Brett Battles - Every Precious Thing

Every mile her concern increased. When they neared the exit to Williams, she could feel her pulse pounding in her neck and arms. But Logan kept going, driving right by the off-ramp that would have taken him to the cabin where Sara was.

Could it just be a trick? Did he know she was following him, and was trying to throw her off? Having no confidence that the situation was any better than it had been, she stayed with him.

When he exited at Flagstaff, she felt her blood pressure rise again. She had a connection in this town, a connection that could possibly lead in Sara’s direction. She tried to follow him into town, but once more was defeated by her lack of experience and lost him within minutes. Worse, Flagstaff was at least a dozen times bigger than Braden, so he would be much harder to find.

Her only choice was to do a methodical search for his white sedan. At least she’d been able to memorize his license plate number, making her task of spotting his amongst the hundreds of other white sedans marginally less impossible than it could have been.

When she did find the sedan within the first fifteen minutes, she didn’t know if she felt lucky or horrified. It was parked in front of Burrage Copy Box. The very same Copy Box outlet she had used as a mailing address when she worked at the canyon. Oddly, Logan didn’t seem to be around.

Could he have…?

With growing dread, she doused her lights, and turned down the street where her former employer’s offices were located. And there, parked right in front, was the electric blue El Camino.

She pulled to the curb and reached for her phone. She had turned it off after talking to Sara, because she didn’t have any answers, and had no idea what to say. It was a panic move, but now she needed to talk to Sara, tell her she was coming to pick her up tonight. She brought up Sara’s number, but before she could hit SEND, she saw that there were other people on the sidewalk beside Logan and his tough friend.

Four, in fact. Two behind the friend, and two in front of Logan.

Even from a block and a half away, she could see the guns.

What the hell was this?

“Don’t move,” the shorter of the two gunmen said.

He was the one who’d been running after Logan in Braden. The guy standing with him was his buddy who’d tried to cut Logan off at Center Street. Over at the El Camino, Logan could see the other two-the woman and her friend-holding their weapons on Dev.

The speaker stepped behind Logan and searched him, removing Logan’s wallet, keys, and phone. Dev was getting the same treatment.

With a shove in the back toward the truck, the man said, “Let’s go.”

Three feet separated Logan from the gunman in front of him, and three and a half from the one behind. Not the best position, but there were at least four different ways he could take both of them out.

Doable, if he were alone.

While Dev was more than capable of handling the other two, his positioning was not as favorable. The two training their weapons on him could put a bullet in the back of his head before Logan could vanquish his two.

Escape would have to wait for a better opportunity to present itself.

When Logan and his two new buddies reached the others, the man who had searched him handed the wallet and other items to the woman-Dr. Paskota, presumably. She opened the wallet and examined the license, then compared Logan to the picture.

Once she was done, she said, “This way.” She started to turn.

“Whatever you want to talk about, we can do it right here,” Logan said, not moving.

“I’m sure we could, but we won’t. Let’s go.”

The three gunmen had backed off far enough that even with a coordinated effort, Logan and Dev would have been condemning themselves to death if they tried anything. Reluctantly, Logan gave Dev a nod, and they followed the woman to the familiar gray sedan.

Six people in a car designed for no more than five meant a tight squeeze in the backseat. This could have been another opportunity, but the others weren’t fools. The two who got in on either side of Logan and Dev gave their weapons to the guy in the front passenger seat-Frisk-preventing the chance one of their guns could be wrestled away. Frisk swiveled around and leaned against the dash to get a clear view of everyone in back. He made sure Logan and Dev saw the gun in his hand.

“Where are we going?” Logan asked as they drove down the street.

No one answered. He asked again a few minutes later, but received the same response.

Soon Flagstaff was behind them, and they were on a quiet, two-lane road, the forest lining each side. This part of Arizona was decidedly not desert.

For the first several miles, Logan caught glimpses of homes amongst the trees, but it wasn’t long before they dwindled in number and all but disappeared as the road transitioned from asphalt to dirt.

Logan didn’t like the situation at all. If it were just talk the woman wanted, they would have found a quiet spot in town. This was more an end-of-the-line kind of thing. He shared a quick look with Dev, conveying without words that they would make their move at the first chance. Dev blinked once, indicating he understood.

They hadn’t gone far on the dirt road when the woman slowed and carefully scanned ahead. She took the first turn that came up. This new path wasn’t so much a road as the memory of one. They weaved between the trees, going no more than a quarter mile before they stopped.

Leaving the parking lights on and the motor running, Dr. Paskota ordered everyone out.

“Put them over there,” she said, pointing at a spot about fifteen feet in front of the car.

Frisk motioned for Logan and Dev to move.

The tree cover was dense, letting little of the moonlight to filter down. With the exception of the light from the car, everything was in near total darkness.

“When I make my move, head into the woods,” Logan whispered as he and Dev walked in front of their escort.

For a second he wasn’t sure he’d said it loudly enough for Dev to hear, but if he raised his voice, the guy behind them would have noticed.

“Uh-huh,” Dev grunted.

“Right there,” Frisk said.

Logan and Dev stopped.

“Now turn around.”

As they followed instructions, Logan made out the silhouette of the woman leaning against the vehicle. The other two were standing to either side of him.

Frisk took a step back toward the vehicle, but Dr. Paskota said, “No. Move to the side, but stay over there in case they try anything stupid.”

The escort didn’t seem to be too happy about this, but he didn’t protest as he moved several feet to Logan’s left.

“So, Mr. Harper, you want to tell me what you were doing in my motel room?”

“I was curious.”

“About what?”

“Whether it was your room, Dr. Paskota, or Mr. Frisk’s here.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Frisk flinch at the mention of his name.

“I guess we’ve established that you’re resourceful,” she said.

Logan shrugged, but remained quiet.

“You haven’t answered my question,” she said.

Logan smiled. “If you hadn’t been following us, I wouldn’t have been in your room. But since you had, I wondered why. See, I’m looking for someone, and you keeping an eye on us made me think you didn’t want us to do that. The obvious reason is that you know where she is and are trying to hide her. That’s why I was in your room.”

“You mean Diana Stockley.”

Logan shrugged. She knew why. She was working with Diana, after all, but if she wanted to take her time and play games, that was fine with him.

“Or was what you told that real estate agent a lie?” She smiled. “I have a feeling Diana Stockley doesn’t owe you any money.”