our own lives, and we would have drifted apart. Eventually you would have married Georgia, and we would have missed out on something amazing because we let it break down. A friendship is like a marriage. We have to work at it. We have to put energy and love and kindness and, yeah, sometimes we have to pray that there’s a ruthless prick in the relationship with a complete control disorder. I love you, Seth. I know your father told you that makes us queer, but I’m okay with that. I kind of like the hell out of my moms, so if I turned out like them, I would be damn lucky. I love you, Seth. I don’t want to get physical, but you’ve got a big part of my soul and I want to thank you for not letting me get lost again. I want you to understand that I know you’ll get lost in another project, but I’ll let you and when you’re done, me and Georgia will be waiting right there.”
A massive wave of relief rolled across Seth. This was what he needed. He could handle anything as long as he knew they were going to be okay at the end of the day. But he needed one little thing cleared up. “I thought you said she was yours.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “Dude, I was balls deep. She is mine when I’m balls deep and you’re not around. I’m not going to stop in the middle of fucking our girl to say you’re mine except you belong to Seth, too, and we share you in all ways.” He made a totally juvenile vomiting sound.
“God, you’re obnoxious.” But Seth couldn’t help laughing.
“Yeah, well, you’ve known that for about twenty years, so if I’m obnoxious, then you’re dumb as dirt because you’re still here.”
And he always would be. “So you’re taking me up on school?”
“Fuck, yeah,” Logan said with a grin. “And she doesn’t know it yet, but Georgia is, too. She’s got a business degree, but she hates it. She’s going to find her passion if it kills me. I think I already know what mine is.”
Seth stared at him. “I thought you would join me.”
“Not even. Nah. That’s your business and I’ll always help out, but I’m going to do something else. I’m going to follow in some big footsteps because Mel isn’t my only role model.”
There was only one man Logan really looked up to. “You’re going to be a shrink like Leo.”
“I’m going to be a therapist,” Logan corrected. “I’m going to help dumb assholes like me. I’m going to do something good because if I learned that the world could be a bad place, then I also learned that we can make it good again. With hard work and the right people. Maybe I can make something good come out of this. Leo. He’s like Superman. I want to be, too. And I kind of torched my comic book collection. I want it back.”
Seth laughed, all of his tension leaving. “I can handle that. We’ll have fun putting it back together.” He took a long breath. He hadn’t lost. He’d fought and he’d won.
Logan’s phone went off. He looked down. “Damn. Nate. Sorry, man. It’s only for another couple of weeks.” Logan touched his finger to the phone. “Nate? What? Are you fucking kidding me? Is he alive? Where’s Georgia? She was looking for him.”
Seth felt his whole body go on alert. Where was Georgia? She’d been with Logan.
Logan shoved his phone back into his pants. “Win’s been shot. Nate said a tourist found him behind the art gallery, and Caleb and Naomi are working on him right now. They couldn’t wait to get him to Del Norte. A bus is on the way.”
Seth’s head whirled. What the hell? “Bus?”
“Ambulance. They’re going to stabilize him and then Caleb will ride with him and make sure he makes it, but there was no sign of Georgia. I have to go find her.”
Seth heard another low crunch of gravel. He rushed to the window.
“Get back, Seth,” Logan shouted. “You don’t know who that is.”
“It could be Georgia.” He ran to the front door and threw it open just in time to see an SUV he didn’t recognize pulling up to the house. The door opened and a man in dark clothes hopped out. “Fuck. Logan, it’s a bunch of guys with guns.”
He turned around, but Logan was at the back door. “How many?”
“Six, maybe seven.”
Logan’s face was tight with anxiety. “I can’t handle seven on my own. Where’s the gun locker?”
Oh, fuck. They had Georgia. She was small and pale as they hauled her out. This wasn’t about Win’s private detective. No fucking way. These were serious players, and that meant one thing. He kept his mouth tight as he spoke so maybe they wouldn’t see him talking. They had one shot at this. “I don’t have a gun locker yet. You need to get Henry.”
Logan’s mouth closed, his jaw forming a hard line. “Fuck all. They’re here for Henry, aren’t they? They’re here about Henry’s past.”
Seth nodded slightly. He didn’t speak because he didn’t want the Colombian cartel enforcers to know he wasn’t alone in the house. He’d done his homework. Henry had been trying to shut down a cartel before he’d faked his death. It was a cartel that worked with jihadist sects, money that fueled terrorism around the world. They’d found him. Somehow they’d figured out that John Bishop wasn’t dead, and they’d tied him to Seth Stark.
He couldn’t see Logan now. Not even out of the corner of his eye. “Seth, survive. Do you understand me? Don’t give them anything because they will kill you and they will kill Georgia if they have her. Fuck. I understand it all now. I want you alive no matter what they do to you. They can break you both and I swear to god, I’ll put you back together. Do you understand? I won’t let you down. I won’t leave you alone for long. Just long enough to come back here for you.”
Seth didn’t turn back, just let Logan’s words sink in. He felt his eyes widen as Georgia was hauled toward the cabin. They’d shot Win. Her brother might die. They were serious. A man in a suit stepped out of the SUV, his elegant form moving with ease. The gun in his hand was an extension of his arm.
“Hello. You must be Mr. Stark.” The blond man in front of him was cold. So fucking cold, and he had an arm around Georgia. Her blue eyes looked out at him, but he didn’t see weakness there. Hell, no. She was pissed and her will was plain on her face. “We can make this easy or we can make it very difficult. Where is John Bishop?”
Fuck. This was going to hurt. He finally turned, and out of the corner of his eye, he could plainly see that Logan was gone, his big body going out the back door. He was alone and responsible for his and Georgia’s survival. “What’s going on here? Who’s John Bishop?”
A mean-looking dude with a gun in his hand stepped up, bunching his fist. “Jefe?”
The man with a gun against Georgia’s head smirked. “Sí.”
He heard Georgia’s scream before he felt the pain hit his belly. The breath left his body and all of his senses flared in horror.
His agony had just begun.
* * * *
Logan slipped out the back door and
made sure he didn’t make a damn sound as he moved around the house. He had one gun on his body. One gun versus six.
Fuck. This was what Alexei had felt. The brutally painful knowledge that he was outgunned and he needed a distraction. Logan had been the distraction. He’d paid in pain and suffering, and now he was asking Seth to do the same. And potentially Georgia, because there was no way they didn’t have her. Her brother had been shot. She’d been with him. She was in danger, and he was buying time because he finally understood.
Life was worth everything. There was no pain that was worth more than life and love and a future. There was no suffering that a person couldn’t come back from if he had enough love. No situation that good couldn’t bloom from.
He’d suffered and he could choose to find good in it. He’d suffered so he could make the right choices, help people. Even his own. Would he put Seth through hell if it meant they all survived?
Yes. And yes. And yes again.
He would ask them to suffer and survive because life was worth more than pain. More than pride. Life and love were everything.
He heard a low grunt. Seth. God, they’d already started. His county vehicle was to the right. He hadn’t parked up front. They didn’t know he was here. He pulled his cell, dialing Nate’s number. It was only a second before Nate answered.
“He’s still alive, Logan, but I haven’t found your woman, yet. I’ve called in Zane and Max and Rye. Max is moving slow because apparently he slipped a disc, but we’re all looking.”
Logan kept his voice low. “She’s here at our cabin by Nell and Henry’s place, but you got to come in real quiet or we’re all dead. I don’t know who the hell it is who has her, but they’re damn serious, Nate. Seven guys, every one of them carrying semiautomatics. Do not come in here sirens blaring or they’ll kill Seth and Georgia. I’m getting Henry and we’re going to handle it, but you get your ass out here pronto.”
“Henry?” Nate asked. “What the hell is Henry going to do? Protest them? Logan, just hold tight.”
He cut Nate off because he wasn’t going to listen anyway. He’d said what he needed to say. Logan shrank against the cabin, looking out over the yard between their place and Henry’s. If he was smart, the big boss would leave at least one guard, probably two. One at the front and one at the back.
Sure as anything, a thickly muscled man barged out the back door. Logan whipped his body around though his every instinct said to kill now. Killing now would just alert the herd that there was a predator around.
The back guard took up his post at the door and stared at the river, like something would come up from the water or the forest behind it. He yawned as though taking over someone’s house for a little torture was an everyday occurrence. His neck was covered in tattoos. Cartel. Logan would bet the man was either cartel or mob, and there was very little difference in the two these days.
What did they want with Henry? What the fuck had Henry been involved in before he’d come to Bliss?
The guard leaned against the back door and closed his eyes for a moment as though he needed a little nap. Logan would give him a nice long one once he had some backup.
This was his shot. Logan took off, his big body moving quietly. He hit the ground with as little of his weight as possible, keeping everything in the front of his feet, stepping lightly. He sprinted across the yard, expecting to get hit at any moment.
He heard a low shout. Georgia. She was screaming for Seth. God. He was leaving them when they needed him the most.
He had to. If he charged in without backup, they would all die.
Nell and Henry’s cabin was situated slightly up the river bend so their front door faced the side of Seth’s cabin. Logan made his way around the back. It was the most protected place. No one would see him there. His breath was sawing in and out of his chest as he made it to the cabin. The backyard had a small vegetable garden with a view of the river. Two Adirondack chairs were facing the view, but no one was out in the back.
He turned and found the back door. The screen was closed, but the door was open and Logan could hear humming. Nell was in her kitchen, humming as she shoved her hands in a big bowl and started working some dough.
“I’m better,” Nell said. “You worry too much, Henry. It’s perfectly normal. I’m actually quite hungry now.”
“I don’t know. I think you should see Caleb.” Henry was suddenly at the back door, the screen shadowing his face. If Logan thought he was sneaking up on Henry, he’d been very wrong. Logan suddenly got the feeling Henry had known he was coming. Henry put a finger to his lips.
Silence.
Nell’s voice floated through the house. “I just need some rest. Caleb would try to prescribe things, and you know how I feel about big pharmaceutical companies.”
“They’re not so bad,” Henry replied.
Nell was off, her voice rising though she didn’t leave her place. She started talking about all the different ways drug companies hurt patients and consumers, and Henry silently slipped outside.
“What’s going on? I caught you running across the yard with a gun in hand about thirty seconds ago and then that big guy stepped out onto your porch. Have you called Nathan?”
“Yeah, though I think this is your problem, Henry. You tell me something and you tell me now because my partner and my wife are being held by some sort of drug lord. Did you work for them before you came to Bliss?”
Henry went the slightest bit pale. “They’re from a cartel?”
Logan ran a hand across his hair, frustration welling up. He didn’t have time for this. “Well, I don’t mean to stereotype and Nell would have my head for saying it, but when a bunch of gentlemen of South American origin show up in a rolling torture van with a collection of semiautomatics and tattoos that total their kills, I tend to think cartel. I could be wrong. They could be a traveling circus. I don’t give a shit because they’re going to kill my people and I think they’re here for you. So I’m going to ask the question and you’re going to answer. Were you on the payroll?”
There was a short shake of Henry’s head. “No. The cartel was the target. If it’s who I think it is, they were mixed up with a terrorist cell. I was CIA, but then I wasn’t. Damn it. They’re supposed to think I’m dead.”
“They seem to have caught on. Nate’s on his way, but I don’t have time to wait so I need you to get your freak on. You owe Seth.” It had to have been Seth who had helped him, protected his identity. Seth was smart enough to do it, even all those years ago. Logan remembered all the times Seth would shut his computer when Logan walked in the room. He’d hidden Henry’s secrets, even from his best friend. Logan wasn’t mad. That was just who Seth was. He was trustworthy. “You owe him, Henry. And you damn well know it.”
Henry nodded and disappeared back into the cabin. “Hey, baby, Logan’s here. He says there’s a problem with the plumbing. I’m going to go check it out. You knead your bread, okay? I wouldn’t want to ruin it. And I’ll turn up the music. I know you love this aria.”
The sound of an opera filled the house and spilled over into the yard.
“I could come help.” Nell had to yell over the music. Clever Henry, trying to hide the inevitable sounds of death and destruction with wailing opera singers. Actually, Logan thought he might like the sound of gunfire more.
“No, baby. You stay here. It’s just a little wet work. I’ll be back in ten minutes. I love you, Nell.”
Henry slipped back outside and suddenly there was a nasty-looking knife in his hand. It looked like he’d raided the kitchen for his arsenal. While the knife was long and sharp, it wasn’t what Logan had in mind.
“Can’t you get a gun?”
Henry shrugged, the knife held easily in his hand. He stared down at it, a stricken look on his face. “I don’t keep one in the house. I don’t keep one at all anymore, Logan. I am exactly who I say I am. I’m Henry Flanders. I gave all of this shit up a long time ago.”
The truth was right inside Logan�
�s cabin. “It didn’t give you up, Henry.”
Henry’s eyes went cold. Yeah, that was the dude who had first shown up here. Somber. Dangerous. An elegant viper waiting to strike. “How many?”
“At least seven. And they’ve had Georgia and Seth with them for a good five minutes now.”
“They’ll play with them for a little while. They don’t understand this place. They’ll think they’re isolated. As long as they don’t think the police are going to blaze in, they’ll take their time because you soften up a target before you go in for the kill. They want information.”
“I suspect they want you.”
“Logan, I can walk in there and give myself up,” Henry started.
Logan wasn’t about to let him do that. No matter who he’d been before, he was Henry Flanders now. Henry was the guy who’d fixed his ma’s sink and helped work on their roof when it needed fixing. He was the man who winked as he protested and always had candy in his pockets for the kids around town. He was Henry. “They would just kill them quickly and then take you. I was never planning on trading you in, Henry. I just need someone to watch my back. I have to save them, Henry. I’ll die if they do.”
Not until after he’d brutally murdered an entire drug cartel, but then he’d just lie down and fade away until he could be with them again.
Henry’s hand tightened around the knife, and he edged up to the side of the cabin, his face turning slightly away. “The guard they put on the back door is half asleep. I’m going around the back, like I’m walking up the river. You got a knife? Because that gun is going to be too loud. The minute they hear gunfire, they’ll take off. We need them in the house.”
Logan reached down into his boot. Of course he had a knife. It was utilitarian, but it would get the job done. Quiet. He had to keep quiet.
