Chapter 21 #2
All the air left his lungs, and the only thing Oz could think was that he couldn’t be so lucky a second time. Riley had survived—but maybe losing one of his kids was penance.
Then he saw the officer kneel down behind a police car…and put the child on their feet.
Oz might’ve been frozen in fear before, but now he moved. He ran toward the man and boy, only stopping when the officer raised his weapon and pointed it at him. “Stop right there!”
He fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath. The boy turned and, before the officer could get ahold of him, ran straight for Oz. He held out his arms just as Logan slammed into him.
“Oz!”
“Oh my God, Logan!” Oz breathed out.
“He’s okay, he’s the kid’s uncle!” one of his teammates yelled from behind him, but Oz couldn’t concentrate on anything but Logan. He pulled back and held his nephew at arm’s length, running his eyes up and down his body. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m okay,” Logan said, tears streaming down his face.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” Logan said.
Then Oz crushed him to his chest once more.
“You need to get out of the middle of the road,” an officer said.
Oz nodded and stood without letting go of Logan. He carried him into the grass in the median and knelt back down when Logan squirmed in his grip.
“Bree!” his nephew said in a choked-up tone.
“What about her? Where is she?” Oz asked. “Is she still in the car?”
He knew he had a circle of people around him now, both his teammates and police officers, but he kept his gaze on Logan’s.
Logan shook his head and said miserably, “No. I told Mark I had to pee and he stopped. I told Bria to run when I got out. She did. I lost her!” he wailed.
Oz assumed Mark was the name Miles had given to Logan and Bria, but his mind immediately moved on.
His heart broke for his nephew, but he gently shook his shoulders.
“You didn’t lose her, you saved her,” he said, believing his words one hundred percent.
“We just have to go back to where you were when she ran.”
“B-But I don’t know where it was!” Logan cried.
“Take a deep breath,” Oz ordered. He wanted to cry himself, but knew he had to stay calm so he could get his nephew to concentrate.
Logan did as he was ordered, his little chest filling with air as he inhaled deeply.
“Good, and another.”
He watched in approval as his kid, who had already been through so much in his young life, did his best to get control of himself.
“Look around you, Logan.” Oz waited as Logan did just that. His eyes widened as he took in the number of police officers, and Lucky, Lefty, Doc, and Grover. Trigger and Brain had escorted the women to the hospital and were looking after Riley until Oz could get back to her, with their kids in tow.
“You see all these people? They’re here because of you. Because they knew you were smart and brave. That you’d hold on until they could get to you. And you did. You not only got your sister out of an extremely dangerous situation, you stalled that guy enough that we could all catch up.”
Logan nodded.
Oz pulled his nephew into his arms once more.
He could barely remember the time before this kid was in his life.
It was crazy, as he didn’t even know of his existence not too long ago, but Oz’s life had changed for the better the second he’d seen him walking down the hallway of his apartment complex all those weeks ago.
“Close your eyes,” he told Logan, leaning back enough to see his face.
He did.
“Now, think about where you were when you pulled over. What did you see?”
“I was hoping he’d go to a gas station and Bree could get help, but there was nothing on the road he got off on. Houses in the distance, and trees.”
Oz’s stomach clenched with worry, but he kept encouraging Logan. “What else, Slugger?”
“I got out and left the door open and told Bree to run across the road to the trees in the distance.”
“Smart.”
Logan’s voice got stronger as he concentrated. “Mark wasn’t happy when he saw her running, and he pulled me back to the car. Someone drove by, and I think that scared Mark.”
“I think that person called the cops,” Oz said. “Did you come straight back to the interstate then, Logan?”
“Uh-huh. There was a fireworks store. It was red, white, and blue. We turned a couple times, but I think I saw a sign that said Elm on it.”
Oz closed his eyes in relief. It had to be enough. It just had to. He opened his eyes and looked up at his team. Lucky was on his phone already, and he saw two of the police officers scrolling on their own phones.
“Got it,” one of the cops said a minute later. Oz stood, keeping his hand on Logan’s shoulder. “There’s an exit that has an American Fireworks Superstore right at the corner. And the name of the street is Elm Street.”
The officer turned to head back to his car, and Oz was right on his heels.
“We’re coming with you,” he informed him.
“No, you need to stay here,” the officer said.
Oz looked at the man’s name tag and shook his head. “Officer Myers, I didn’t get to introduce myself. I’m Porter Reed, US Army Delta Force. My niece is probably scared to death, and you’re gonna need me when you find her.”
“And me,” Logan said from next to him.
Oz squeezed his shoulder in support.
“I can show you where we stopped. And we have a code word. Bree won’t come out without it,” Logan added.
“Delta Force?” Officer Myers asked.
Oz nodded.
“Fine, but you need to do what we say.”
Oz agreed immediately. “Those are my teammates. They’ll be following us.”
Officer Myers headed for his cruiser with Oz and Logan following him.
Lefty went back to his truck with the rest of his team.
Oz was well aware that the officer didn’t have to take them with him.
That he was making an exception. He was just relieved the man seemed to be as eager as he was to get to the area where they’d hopefully find Bria.
Not wanting to think about how scared she was, Oz helped Logan into the police car and crawled in after him. He wasn’t thrilled to be in the back seat of a cruiser, but he didn’t care how he got to Bree, just as long as he got to her.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Miles in another vehicle.
He’d been taken into custody without incident.
He’d surrendered like the coward he was.
Oz couldn’t even think about the future right now—court dates and if Logan would have to testify.
All he could do was be thankful that Logan was all right and focus on finding Bria. Everything else was secondary.
As they took off, and the officer communicated to the others on the radio what was going on, Oz looked down at Logan. He was sitting as close to Oz as possible and had both his arms around his torso.
“Slugger?”
Logan looked up at him.
“This is the one and only time you’ll ever be in the back seat of a police car. Understand?”
Logan’s lips twitched. “Got it.”
“You did good, and I’m so proud of you,” Oz said softly.
“I shouldn’t have gotten in the car with him,” Logan said sadly. “I knew better.”
“It’s easy to know what the right thing to do is after the fact. I bet he had a really good excuse,” Oz said.
Logan shrugged. “He said Gillian was in the hospital and Riley had gone to be with her. He said he lived in our apartment complex, and she asked him to bring me and Bree there.”
Oz inhaled deeply. It was a good excuse. Miles might be an asshole, but he wasn’t completely stupid.
“I know Riley would be worried about Gillian, but she wouldn’t ask a stranger to pick us up. I was stupid.”
Oz lifted Logan’s chin so he had to look at him.
“We all make wrong decisions, Slugger. Even me. But the thing is, you went with him because you were worried about Riley. And Gillian. That’s not entirely a bad thing.
And, not only that, but you did what you had to do in order to get your sister to safety.
I’m thinking we need a family safe word or phrase, like you have with your sister.
Just in case something like this ever happens again. ”
Logan nodded. Then said with a sniffle, “Bree’s probably scared.”
“No doubt. But she would’ve been more scared if she’d still been in the car when the police stopped it and pulled their guns.
And she would’ve been scared if that man took you to some strange house, right?
All I’m sayin’ is that you did what you had to do to protect your sister, and both Riley and I are more than proud of you. ”
“Where is Riley?” Logan asked.
Oz’s belly tightened. Shit. Logan would find out what had happened to her eventually, but maybe once they’d found Bria he wouldn’t be as upset about it. But he needed to be upfront with his nephew. “She’s okay,” he said.
Logan’s lip trembled.
Oz decided to treat this like a Band-Aid, rip it off and get it over with.
“The man who took you and your sister hurt her. He was her ex. The guy who scared you when he banged on my door, and you hid behind the couch. But she’s okay.
She’s in the hospital and badgering the doctors to let her go home so she can see you and Bree. ”
Logan stared up at him for a long moment. “You aren’t lying? She’s really okay, not dead like my mom?”
“She’s not dead,” Oz whispered. Even saying the words hurt. “I wouldn’t tell you she’s okay if she wasn’t.”
Logan thought about that for a second, then he gave Oz a small smile. “I bet she’s not happy to be stuck in the hospital. She’s pretty protective.”
“She is,” Oz agreed, and he knew he’d never take that for granted in the future. She could be as protective as she wanted and he’d go with it. He’d build her a fucking moat around a house if she wanted one.
“This is the exit,” the officer told them from the front.
Logan straightened and his eyes lit up. “This is it! It really is! I told you there was a red, white, and blue fireworks place!”
“I’m going to drive slowly, you let me know when something looks familiar,” Officer Myers told him.