The Boys Club (8 page)

Logan tucked his hands behind his
head and stared at the ceiling through the dark. He’d been awake most of the
night, which allowed him to react when Sara stirred in the early hours. Before
she regained consciousness, he administered the sedative in her arm, putting
her right back into a deep sleep.

Despite staying the night in Sara’s room and keeping the
others away, Sara’s safety still concerned him. Not knowing the identity of the
mole rendered him incompetent to protect her. Once she woke, he might be able
to learn more about the leak and find out if she was setting him up. Watching
her throughout the night, he grew more convinced she knew nothing about her
father’s activities, but he wouldn’t know for sure until they swept her for
bugs.

The door opened and Logan sat up. It took a moment for his
eyes to adjust, but he recognized Charlie’s hushed voice. “You hungry?” he
asked.

“Yeah,” Logan said. “What time is it?”

“Just after five.”

“Where are Jack and Les?”

“They went out for a morning run.”

Logan rolled off the mattress and followed Charlie out of
the room.

“Sara’s going to be starving when she wakes up this
afternoon,” Charlie said, as they walked to the kitchen. “I’ll make sure to
have some food ready for her.”

“Good idea.” Logan looked at the spread of food Charlie
prepared for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and pancakes
were laid out across the breakfast bar like a buffet. He loaded up a plate,
filled a mug with coffee, and went to the kitchen table.

Charlie sat in a chair across from him with his own plate of
food. “You look exhausted. Did you sleep at all?”

“Not much.”

“I’m not trying to question your judgment, but why are you
staying in her room? I thought we were taking shifts watching her?”

Had the question come from anyone else, Logan would have
thought it was a clue that the person was the leak. Charlie’s soft demeanor, however,
told Logan that his question was more curiosity than anything. He’d been up
half the night bouncing around the idea of getting Charlie’s help with the
leak. Normally he would have gone with Jack, but his gut said that Charlie was
the man for the job.

Instead of answering Charlie’s question, he said, “I need
your help later with Sara.”

“I’m already talking to her about her father and the hit.”

“No, not that.” Logan took a small sip of coffee. “We need
to check her for bugs or wires.”

“Why do we have to do that?”

“Schaffer and I think there’s a leak.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “A leak? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but we received too much intel on this job.
My last job didn’t go so well, either. I think that Sara is either here because
Langston sent her to infiltrate us or someone wants her out in the open to kill
her and get to me at the same time.”

“I couldn’t imagine anyone helping Langston. There’s not one
person working with us that would want to help him get to you. Everyone knows what
happened with Karen. Who in the hell could be involved in that?”

“I don’t want to think about it either, but it’s a strong
possibility. Don’t say anything to the others. The only reason I told you is I
know you’re not him and you can help me calm Sara down enough to check her.”

Charlie picked up a slice of toast and tore off the crust.
“She’s not going to be very cooperative if you’re manually checking her for
bugs.”

Logan had thought about that most of the night, too. “I
know, but we have to do it, as much as I don’t want to. It’s bad enough we
kidnapped her.”

“You’re right, though. We can’t take a chance in case she’s
wired. We should have searched her already.”

“Not while she’s sleeping,” Logan said, “and not against her
will, if we can help it. I don’t want to upset her more than we already have.”

“I am not looking forward to this afternoon,” Charlie said,
stuffing half the piece of toast in his mouth.

“You and me both.”

Sara groaned as she woke, having
been in the middle of a nightmare. She reached out to the other side of the
bed, but didn’t find Stephen next to her. Her stomach growled like a fierce
lion, and she hoped Stephen had the cook prepare breakfast. She couldn’t
remember ever being so hungry. Wondering where Stephen had gone, she
tentatively opened her eyes and looked around her bedroom.

Except it wasn’t her bedroom.

She shot up in bed and clutched a blanket to her chest.
After scanning the unfamiliar room, she lowered the blanket away from her body
and saw she still had on the same dress she wore to the wedding planner’s
office, minus her high heels. Memories trickled in: being picked up by the
attractive driver, joking around with Mary, an accident, a man with a blurry
face drugging her while the driver watched.

“Where the hell am I?” she whispered into the empty room.
Her chest heaved with frantic breaths and she coaxed herself to calm down. She
had to think clearly if she hoped to get away.

Climbing out of bed, she first noticed the boarded up
window. The only furniture in the room consisted of two mattresses and the box
spring under her mattress. There seemed to be nothing she could use in the room
as a weapon against whoever took her. She tried the doorknob on the only door
in the room, but the lock held it shut.

In the bathroom, she realized that all potential weapons had
been removed as well. She turned her attention to the mirror. She looked like
hell, but she didn’t care much about her appearance. On the sink counter, a
bath towel and wash cloth called to her. She shut the bathroom door, careful
not to make a sound. Picking up the bath towel, she arranged it so the material
was doubled in half, and held it over the mirror. She took a deep breath and
smashed her fist into the mirror. The sound of a slight crack came from behind
the towel. She turned her body and used her elbow to finish the job.

Once the mirror broke, she brought the towel down
perpendicular to the mirror, curving it up to catch the broken glass. She
sifted through the shards, careful not to cut herself, and found one that would
work. With the washcloth, she lifted the jagged shard and enclosed her hand
around it. Opening her hand, she was happy to see that the glass had not cut
her through the thick cotton.

Sara left the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She
didn’t want her assailant to see the broken mirror and know she had a weapon
before she had a chance to use it. She climbed back into bed and covered
herself up with the blanket, concealing the glass.

Not a minute later, the door to her room creaked open. Sara
lay very still in bed, keeping her breathing deep to feign sleep. Footsteps
neared her bed and her heart raced out of control. Someone bent over her and
she lashed out with the shard of glass. Her arm caught on the corner of the
comforter, but she managed to cut into a forearm.

The man, who she recognized through the shadows as the
driver, stepped back and she jumped out of bed, holding the glass with both
hands like a sword. “Stay away from me,” she said.

He held up both hands in a surrender stance, blood dripping
down his arm and onto the floor. “Sara, put it down. I don’t want you to get
hurt.”

She let out an exasperated laugh. “I am not putting it down.
You’re going to show me how to get out of here and let me go.”

The man watched her for a moment and then turned his head
toward the open door. “Charlie! Get in here!” Looking back at Sara, he said,
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you leave. It’s for your own safety that you stay
here with us.”

She flinched. What did that mean? He was the one holding her
hostage, him and someone named Charlie. If anything, her safety depended on her
escaping.

“I’m getting out of here right now!” She jabbed the glass
toward him as a threat.

A smaller man, presumably Charlie, walked in and flipped on
the overhead light. After assessing the situation, he said, “Oh, Sara, you have
to put that down. This won’t help you at all.”

Her eyes darted back and forth between the two men. “I’m not
putting anything down until I get out of here.”

Charlie took several steps forward and she swung the shard
at him. Before she could react, the driver raced to her and scooped her up from
behind, lifting her inches off the ground. He applied pressure to her wrist and
palm, until it became too much. The piece of glass and washcloth tumbled out of
her hand. Not knowing what else to do, she flailed in his arms, kicking her
heels at his legs while she screamed for help.

“Get the syringes.” The driver struggled to get the words out,
as she continued fighting as hard as she could. “We have to put her out again.”

“Not yet,” Charlie said. “Sara, calm down. I don’t want to
drug you, but I will have to if you don’t calm down.”

Sara slowed her pointless resistance. The man that held her
was much too large to defeat and fighting only left her exhausted.

“That’s better,” Charlie said. “Logan’s going to set you
down now. I want you to sit still on the bed while I explain some things to
you.”

The driver, Logan, lowered her to the floor, next to the
bed. He removed his arms from around her and helped her sit down on the
mattress.

“Thank you, Logan. Can you bring me a chair?”

Logan left the room and Charlie turned toward her. “Sara,
there’s a lot of things we need to talk about and most of it will be very
difficult for you to hear. But you have to start out by trusting us.”

Sara rubbed at her damp eyes, but couldn’t stop the tears
from tumbling down her cheeks. “You kidnapped me. Why would I trust you?”

“Because you don’t want to die. You have a lot of fight in
you, which tells me you want to live. We also don’t want you to die, nor do we
want to hurt you. We kidnapped you to save your life.”

Logan came back into the room with a chair and set it down
so it faced her. Charlie thanked him again and sat down.

“Can you tell him to go away?” Sara asked Charlie. Logan’s
ability to handle her so easily frightened her. She didn’t want him to do that
again if she did or said something wrong

Charlie shook his head. “Logan is in charge and he’s going
to have to stay.”

Sara glanced at Logan, who leaned against the wall behind
Charlie with his arms crossed. The idea that he was in charge surprised her.
She had thought of him as the muscle and Charlie the brain.

“Sara,” Logan said, “no one here is going to hurt you, least
of all me. But I need you to listen to what Charlie has to say.”

She turned her eyes back to Charlie. Though Logan’s calm
voice assured her, he had still been the one to kidnap her and Mary. The
thought of her friend made Sara worry for her safety. “Where’s Mary?”

“Mary’s fine,” Charlie said with a warm smile. “She’s with
another team and she will be returned to her home in a couple days.”

“Team? How many others are here besides you two?”

“There are four of us total and we’re all dedicated to keeping
you safe.”

Sara’s face scrunched up at his words and the tears came
again. “I don’t understand what you mean. You kidnapped me. How is that keeping
me safe?” Another thought rushed into her head. “What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday,” Logan said.

“Saturday?” Sara drew in shallow breaths and her mind raced.
“I’m supposed to get married today!”

“Your wedding was scheduled to start about a half hour ago,”
Charlie said. “It was put on hold due to your disappearance.”

She couldn’t control her rapid breathing, as she thought
about the wedding being placed on hold, wondering what Stephen and her father
must be going through with her kidnapping. Did they know she had been kidnapped
or did they think she had run out on the wedding? She hoped these men had
already made a ransom demand and the money would change hands soon. If not,
surely Stephen and her father were searching for her and would find her very
soon.

“It’s a good thing that you missed your wedding,” Logan
said. “You don’t want to marry Stephen Mathers. Trust me.”

“What Logan is saying,” Charlie said, “is that marrying
Mathers isn’t the right thing for you to do.”

“I don’t understand,” she said between shallow breaths. “You
kidnapped me to stop me from marrying Stephen?”

“No, Sara.” Charlie placed his hand on her arm. “You need to
slow down your breathing, please.”

Sara’s chest tightened and she tried to take more breaths to
get oxygen into her lungs. She lifted her hand to her chest and closed her
eyes, but only heard the familiar wheezing that came with an asthma attack.

“Logan,” Charlie said.

Sara looked at Logan, who left the room without a word.

Charlie brought his chair closer to the bed and took her
arms. “Slow your breathing, Sara. Try to calm down.”

Sara watched his dark eyes and listened to his words, but
couldn’t stop gasping for air. She felt as if she were drowning as her airways
constricted. “I need… I need…”

“I know,” Charlie said. “Logan’s getting it.”

A moment later, Logan came back into the room with a
nebulizer and a small bag. He handed the nebulizer to Charlie, who prepared a
treatment. Logan dumped out the bag next to her on the bed. Several inhalers
fell onto the blanket and Sara quickly sorted through them until she found a
rescue inhaler. She struggled with getting the cap off, and Logan took it from
her hands to help. He handed it back to her and she took two puffs.

Her breathing calmed down just enough for a bit of air to
flow through her lungs. Charlie turned on the nebulizer and handed her the
mouthpiece. She wrapped her lips around it and breathed in as much of the
medication as she could. She coughed several times with the first few inhales,
but her breathing improved. After a minute, she was able to take deeper
breaths, allowing the medication to open her airways.

Logan, whose eyes had never left her, turned to Charlie and
lifted his arm. Blood had dried on his arm, dripping down from where she cut
him. “I’m going to clean this up. I’ll be right back.”

Sara turned her head and watched him walk into her bathroom.
He stood in front of the sink, and his blue eyes caught hers in the broken
mirror. She spun back around to face Charlie, almost embarrassed that Logan
caught her watching him, the same way she had in the car yesterday. As she
stared into Charlie’s caring eyes, considering their words that they were
saving her life by taking her, she realized these were no ordinary kidnappers.