Chapter Seventeen
“Wade can’t stay out there forever. We’ll get him.”
That assurance had come from Jason, who clearly wasn’t fond of Logan’s idea to stop playing defense and go after the escaped killer. He’d pulled his friends into the cabin to talk while the kids played outside. Griffin had stayed with Ava and Kaylee to help guard them.
“We haven’t gotten him so far,” Logan argued. “I think I could be more useful in the field than stuck in a safe house which, by the way, we don’t have because Wade knows were we are. He’s going to keep killing and I have to stop him.”
Evan was working to find them another safe house somewhere near but not too close to this one.
“You or us?” Jared asked. “Because I thought we were a team.”
“We are a team,” Logan replied. “I couldn’t do this without you guys, but when it all comes down to it this has turned personal for me.”
Jason blew out a noisy breath. “When I hear you say that I know that we’re in trouble. You have to keep a cool head, my friend, or you’re going to get yourself killed. Or one of us. I got to tell you that I’m not ready to die. I have a lot to live for.”
“So do I and that’s why I can’t let Wade run around free. The longer we go without catching him, the more confident he’s going to get. I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
“It might be,” Jared argued. “It might make him sloppy. He’ll make a mistake and we’ll get him.”
“He hasn’t made any mistakes so far and I’m growing old waiting for it. He’s come after the marshals. It’s only a matter of time before he comes after one of you or maybe my family. He wants to get to me, hurt me before he kills me, and the more he tortures me the better. May I remind you that he was going to slice me up and watch me bleed to death slowly?”
Logan remembered that fucking day as if it were yesterday. Bright, Technicolor memories that would be with him for the rest of his life. Not so much from the danger – Logan hadn’t ever really felt that he was going to die – but the horrifying realization that Wade was the vigilante killer. That had been the awful part.
“We remember,” Jason said grimly. “We know what he’s capable of. I’m just not sure that going after him is the right move. He’s trying to lure you out into the open.”
“He’s doing a good job of it.”
Jared tapped the table to emphasize his point. “Our job is to keep you and your family under wraps and safe.”
Logan shrugged. “Plans change. They need to be fluid. I’m not asking permission here, if that’s what you’re thinking. If I think that the best thing to do is go after Wade, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
He didn’t mention his conversation with Ava and how she’d wanted his friends’ buy-in to the whole scheme.
“You’re a grown man and you don’t need our permission, but you might need our help,” Jason pointed out. “I’m not letting you go after Wade Bryson all alone. I’ll shoot you myself before I let you do that.”
Logan didn’t doubt Jason’s vow and for a moment an image of himself limping around camp because Jason shot him in the leg came to mind.
“I’d still go after Wade.” Logan’s gaze veered over to the man sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the old coffee table. Reed hadn’t said a damn word since they’d come in to talk about this. “What about you, Mitchell? What do you think?”
Taking a drink of his coffee, Reed seemed to consider his words before answering. “I think that Logan is right.”
Stunned silence. Logan was surprised at the vote of confidence and Jared and Jason looked shocked as well.
“Of course, I’m right,” Logan finally replied. “We can’t sit around and wait for Wade to move. We need to do something.”
Reed smiled and raised his hand in a stop motion. “Whoa. I said that I agreed. Up to a point. We do need to do something. Clearly, this isn’t working and you know what they say about the definition of insanity. I don’t want to keep making the same mistake and expecting a different outcome. We need to make a change, but I think we need to think about what that change actually is very fucking carefully.”
It was the closest thing to an endorsement that Logan was going to get. He’d take it.
“So we need a new plan.”
“Yes,” Reed agreed. “And the first thing we need to do is get the women and children out of the way. With them here, we’re constantly worrying about them. Get Evan on the phone and let’s put them on a plane south as soon as possible.”
Logan couldn’t agree more. “That’s what I wanted to do originally but Ava wasn’t going for it. And honestly, I wanted to keep them close.”
“That’s normal,” Jason said. “After all, no one can keep them as safe as their husband and father can, but right now you’re the lightning rod in all of this. They’re better off away from you. But will Ava agree to it?”
“If you all agree, she said she’d go.” Logan turned to Reed. “What about Kaylee? She’ll want to stay with you.”
Logan didn’t know what was going on with his friend’s marriage, but something was definitely wrong. The tension had lessened in the last few days, however, and it might be a task to get Kaylee to leave Reed just when things were getting better.
“She’ll go,” Reed said, his expression determined. “If I have to put her on that plane myself, she’ll go.”
“So we all agree?” Logan looked around at his friends. “A new plan? A new start?”
The three other men nodded, although they didn’t look all that happy. Too bad.
Already Logan felt like a new person. He hated sitting around waiting for Wade.
“We need to get Bryson reacting to us instead of the other way around. He’s not so smart when he doesn’t have time to think things through. We need him making split-second decisions. That’s when he’s going to do something stupid and then we’ll get him.”
Because failure wasn’t an option.
* * * *
Reed placed Kaylee’s suitcase in the back of their vehicle. “Don’t worry. It’s not a long drive to the new safe house Evan found for us.”
The new house was closer to Denver where Ava, Kaylee, and the twins were going to board a plane tomorrow for Florida. They’d discussed having them fly out of Bozeman but they’d all felt that it would be the first place Wade would look for them. But of course, Kaylee didn’t know about any of this.
Reed and his friends had spent the better part of the afternoon strategizing, discarding one plan after another until they had something they could live with. Not be happy about necessarily. But live with. Because they all wanted to stay alive.
“I’m not worried about that,” Kaylee replied. “I’m worried about you. You look worried so now I worry.”
Shit, do I really?
Trying to set his wife’s mind at ease, he mustered a teasing smile. “Maybe I’m worried about interest rates or the price of gas.”
“You never worry about those things.” Kaylee stepped closer and placed her hand on his arm. She kept her voice low so he could barely hear. “Spill it. Something is going on.”
Something was going on. Had Logan told Ava yet? There was no indication but a hell of a lot of decisions had been made in the last several hours and as usual the women were going to be the last to know.
They were all leaving under the cover of darkness and Ava and Kaylee – bless them – had barely even asked a question. They’d simply nodded and went to pack up the cabin. Reed could only hope that they’d made the right call to wait until after sundown to get on the road. It could be the correct decision or so very, very wrong.
That’s why Reed looked so damn worried.
“I was going to tell you while we were on the road.”
“Why don’t you tell me now. Is it that bad? Has Wade done something else?”
“No, it’s not that. We…”
“We?” she prompted. “Just spit it out or let me guess. We’re going to Florida, right?”
She was partially correct.
“You’re going to Florida. I’m staying here. In the morning. Evan is getting a private plane. He has a rich as shit friend, I guess.”
To his relief, she didn’t look surprised in the least. He had a feeling that she and Ava had been talking about this very thing while the men were making new plans.
“Okay, I can’t say that I’m shocked. Is Wade closing in?”
“Well…yes and no. He’s out there and he knows our location, but he doesn’t seem to be coming after us. He’s playing his game. But eventually…”
He didn’t put words to the actual fears in his heart that she, Ava, or the twins might be hurt or killed because of Wade Bryson and Reed’s involvement.
“How long can this go on?” she asked. “You all have jobs. I don’t mean you, of course. You have more vacation saved up than any human being on the planet, but the others might actually lose their jobs.”
Since meeting and marrying Kaylee, Reed had been making an effort to use up all of his saved vacation and sick days but when a person hoards them as badly as he had for years it wasn’t easy. He still had two months in the bank.
He’d been hoping to use it when they had a baby. Now they’d need to find another reason. Maybe when this was all over, he could sweep her off her feet and take her on a long second honeymoon. They’d been talking about traveling someday. That day might be soon.
“If they get fired Jason, Jared, and Logan will simply hire them for the consulting firm. They’re busier than hell apparently and they want to start a new division that would specialize in bigger, more complex cases.”
“You’d be good at that.”
Reed hadn’t considered himself for the team. He had a town to run and people that depended on him.
“All the guys would. So are you ready to get on the road?”
“Let’s do this.”
He could only hope and pray that she had no idea just how dangerous what they were about to do truly was. This wasn’t going to be a fun little road trip. Wade Bryson and his henchmen might be out there waiting for them.