Robin Perini - Christmas Conspiracy

Logan turned the SUV north on a secondary road, leaving the heavy Houston area traffic behind. Despite frequent mirror checks, he became increasingly edgy.

After a few miles of silence, his knuckles had turned white. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?” he asked. “I could have been here to help you before this. I could have protected the twins and you.”

“Don’t put that on me, Logan,” she whispered, the past hurt peeling away at her heart. “ You sent me away.”

He shook his head. “That’s not the way I remember it. You left a note at the hotel! A damn note—” Logan looked over his shoulder at the kids.

Lanie stared back, her eyes bright with tears.

He lowered his voice. “A note that said nothing. You vanished, Kat. I tried to find you. I tracked down where you used to live. You’d quit your job, left your apartment. You went into hiding. What was I supposed to think? Please, Logan, keep looking for me? ”

Lanie reacted to the tension in the car and whimpered, her bottom lip quivering.

Kat glanced back at their children. “Logan, please, we can’t do this now.”

“You’re right,” he said, staring into the rearview mirror. “We have company.”

“What?” She whipped around. A large SUV barreled up behind them.

Logan sped up, but the other vehicle matched their speed then slammed into the back with a jolt. Hayden and Lanie cried out in fear. Logan held the steering wheel tight and somehow managed to keep them on the road.

Everything in Kat called to comfort her kids, but saving their lives came first. She squinted through the back windshield. “I can’t see who it is,” she said. “Their windows are tinted.”

Her entire body shook with anger. Her children were innocent. She gripped Logan’s arm. “What can I do?”

He looked at her, a flash of approval in his eyes. “A van just cut them off. Switch places with me before they catch up again. I’ll try to take them out from the backseat.”

Logan shoved the center console up so they could maneuver across the bench seat. He scooted from behind the wheel. Kat unhooked her seat belt, scrambled over him and took control.

“Floor it,” he said, lifting his foot from the accelerator. He bent down and pulled a military-looking rifle from beneath the seat. He shoved a clip into it and pocketed a second.

The truck rammed them again. The kids screamed louder.

“Hayden, Lanie, there’s going to be some loud noise and bangs so we’re going to hide. Okay?” Kat said.

Hayden curled over his truck, then looked at his sister. “We playing seek and go hide,” he whispered. Lanie put her thumb in her mouth and curled down like him.

“They’re amazing,” Logan said as he reached over her to flip a switch. The back window rolled down partway while Logan crawled over the second seat and into the back.

Hayden popped his head up to watch his father. “Daddy gots a big gun!”

Kat’s stomach dropped at her son’s curiosity. She struggled to keep the vehicle on the road and maintain her cool—for the kids’ sake.

“Hide, Hayden. Hide for Mommy.”

Hayden rolled up into a small ball. “Daddy ‘tect you, Lanie. Don’t be ascared.”

Kat wanted to hold them in her arms, but she couldn’t. Her gaze swept back to the road and she gasped. She bore down on a slow-moving station wagon and swerved around it. A semi barreled toward them. Her heart lurched and she screeched back into her lane. The truck blared its horn.

“Keep it steady,” Logan yelled over the icy winter wind whistling through the vehicle. “They’re coming up fast.”

Bullets sprayed from his rifle. The kids cried out in terror. Smoke billowed from the engine of the car chasing them and it whirled off the side of the road.

“You did it.” Kat eased her foot off the gas. “We escaped.”

“Temporary reprieve,” Logan said. “Roll up the window.”

He climbed into the backseat. With gentle hands he comforted his screaming children. “You’re okay now. I’m sorry for the bad noise. It’s gone.” He hugged them close and closed his eyes, rocking them until only hiccups and sniffles remained. “It’s okay. Don’t be scared. Daddy’s got you.”

Kat swallowed back a tumult of emotions.

Finally, after a few minutes, Hayden squirmed. “Too much hugging.”

“Sorry, little buddy.”

“I like it,” Lanie said, and buried her face into Logan’s chest.

He kissed their cheeks and adjusted them in the car seats. His jaw tight, he snagged his phone from his pocket and tapped it. “Rafe, I left you a mess on highway 34. Take care of it.”

Logan drummed his fingers on the seat back while he listened to Rafe’s response. “We’re being tracked somehow, and if that wasn’t the king’s men, things are worse. I’m dumping the vehicle. I’ll be in touch when I can. Find the leak that’s making it possible for these people to find us.”

Kat brushed the tears of relief from her eyes and swallowed as this new reality hit her. She met Logan’s gaze as he closed the phone. “Is this latest leak in the king’s camp or yours?”

“I don’t know,” he acknowledged, “but until I find out, we’re on our own.”

PAULINA PEERED OUT the curtain and stared at the black SUV and the terrifying man with the patch over one eye. He hadn’t moved from in front of Katerina’s house. Why was he staying there? La familia was gone with the other man with the gun. So many scary people. She wouldn’t babysit in that house anymore. She was even afraid in her own house now. What if someone learned what she’d done?

Paulina’s hands trembled and she twisted her shawl, unraveling the stitches. A chilling fear had gone through her when the big man warned her of danger and demanded she leave today. She still couldn’t get warm. Maybe she should go to her sister’s house. They wouldn’t follow her across the border. Would they?

She hurried toward her bedroom to pack, but she’d only made it partway when the back door slammed open.

Paulina trembled with fright.

A huge man entered her living room, his face red with anger, blood staining his right shoulder.

“Who are you? Please go. I have no money,” she lied.

“You should. I paid you, but you failed me.”

Paulina gasped. She recognized the voice. The phone call she hadn’t been able to ignore. “But I … I … did what you wanted. You said you would leave me alone.”

“Well, they escaped. And someone has to pay.”

“Please, don’t hurt me.” She glanced at the bloody shirt. “I’ll take care of your wound. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Sorry, but I’ve been shot and the family got away. They will die, and you’re the only one who can tie me to them.”

Paulina backed toward the window, and the giant smiled, his expression evil. He pulled a huge, serrated knife from a leather sheath wrapped around his leg. He slid his thumb along the shiny blade.

Paulina gulped, her heart galloped, skipping beats. Her head swam and she swayed. “Please, no,” she whimpered. “I’ll be silent.”

“Yes,” he said softly and raised the blade. “You will.”

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