A Promise to Protect (Logan Point Book #2): A Novel (34 page)

L
eigh stared at Ben’s still body. His head was so bloody. Her heart thudded against her ribs as time slowed. He’d taken the bullet meant for her. This couldn’t be happening. If she’d just given Franks the drive. But thinking Tony’s murderer would get away blinded her to reason, and now the man she loved . . . She couldn’t say the words. “Why did you shoot him?”

“Shut up.”

Pain shot up her leadened arm as Franks grabbed it and twisted it behind her back. “Now reach the other one back.”

She couldn’t, her body wouldn’t respond, and he twisted her arm until she forced it to move. When he had her secure, he nudged Ben with his foot. Her heart sank when he didn’t move. He’d died trying to protect her. She squeezed her eyes together to keep tears from escaping. And now Franks was going to kill her.

She had to get away.

Franks dragged her to where she’d thrown the flash drive.

She taunted him. “You’ll never find it.”

“I said shut up.” He swept his hand over the ground.

She heard a commotion, and then someone yelled from the woods. “Who’s shooting over there?”

Hope soared.

Franks stood and cupped his hand to his mouth. “Just shooting some snakes.”

“They’ll come to see,” she said.

With the gun on her, he bent down once more, fumbling on the ground. “I got it.” He stood and jerked her toward the pier. “Move.”

“No. You’ll have to kill me here.”

“No problem.”

“Those kids will hear you, and they’ll be here before you can get—”

Pain rocked her head as he brought the gun down on her skull.

Leigh’s voice penetrated the fog in Ben’s head. Franks was going to kill her. He cracked his eyelids just as Leigh slumped against Franks. Ben tried to move, but nothing cooperated. Powerless, he could do nothing as Franks hoisted Leigh on his shoulder and carried her toward the dock. For the first time, he saw the boat.

Ben couldn’t let Franks take her on the lake. He staggered to his feet and stumbled back to his knees. Blood streamed into his eyes. He touched his head, his fingers finding a gash. Franks . . . the gunshot. The bullet must have grazed him. He wiped the blood from his eyes.

Get
up!

His gun. He needed his gun, and he felt for it, finding only sticks and rocks. The motorboat roared to life, freezing his heart. He stumbled toward the dock. “No!”

Franks raised his gun, firing.

Bullets dug into the wooden pier, and then the boat shot forward.

He searched frantically for a way to stop Franks. His gaze landed on two jet skis moored near the ramp, and he sprinted toward them. Icy shivers chased down his spine.

Water. Deep water.

Ben pushed the thought away. He had to save Leigh.

He leaped on the nearest jet ski and stared at the controls. He’d never driven one, but it couldn’t be harder than a motorcycle, and he had driven those. He felt for the ignition and pressed the button.
The motor rumbled and caught. He looped the plastic coil that hung from the kill switch around his hand. He’d seen enough safety films to know if he went in the water he didn’t want the boat to run over him. He pressed the throttle, and the jet ski almost shot out from under him.

Four teens raced toward him on the pier. “Hey! Where are you going with my jet ski?”

“Sheriff!” he yelled over his shoulder. “Don’t follow me!”

Dizziness threatened to send him over the side of the jet ski, but he held on. Ignoring the pain that shot through his brain, he pressed the throttle again, and the nose of the jet ski shot out of the water as it raced forward. As he roared across the lake, wind whipped his face. Franks’s boat had a good lead on him, but the jet ski responded to more pressure on the throttle, bouncing against the boat’s wake. Ben steered to the right of the wake and gained on the boat.

Suddenly the boat seemed to stall. Ben drew closer, close enough to see Franks’s silhouette on the back of the boat as he stood with Leigh in his arms.

Leigh’s scream stopped his heart as Franks threw her overboard then jumped back in the seat and roared off.

Ben killed the motor, and the jet ski coasted to the circle of waves where Leigh had disappeared. He looked up at the roar of another jet ski. The teenage boys had followed him.

He tried to swallow but couldn’t get past the ball of fear in his throat. His breath came short, shallow.

Tommy Ray’s face reflected off the moonlight in the water.

An image flashed in his mind. Leigh just before she went into the water with her hands tied. She couldn’t save herself.

The water wrapped around Leigh, cold and dark as death. She held her breath, struggling against the rope, but there was no give to the nylon. She kicked, trying to slow her descent, but still she sank.

TJ. What will he do? Ian’s plane. No! Franks will
get away . . .

Her lungs hurt, demanding air. Pain rocked her head. Darkness encroached the edges of her mind. Slowly she relaxed, giving in to the water.

An arm grasped her waist, jerking her upward. Franks had come after her. She fought, kicking and bucking until she broke the surface of the water.

“Leigh! It’s me, Ben. Stop fighting me.”

She gasped for air. “Ben?”

He’d come into the water after her? She gulped more air as he pulled her toward some sort of boat. Strong arms lifted her from the water.

“Thanks, guys.” Ben’s voice sounded far away. “Get her to shore.”

“Wait!” She fought the fatigue that threatened to shut her down. “He can fly . . .” She caught her breath. “Pilot. Ian’s plane.”

It was the best she could do.

L
eigh shivered under the blanket one of the teens had offered her. Someone, probably one of Ben’s deputies, had built a fire, but the heat didn’t touch the cold inside her. Her wrists burned where she’d struggled against the cord, even though one of the paramedics had put lidocaine on them. Randy Jenkins held out her purse that she’d asked him to get from her car.

“Th-thank you,” she said against her chattering teeth. With trembling fingers, she dialed Sarah and asked about TJ.

“Still sleeping. There’s a deputy outside the door. What’s going on? Where are you?”

A deputy. Bless Ben’s heart. Leigh informed Sarah that she was all right and with Ben and would explain later. After she hung up, she looked around for Ben. She hadn’t talked to him since he saved her life. He was probably hopping mad at her. She buried her head in her hands. He’d probably never forgive her, and she didn’t blame him. She’d made such a mess of things. How different it could have been if she’d told the truth long ago and trusted God with the outcome.

“Hey.” Ben’s voice was as soft as his touch. “You okay?”

She raised her head. A bandage covered his head. His eyes glinted in the light from the fire, and she threw her arms around him. “Oh, Ben! I’m so sorry.”

He wrapped her in an embrace and held her while tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s going to be okay,” he murmured against her wet hair. “How is TJ?”

“Sarah said he’s sleeping still.” She licked her lips. “I’m so sorry I lied to you all these years. And to TJ. I—”

“Shh.” He pressed his finger against her lips. “We’ll talk about this later. I know what my dad did, and I need time to process everything. Then we’ll decide together how to tell TJ.”

She caught her breath. “What if Franks tries to get to him?”

“He won’t.” Ben lifted a wet strand of hair from her cheek. “I never would have thought to look in the air. Thanks to you, we’re tracking him. It looks like he’s headed to Mexico. He’ll have to come down to refuel, and based on Ian’s projection of how much fuel the plane had when Franks stole it, we have a good idea of where he’ll land.”

The band around her heart loosened. “Are you hurt bad?”

“I’ll have a headache for a few days, but the bullet just grazed me and knocked me out for a bit. Why didn’t you call me?”

“I tried.” Her voice cracked. “It went to voice mail. Wade’s too. I was scared he’d follow through on his threat if I didn’t give him the flash drive. And I was trading it for a recording. I . . . I heard the man who blew up our car admit it.” She felt in her pockets and pulled the recorder out. “It’s probably ruined.”

“Jonas Gresham blew up your car,” Ben said. “He’s on his way to the hospital. If he lives, he’ll spend a long time in jail.”

“You . . . caught the man?”

He nodded. “Not that he’s talking. And one of the Maxwell Industries’ trucks was pulled over tonight, and authorities found two cases of AR-15 rifles without serial numbers on them. And those cases? They were labeled with a Blue Dog sticker. That’s what Tony was trying to tell me. Your brother is a hero. Just wished we had that flash drive, but even if we can’t pin Tony’s murder on him, Franks will spend a long time in jail for attempted murder.”

Leigh leaned into him, and he wrapped her in his arms. She wished he’d hold her forever. But that was a wish that would probably never come true. He never said that he’d forgiven her.

Probably because he hadn’t.

L
eigh closed the door behind Ben and took a deep breath. She wasn’t ready for this, and she didn’t understand why he insisted on being here. It was almost like he didn’t trust her to tell TJ.

“How does he feel today?” Ben asked.

“Good.” It amazed her how TJ had bounced back from the bomb blast and surgery. Better than she had. Every time she thought about it, her mouth became so dry she could barely swallow. If any of them had been ten steps closer . . . the thought turned her stomach. “You don’t have to be here. I’m perfectly capable of telling him by myself.”

“Don’t fight me on this, Leigh. It’s time for TJ to know I’m his dad.”

“I don’t know if he’s ready.”

“You said he was doing better.”

She closed her eyes briefly. “I’d rather not have an audience.”

“I’m hardly an audience.”

She turned as her son called her name. “Be right there, TJ.”

“Is that Ben?” Excitement rang in his voice.

Ben looked at her. “Ready?”

“He’s in the den.” She led the way, dread dogging every step.

TJ looked up from the game he was playing on the iPad. “Is something wrong, Mom?”

She pasted a smile on her lips as Ben sat in the chair nearest
the couch. “No, nothing is wrong, but we do need to talk. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“We need to tell you,” Ben corrected.

She took in another breath and let it out. It was time. “You’ve always believed your dad died before you were born, but that’s not true . . .”

Leigh zipped the suitcase closed. A lot had happened in the two weeks since she and Ben had told TJ the truth. He’d been ecstatic Ben was his dad. Which made him even more resistant to the move.

This weekend away from him would be good for them both. Ian was flying her to Baltimore to finalize the paperwork at Johns Hopkins. TJ wasn’t happy about that. Neither was Ben, for that matter.

She sighed, counting her blessings. She had her life, and TJ was no longer in danger. She should be grateful for that, and she was. Just like Ben promised, Franks had been caught when he landed to refuel, and now he sat in a jail cell, awaiting trial along with Jonas Gresham, who was now claiming an insanity plea. And after Gresham’s fingerprints were found on one of the rifles, he was awaiting a federal indictment along with Franks. At least they had turned on each other, and the whole story was coming out.

She paused, thinking about her brother. It was no wonder he’d had nightmares. The letter he’d sent to Ben was an apology for not coming forward after Tom Logan was shot. Seems one night he’d been playing cards with Gresham and the old man was drunk, bragging to Tony how he’d shot the sheriff. Once Tony became a Christian, he couldn’t live with himself and not tell Ben. And because of the letter, Ben was checking Gresham’s rifles to see if any of them fired the bullet that hit his dad.

The doorbell rang, and she went to answer it. With TJ staying at the Logans’ this weekend, Sarah had returned home to Jackson for
a few days. Leigh had asked her to consider moving to Baltimore with them, but so far Sarah had not given her an answer.

“Ian, you’re early,” she said when she opened the door.

“I thought you might want to get a head start. The plane is fueled up and ready.”

She smiled at him. No matter how many times she told him there was no future for them, he ignored her, saying her friendship was enough. “Then, I’m ready.”

Two days later, Leigh sat in Dr. Meriwether’s office. Two days of whirlwind tours at Johns Hopkins and evenings out on the town with Ian. Both had been amazing.

She raised the pen to sign the contract. She couldn’t believe it was about to happen. Johns Hopkins. Dad’s dream come true.