The Boys Club (4 page)

Sara rolled over in bed and reached
for Stephen. They had decided to sleep in, and she sent Mary a text earlier in
the morning to delay their plans. With the wedding racing toward her at
light-speed, she welcomed the opportunity to be lazy for a change.

Watching Stephen sleep, listening to his soft snores, she
wondered once again what marriage would change between them. They had lived
together for three months, ever since her father insisted on buying them an
early wedding present in the form of the immodestly large home, staffed with
maids, a personal chef, and gardening crew. She hated the obnoxious display of
money, but he claimed he wanted to spoil his only child, especially since they
had lost so much time together.

He had missed out on the first twelve years of her life,
mainly because her mother had been his mistress and not his wife. When her
mother passed away from cancer, he took Sara into the fold as if she had always
been a welcome child. Sara, however, knew that if her mother had not died, she would
still not know her father.

After Stephen became her father’s right-hand man, her father
encouraged them to date. Even when she told her father that she didn’t think
things were going anywhere with Stephen, he pushed their relationship,
convincing her time and again to give him one more chance.

She continued dating him to keep her father happy, but it
didn’t take long for her to figure out his motivations. Her father wanted them
to marry so Stephen would become his legitimate heir. Then they would have a
child, a boy if her father got his way, and another heir would be in place. The
arrangement had nothing to do with her happiness. She would be taken care of
for the rest of her life, as long as she gave her father what he wanted.

When they moved in together, she fell into a comfortable
routine with Stephen. Sometimes she believed she loved him, but other times she
regarded her feelings for him as forced. Stephen always told her that he loved
her, and for the most part he acted like he did, but she never knew whether it
was a ploy to stay in her good graces. Yet, he had a tendency to push her like
her father did, to talk her into things she didn’t necessarily want. They were
so much alike that it was hard to believe Stephen wasn’t on board with all of
her father’s ideas. The rush to get married after dating for less than a year,
the constant mention of starting a family, the push for her to take the
teaching position. They played the same record to her all the time and just as
she had given into their wishes for the wedding, she would do so with
everything else.

Sara closed her eyes to try to catch some more sleep rather
than think about how out of control her life had become, when Stephen stirred
beside her. He rolled over to face her and she greeted him with a good morning
kiss.

Running his fingers through her hair, he asked, “What are
your plans today?”

“Just boring old wedding stuff that wouldn’t interest you.”

“Of course our wedding interests me. It’s interested me
since our first date.”

She grinned and her eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He slid his hand under her and flipped her on
her back. After her giggle died down, he became serious and ran his thumb over
her lips. “I really do love you, Sara.” He lowered his mouth onto hers.

The little statements and gestures always made her think he
did love her, and not just her father and his money. As he pulled the covers
down from their bodies and lifted her top over her head, Sara told herself that
it wouldn’t be so bad to live the rest of her life with him. She could learn to
like it, maybe even love it.

“His daughter?”

Logan’s question echoed through the suddenly quiet chapel.

“Sara Langston,” Schaffer said. He used a small remote to
bring the projector to life. A photograph of an attractive girl flashed on the
screen behind him. “Langston had many mistresses over the years, but only one
resulted in a pregnancy. Sara’s mother, Ruth Bennett, passed on his last name
to Sara on the birth certificate. Of course Langston refused to have anything
to do with his daughter, or even the mistress once she announced her
pregnancy.”

Logan looked back to the woman on the screen, her windblown,
shoulder-length russet curls captured by an unseen cameraman at the end of a
zoom lens. With his connections to Hugh Langston he had heard mentions of his
daughter in the past, but had never seen her picture before now. He recognized
bits of Langston in her small, rounded nose and deep-set, brown eyes, but had
he passed her on the street he wouldn’t have guessed their relation.

“Sara’s mom died from a brain tumor shortly after Sara
turned twelve,” Schaffer continued. “Apparently her mother had raised her with
full knowledge of her father’s identity because Sara wouldn’t quit talking to
social services about her famous father. When the authorities checked her birth
certificate, Langston’s name was listed as the father.

“Some reporter picked up on the story and when the media
looked deeper into the facts, they discovered that Sara most likely was his
daughter. Langston claimed to have never known of her existence, but he went
through the paternity tests. When those came back a match, he transplanted her
from Indiana to California.

“Sara, however, didn’t live under his roof for long.
Langston shipped her off to boarding school, where she graduated at the top of
her class. She went on to earn her Master’s Degree, again with honors. She came
back into the picture a couple years ago and he’s been trying to corral her
ever since.”

“Why does Langston want her dead?” Jack asked.

“She’s been heading up the accounting for one of his front
companies for the past two years,” Schaffer said. “She’s discovered a few
things she shouldn’t have and she asked too many of the wrong questions.”

“So Langston falls back on his old standby,” Logan said.
“Kill her to get her out of the way.”

“Father of the year,” Lester said from the other side of the
room.

“Our job is to get her to safety and turn her over to the
FBI,” Schaffer said. “She’ll go into the Witness Security Program and hopefully
she knows enough to testify against him. The feds have tried to get to her and
it’s impossible with her security.”

“She’s not going to come with us if we ask her nicely,”
Logan said. “She also won’t believe us when we say that Langston is trying to
kill her.”

“Which is why your team is going to kidnap her,” Schaffer
said. “Once she’s safe, then you’ll explain everything. She might not believe
you, not until we get her in the hands of the FBI, and that’s okay. Our main
priority is her safety, but you’re going to need to do your best to convince
her to surrender willingly to the FBI.”

“What’s the plan to get her away from Langston?” Austin
Moore asked from the front row.

“Sara is getting married on Saturday,” Schaffer said. “It’s about
the closest thing to an arranged marriage one can get.” He clicked a button on
the remote and another picture filled the screen.

Logan scooted to the edge of his seat and squinted at the
new photograph. Sara stood next to a man who appeared to be almost a decade
older than her. He immediately recognized the man and tension crawled into his
shoulders. “Stephen Mathers,” Logan said, contempt dripping from each syllable.

Schaffer pointed at Logan. “Second in command, set to take
over Langston’s empire once Langston retires. Since Langston has no male heirs,
he’s been grooming Mathers for the position for years. The best way for him to
take over without question is for Langston to marry him off to his daughter.
The hit is scheduled to take place on their honeymoon.”

“That way Mathers is married into the family already when
she dies,” Logan said. “Does Mathers know about the hit?”

“That we don’t know,” Schaffer said. “Mathers is up to his
neck in Langston’s illegal dealings, but whether he has a part in the hit is
still unclear. Langston did hire a professional to do the job so even if
Mathers is in the know, he won’t be suspected.”

Logan’s stomach churned. He knew long before Karen’s death
that Langston was a despicable man, evil in every possible way, but Logan never
would have thought him capable of killing his own child. If Mathers knew about
the hit, it made things so much worse.

“From what we understand,” Schaffer continued, “Mathers is
continually updated on her whereabouts and activities, another reason the FBI
can’t get to her. They can’t take a chance of alerting either him or Langston.”

“Nothing like marrying your stalker,” Jack said.

“Tomorrow night, Sara is meeting with her wedding planner
prior to the rehearsal dinner. All of Langston’s cars will be busy picking up
wedding guests from the airport, so he has hired a car service for his
daughter.” Schaffer turned to Logan. “You’ll be driving.”

Logan nodded. “Will anyone else be with her?”

“Her best friend and maid of honor, Mary Flynn, who has no
allegiance to Langston. We’ll take both of them and immediately separate them.
We need two teams, one for Sara, one for Mary. Four men each. Then we need a
four-man team to stay here and run point. I’ll oversee that team.” He motioned
for Allie to come up to the podium.

Allie adjusted the microphone to her height. “I’m preparing
several syringes of sedatives according to the heights and weights of both
girls. Sara has two medical issues to note. She has a severe peanut allergy.
You will have to be careful with any food preparations, but I’ll send along
some EpiPens to be safe. She also has asthma. Our reports do not indicate what
inhalers she uses, so I’ll have several different kinds and she’ll have to tell
you which ones she uses. I’ll also send you with a nebulizer. Because she will
be under duress, she may need breathing treatments. Before you leave, I’ll
teach the team that will be with her how to prepare and administer the
treatments.” Her eyes scanned the room. “Any questions?”

“Does Mary have any health issues we need to know about?”
Lester asked.

“None,” Allie said. She smiled at Schaffer and stepped away
from the podium.

“Alright, boys,” Schaffer said. “Next 24 hours is hardcore
prep. We’ll start sleep shifts now so that you can adjust for when you’re in
the field. I wish we had more time to prepare, but we absolutely have to save
this girl’s life. We can’t fail. Logan, come pick your teams.”

Logan rose from his seat and walked to the front of the
room. He glanced in Allie’s direction, making quick eye contact. Standing in
front of the podium, he said, “Let’s start with my team for Sara. Head to the
back when I call your name.”

He looked over his colleagues, mentally dividing them into
categories by expertise, and he called their names one by one. There was no
doubt he needed Jack, his closest friend and the jack of all trades in the
group. Lester was an expert driver who would help with the initial getaway once
they had Sara in the car. Finally, Charlie Cantor was a caring individual with
a soft voice. He would be what Sara would need as she adjusted to her
circumstances and was told the truth about her father. Charlie was also one of
the rare cooks in the group and would best know how to handle her peanut
allergy.

The three men moved to the back of the room to await further
instructions. Logan looked at the remaining men and decided to mirror Mary’s
team from the one he constructed for Sara.

“The team for Mary,” Logan said. “Bill, you’ll head it up,
followed by Tuck, Jonesy, and Stu.” After the men joined the others in the
back, Logan took note of who was left, thankful he had plenty of technical guys
available. “For Schaffer’s team here, we’ll go with Phil, Austin, and Kyle.”

“Very good,” Schaffer said. “The rest of you will be on
standby in case you’re needed. We’re not taking on any other jobs until our
other three teams return. Sara is our primary focus until she’s in the hands of
the FBI.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s get to work.”

Sara took steady breaths as her feet
rebounded against the pavement, the impact of every step jarring her legs. She
had maintained the same brisk pace that she always did on her morning run, and
so far her breathing had held up just fine. A familiar burn spread through her
calves and thighs, and her hamstrings tightened up, reminding her she was
nearing the end of her five-mile course.

Before she left the house, Stephen disagreed about her
running with her asthma acting up. He did not want her to have breathing
problems before the wedding, but unlike everything else in her life, she never
compromised on running. It gave her a sense of freedom that she didn’t have in
the rest of her life. Out in the open morning air, she had control over
everything. Where her feet landed, which path she turned down, how fast she
moved. No one could guide her otherwise. Not even her security detail.

She had long ago grown accustomed to the men that followed
her all over town. Their surveillance started when she met her father for the
first time and subsequently moved three states away for boarding school. Having
Hugh Langston as a father became a very public matter in those first few years
after her mom’s death, resulting in constant security. As a budding teenager,
she found school difficult with the eyes of her security always on her, but she
soon learned to live with it. She gravitated toward kids who had the same
problem of intrusive bodyguards, if only because they understood her plight.

After heading off to college, she had learned to ignore the
men who watched her, but it didn’t make it any easier. Whenever she made
friends, her father knew about it and dictated whether she could keep them. If
she tried to date, her father ran a background check and immediately deemed any
potential suitors off-limits, an order her security detail enforced. Boyfriends
ran for the hills and warned all the other men that she was more trouble than
she was worth. Stephen was not only the first man she had ever been with
intimately, but the first man she had ever dated, exactly as her father wanted
it.

Returning home two years ago, she thought that life would be
easier and give her more freedom, but the opposite was true. Working for her
father made her feel inadequate all the way around, as he always had someone in
the company watching her closely. The discrepancies in the accounts were only
her latest set of problems, but no one dared help her resolve them. By the time
she returned from her honeymoon with Stephen, they would have been swept under
the rug and she would be on her way to a cushy teaching job at West Hills
Academy or even staying at home full-time, another change in her life that her
father, and Stephen, would force upon her.

Sara turned a corner to head in another direction. Glancing over
her shoulder, she saw two men following at a safe distance. Ordinary jogging
outfits concealed their weapons and their ear pieces allowed them to keep in
touch with their boss. Sara had watched them press the ear pieces into their
ears many times, but had never met the person that spoke to them, at least not
knowingly. She had never managed to engage the men in conversation, even though
the same ones had followed her for the two years since she graduated from
college.

A large group of firemen on their morning run approached her
on the running path. She had seen the group from time to time, but today the
sight sparked something in her. In all the years of having a security detail,
she had never once tried to ditch them, not even as a precocious teenager. Now
she needed to give them the slip, as if she had to prove something to herself
before marrying the man and living the life her father chose for her.

Sara picked up her pace. If she timed it right, she would
top the hill just as she passed the firemen. She resisted the urge to peek over
her shoulder again to look at her security guards so she wouldn’t accidentally
alert them to her plan. Her feet hit the smooth concrete faster and faster, and
she focused all her thoughts on her breathing to keep it even and under
control.

She smiled and waved at the passing firemen just as she
started downhill. Off to her left, thick woods concealed a lesser-known running
path. She had only taken it one time since she started running at the park.
With the firemen covering her movements, she zipped off to the left and raced
as fast as possible around the first several turns.

After running a couple of minutes, she slowed down to a
brisk walk. She lifted two fingers to her neck and counted out her pulse rate.
Though much higher than normal, she attributed it to the adrenaline coursing
through her body. She carefully controlled her breathing so she wouldn’t have
an asthma attack, but heard the slight wheezing that told her she would need a
treatment when she got home. Rotating her head, though, she forgot all about
her asthma.

The men were nowhere to be seen.

A large victory grin overtook her mouth and the first real
pangs of excitement in quite some time hit her chest. Though it seemed like an
adolescent stunt, she had done it, that one thing she always wondered if she
could do. She turned up the volume on her iPod and settled back into a
comfortable jog through the thick trees.

Forty-five minutes later and still fueled by the high of her
mini-adventure, Sara keyed in her passcode on the front gate to her house and
ran up the steep driveway. She paused at the front door to stretch. She had
barely pulled up her right leg up behind her when the door swung open and
Stephen dragged her inside.

“Where the hell have you been?” he asked, the anger on his
face mixed with concern.

“I went for my morning run,” she said.

“That’s not what I mean. Your security detail lost sight of
you and couldn’t find you.”

“I’m fine, Stephen. I just went down a side path and I guess
they couldn’t keep up with—”

“So you
knew
that
you lost them?” His eyes narrowed. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Sara stepped away from him. “I don’t understand what the big
deal is—”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He moved toward her and
grabbed her wrist. “You can’t do something like that. I’ve been going crazy
thinking something happened and Hugh is on his way over.”

She twisted her arm under his grip. She almost cowered under
the tone of his voice, but remained defiant. “He doesn’t need to come over
here,” she said. “I’m not missing.”

“We didn’t know that. Any number of things could have
happened to you.” He loosened his grip and placed his hands on her upper arms.
“You have security for a reason. You’re Hugh Langston’s daughter.”

“What exactly does that mean anyway?” she asked with a
raised voice. She shrugged his hands away and walked out of the foyer, toward
the back staircase. Taking the stairs two at a time, she raced to the second
floor and their bedroom. Shoving open the door, she stormed onto the marble
flooring of the master bathroom and ripped out the elastic band that held her
hair in a short ponytail.

At any moment she could break under the smothering weight of
Stephen and her father. She had one little victory in the past 14 years of her
own making and now they had taken it away. Stephen was upset, her father was on
his way over, and she was destined for another lecture on how she should live
her life.

Sara slid open the shower door and turned the water up as
hot as she could get it. She stripped off her top and sat on the edge of the
standalone bathtub to take off her socks and shoes. Mary would be here in a
couple hours to go with her to take care of more wedding details, and Sara
didn’t have the time or the desire to deal with Stephen or her father a second
longer.

The bathroom door opened, letting the built-up steam flow
out along with some of her anger. She straightened up, as Stephen sat down
beside her and took her hand.

Rubbing his fingers over hers, he smiled. “You know we only
want to make sure you’re safe. You’re the most important girl in both of our
lives.”

She glanced sideways at his handsome face. The care and
concern in his green eyes shone on her and provided some comfort. Some of the
tension eased out of her shoulders, but she didn’t respond.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “I’ve been a little worried about
you lately. Is the wedding starting to be too much for you?”

Sara ran her tongue over her bottom lip. Maybe it was only
the stress of the wedding that weighed on her, causing her to magnify things
which never upset her in the past.

“Do you want to put the wedding on hold?”

Her lips parted and she gasped. Though she had never been
sure about whether she loved him, his words pierced her heart. She didn’t want
to lose the only thing she’d ever known, the one constant in her life.

She grabbed his arm. “No, Stephen. I don’t want to postpone
the wedding. I’m sorry about this morning, I just…” She paused and looked past
him, staring blankly at the wall, as she tried to untangle her emotions.

“It’s okay,” he said. “We all have moments where we don’t
feel like ourselves or we just want to do something out of the ordinary.”

Her gaze fell to his hand clenching hers and guilt washed
over her.

Stephen lifted her chin until his eyes locked onto hers. “Just
promise me you won’t do anything like that again. It’s much too dangerous.”

“Why?” she asked, eliciting a look of confusion from him.
“Why is it dangerous? Why do I have security following me everywhere?” She had
asked the question numerous times without ever receiving a true answer.

“Let’s just say that Hugh has stepped on a number of toes
over the years. It’s the best way to make sure that you’re safe.”

“Do you step on toes?”

“When I have to.” He pushed up from the bathtub and pulled
her to her feet, until her body rested against him. Wrapping his arm around her
back, he asked, “Why don’t you take a bath instead? The jets would be nice on
your muscles after your run.”

Though a great suggestion, that nagging feeling of being
controlled latched onto Sara again. “I think I’ll just stick to the shower
today.”

He tugged at the strap of her sports bra. “Too bad I’m
already dressed or I would join you.”

“I know you’re busy and I wouldn’t want to keep you. Isn’t
Dad still coming over?”

“I called him and told him that you were found and
everything is under control.” He frowned at her. “You are sounding a little
wheezy, though. You should do a treatment before you go with Mary.”

A strong urge to disobey his command possessed her, but she
didn’t want to make a poor health care choice because she decided to act like a
spoiled, rebellious teenager. “I’ll do it after my shower.”

“Good,” he said, and pressed his lips to her forehead.

Once he left the bathroom, her smile fell. She always
assumed she had security assigned to her because her father was beyond rich and
others might exploit that somehow, but she never dreamed that he was involved
in something dangerous. He wasn’t the greatest man in the world, but what toes
had he stepped on that would require her to have constant security and why was
her soon-to-be husband stepping on those same toes?

Sara went to the shower and regulated the temperature before
stripping off the rest of her sticky clothes. As she climbed under the steady
stream of lukewarm water, tension formed new knots in her shoulders and back.
The bubble her father and Stephen had formed around her suddenly seemed a very
unsafe place to live.