Fontaine nodded. “Yes, little things, but they were as much help as I could give you at the time. But, you are here now, and we’re together. That’s what matters.” He smiled at his daughter again.
“What matters? I’ll tell you what matters! We are never doing this again. Ever. I’m going to take over the business, and you’re going to retire to take care of yourself. There will be no more secrets.” She heard Logan’s chains rattle, and when she glanced in his direction, she saw a look of something, pain? Hurt? Disappointment? A shadow crossed his face. Then his expression went blank. Completely blank.
Turning back to her father, she took a deep breath. In a calmer voice, she said, “Uh, what is the plan?”
He smiled slightly at her. “All in good time.” She opened her mouth to protest, but her father lifted his chin toward Logan. She turned to look and saw Logan had his eyes closed. “We’re all exhausted, and we have time before anything happens. Let’s rest up a bit. I have some thinking to do.” She narrowed her eyes at her father, but he shook his head slightly. She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to get more comfortable against the wall.
Men. Honestly. They sucked. She fervently wished she didn’t love the two of them so much. Life would be easier that way.
Logan tried to sit still and relax, but his mind kept going back to the statement Lacy had made. He still couldn’t believe she was choosing this life. It was so unsafe, so volatile. What the hell? Her father couldn’t possibly think it was a good idea.
He tried to take a deep breath. Relax. He had to accept her choice. After all, when it came down to it, most people would choose their family over a new romantic entanglement. Except for him. When push came to shove, he had chosen Lacy rather than do the job he was here to do.
He took his eye off the ball for the first time in his life, and look where it got him? He was never going to do that again. He was never going to fall so easily for someone. When he got back to New York, if he got back, he was going to keep his head down and focus on work.
He must have dozed off because he woke with a start. As he looked around wildly, it all came crashing back—where he was, why he was there. He glanced at Lacy, but she had also dozed off. When he switched his gaze to Fontaine, the older man was watching him. And then it hit him, like a lightning bolt, why he had woken up. His brain had knit the pieces together as he slept.
“You have a way out of this, but only for you and Lacy,” he stated, barely above a whisper. “That’s why you wouldn’t tell her your plan.” Logan needed to know the truth. Or, rather, he knew the truth but needed it confirmed. Fontaine nodded.
“I am sorry. I…I didn’t think you would come here with her. Stupid, now that I think about it. A man who stayed through everything you’ve endured wasn’t likely to leave my daughter in a life-threatening situation by herself.” He smiled a little ruefully.
“This contingency plan has been in place a long time.” He took a deep breath. “I have been sitting here wracking my brain for a solution, but there is no way to alter it and guarantee…” he stopped.
“And guarantee that you and Lacy get out safely.” He finished the sentence for Fontaine. “I get it. You can’t risk her life, and if you aren’t with her, she’ll face a world of trouble once she gets out of here.”
And he did get it. Somehow, he was still calm. It was like before in the study—the fear had passed, leaving a calm energy in its place. Now he would be able to think. There would be a way out. There always was. He just had to figure it out. “Tell me your plan, and I’ll share ours with you. Maybe we can come up with something together.”
Fontaine cocked his head. “You are impressive.”
His brows knit together. “I don’t think so. My brothers are impressive. If they were here, they would already have a great escape plan in place, and they’d take down all the bad guys on the way out. Me, I am going by the seat of my pants. Impressive is not the word I would use.”
His voice got tight when he thought of his brothers. He had never before realized how impressive they were. Especially Mitch. He had never given Mitch enough credit. He’d always thought of Mitch as the irresponsible one, the party boy, but if his brother’s work was anything like this, the man deserved to party hard. Mitch had been proving himself with the company, too, by bringing in a steady stream of clients. He just hoped he’d live long enough to tell Mitch how proud he was to be his brother. Gage, too.
He cleared the lump that had suddenly sprung up in his throat. “So, we were planning on taking you to the hospital.” He went on to outline their entire plan while Fontaine listened intently.
Lacy stirred and reached out in her sleep. The rattling of chains—chains!—forced her eyes open. Disoriented, she looked around frantically and then remembered where she was. She glanced wearily at Logan.
“You’re awake. Good. Your father and I were just going over things. I think we have a plan cobbled together.” When she glanced at her father for verification, he nodded.
“I—” he jolted to a halt at a sound on the other side of the door. The heavy wood panel suddenly swung open, admitting Reggie. Logan hopped to his feet, but Reggie immediately set to work undoing Fontaine’s chains.
“Your inside man?” Logan speculated.
Fontaine nodded and smiled.
Soon they were all on their feet. Reggie said, “Voloshyn has been on the phone all afternoon with the Russians. Although they want to rule Ukraine, they are refusing to pay more money. Not enough bang for their buck. Voloshyn spent too much on this whole situation, and now he doesn’t have enough to buy the guns and pay Omar. He’s been drinking the whole time, so he’s getting a bit sloppy. We have to move now before he decides it’s time to torture all of you.” He unlocked Lacy’s chains and made his way to Logan.
Fontaine nodded. “Is everything ready?”
Reggie nodded once. “All is in place.”
“Good, but we have a change of plans.”
Reggie’s expression turned sour. He wasn’t pleased. He finished unlocking Logan’s chains. Armand said, “You need to go with Logan and open the gate for him. He’ll drive the ambulance out. Do you think you can manage that and still get away?”
Reggie hesitated before nodding again but his mouth was set in a firm line. “I’ll set off the sprinklers to cause more of a commotion,” he said. “Should buy me enough time.”
She piped up. “We’re still going in the ambulance?”
“No. You and I are going out through a tunnel. I have scuba gear waiting for us because we’ll be in the water for a bit before we’re picked up.”
Her heart stopped for a beat and then started slamming against her ribs. She and Logan would be separating! She wanted to reach out to him, wanted to beg him not to risk himself, but she couldn’t. She nodded.
Some emotion flickered in his eyes. Fear maybe? Sadness? She wanted to say something, but what was left to say? They had two separate paths to take, and that was just the way it had to be. Besides, he didn’t trust her so what was the point. “Good luck.” She reached out to touch him but stopped herself. Touching him wouldn’t help her walk away. She said a prayer—please keep him safe—and disappeared through the doorway.
Chapter Twenty
He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Lacy, the woman he had fought to protect for days, the woman he’d come to love, had just dismissed him with a quick “good luck.” Seriously?
Fontaine turned to face him. “You go with Reggie. He’ll lead you down to the ambulance and help you get to the gate. After that, you’re on your own.” He reached out and offered his hand. Logan took it and they shook. Fontaine squeezed his hand. “Like I said before, impressive.” And then he let go. “Good luck.”
“You, too,” Logan said, but Fontaine was already gone.
Reggie nodded at Logan. “Look, I knocked out and tied up the guards up here, but there are at least eight more inside the house and an unknown number outside on the grounds. No one here except me is
loyal to Armand. Omar sent everyone else away or possibly killed them. I’m not entirely sure. So, if you get lost or left behind or captured, no one is coming for you. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Logan said. If he didn’t focus, he was dead. There was no backup. Message received.
Reggie led him down the hall and around the corner, down one flight of stairs and down another hallway. It took no time at all for him to be completely and utterly lost. There was no way in hell he could get out of this one on his own, so he held on to the fact that Fontaine clearly trusted Reggie with his life.
The trip through the house confirmed for Logan that he was not cut out for Special Ops. They almost walked into one of Voloshyn’s men, and another stood in a hallway facing away from them when they snuck by. It was too much. His gut ached with adrenaline overload.
They finally came to a stop before the door to the garage. Reggie turned to face him. “The keys for the ambulance should be in the box at the end. They’re clearly marked.”
Reggie handed him a two-way radio. “Here. When I give you the signal, drive out and head down the lane as fast as you can. The ambulance can plow through the garage door, but not the wrought-iron gate protecting the drive. I’ll get the gate open for you, but don’t dawdle. I can’t guarantee how long I can keep it open.”
He turned away and started down the hall. Then, turning back, he said, “It’s your job to be the distraction so Mr. Fontaine and his daughter can get to the tunnel. Make sure you’re a good one.”
“Understood.” He put his hand on the knob of the door and then turned back to ask Reggie where he was going to be, but the man was already gone.
“OK, then.” He opened the door a crack and checked the interior. Seeing no movement, he entered the room and closed the door softly behind him. He was about a quarter of the way along the side of the first car bay. He slid along silently to the end. Now that he was at the corner of the garage, he could truly appreciate its size. It had to be what, eight, nine, no ten bays. A ten-car garage. Of course, it was. The ambulance was third from the end, but the box of keys was at the very end.
Wasting no time, he set off at a trot along the back wall to find the keys, but he quickly came to a halt. “Holy shit!” He was staring at a Bugatti. It was beautiful. He reached out and ran a hand over the rear quarter panel. Stunning. He had passed a couple of Ferraris and a Lambo, but the Bugatti was by far the most spectacular car in the garage. He contemplated using it to make his escape. After all, if he was going to die, he might as well do it in his dream car. Then his practical nature took over, and he started moving again.
Fontaine had said the ambulance was bulletproof, so using it would increase his chances of survival. Plus, he would hate to see the Bugatti riddled with bullet holes. Still. He sighed as he reached the box with the keys. Sometimes he hated his pragmatic side.
It took him a full minute to realize the keys to the ambulance were not in the box. Reggie had failed to mention that all the keys for every vehicle on the estate were in this tiny box, not just the ones in the garage, so it took him precious minutes to realize they were missing.
He trotted back over to the ambulance and looked in. The keys were hanging from the ignition. He tried the door handle, but it was locked. He made a circle of the vehicle, but all the doors were locked.
He was trying to figure out where else the key could be when his walkie-talkie squelched. “Thirty seconds,” someone squawked. Thirty seconds until what? Until go time or until the gate closes? He froze for a second.
“Ah, problem,” he said into the walkie-talkie. Silence greeted him. “Ah, hello?”
“What!” came the hiss from the other end.
“The keys are locked inside the ambulance.” He frantically searched for another set of keys, but there was nothing. The Bugatti was looking better and better.
“Check the front wheel well,” Reggie whispered through the radio. “Ten seconds.”
He searched the wheel well and found the other set of keys. He unlocked the door and jumped into the seat. He started the ambulance, but the engine wouldn’t catch. Cursing, he tried again. This time the ambulance roared to life.
“Now!” Reggie yelled.
Logan hit the gas and crashed through the garage door, bouncing over it on the way out. He started hitting buttons, but he couldn’t make the lights and siren go on. “Fuck!” Finally, he managed to hit the right buttons. The lights lit up the sky and sirens wailed to life. The vehicle went up on two wheels as he took a sharp right. He flew down the driveway. Despite the flashing lights, the road was hard to see. He frantically searched the dash for the headlight, breathing a sigh of relief once he got them turned on.
“You’re going the wrong way!” Reggie voice shrilled through the walkie.
“What?” He couldn’t pick it up to ask the question, but when he looked around frantically, he realized nothing was familiar. “Shit!”
He whipped the wheel of the ambulance, and it swung around in a wide arc. He went over the grass as the first bullet hit the windshield. It was rapidly followed by at least a dozen more. He ducked, bobbing and weaving, every time he heard a bullet hit, not trusting the ambulance was really bulletproof.
He came down hard off an embankment and floored the vehicle back the way he had come. It had never occurred to him to ask which direction to go. Most driveways weren’t miles long!
He drove wildly, weaving back and forth as bullets hit him from all sides. He could see the muzzle flashes of the gunmen as he flew past. There were dozens of them. Swarming like ants. Where the hell were they all coming from?
Suddenly the place lit up like the Fourth of July. He blinked against the afterburn on his retinas to see a huge crater formed in the driveway ahead of him. Logan swerved and almost hit a tree. “Fuck!” There was no way the ambulance was missile-proof. He was driving over the grass when it started pouring. No, not pouring. It was the sprinklers.
“Thank you, Reggie!” But that also meant no more help because Reggie would need to escape, too.
He put his foot all the way to the floor and shot off the grass. The tires screeched as they bit into the pavement. He came around the corner and rocketed toward the gates. Thank God. He wasn’t getting shot at anymore, but he was sure it was only a brief reprieve. Voloshyn’s men were undoubtedly getting in vehicles to chase him. As he neared the iron barrier, he realized the gates were moving away from him. They were closing!
“Fuck!” he screamed as he leaned forward jamming his foot harder against the accelerator but it was already on the floor. Shots started hitting the back again as he raced up on the gates. It was going to be close. Very close. He lined it up as best he could and went for it. He closed his eyes. Then he heard the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass.
Lacy followed her father through the rabbit warren of hallways until they reached an outside door. After checking to make sure it was clear, he gestured for her to go. She ran to the nearest tree and stayed in its shadow. Her father did the same. He pointed to an area covered by bushes. She raised her eyebrow at him. It appeared to be a bunch of A/C units, but her father gestured again, so she shrugged and ran over to the units, pushing through the bushes. Her father joined her seconds later. He led the way through a few more bushes, and she suddenly found herself next to a drain cover.
Her father removed the drain cover and reached in and flicked on a lantern hanging just on the inside of the drain. She could see a ladder.
“Go on. Climb down. I’ll keep watch.”
She nodded and started down the ladder, then waited at the bottom for her father. He had carried down the lantern, which he used to lead the way down the tunnel.
The sound of waves ebbed and flowed in the dimly lit corridor. Water lapped at her feet. The space filled with the tang of sea air and the faint perfume of flowers. After a few more twists and turns with the water level rising, they came to the end of the tunnel.
The tunnel opened onto a group of trees that w
ere on the edge of the sand. The tang of salt and the scent of tropical flowers was overpowering. “Now,” her father said, “there should be…yes. There they are.”
She looked over and saw scuba gear hidden in the undergrowth.
“We’ll use this to swim out. There’s a spot around the point where someone will be waiting to take us to safety,” her father said.
“Are you sure about this, Daddy? Are you sure you can do it?” She had been watching him this whole time, and he didn’t look so good. He was out of breath for sure. And, although it was hard to tell in this light, he looked a bit gray.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before turning to pick up one of the tanks. Then he stopped. He brought the light closer to it and inspected it closely.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Whatever he had been about to say was lost in the sound of nearby gunfire. They both automatically hit the sand. The bursts of gunfire continued, but the sound receded. Logan. Her heart thumped hard in her chest. It was as if the life was being squeezed out of her.
Her father put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed again. They both got to their feet but stayed in a crouched position. “I think the tanks have been tampered with. There are holes in the regulator hoses. We can’t use them.” He studied her face. She tried to remain calm as she considered other options.
“Shit.” She couldn’t believe what she was about to suggest, but she didn’t think there was another choice. “If you can, I think we should still swim for it. It’s a dark night, so it’ll be hard for them to see us in the water.”
Her father nodded and then reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. “You are a brave girl. I am very proud of you.”
She smiled back. “OK, let’s move.”
They crept out of the undergrowth and waited. There was more gunfire now. A lot more. She tried to keep calm and not think about Logan, but it was almost impossible.
Smash and Grab: Action-Packed Thrilling Romantic Suspense (Callahan Security Series Book 2) Page 20
