Chapter 22
Heat lightning danced in the evening sky as Logan ran through the orchard surrounding Royce’s lake house. The smell of rotting fruit clung to the humid air, pungent and cloying. His breath came in rhythmic pants, adrenaline intensifying his senses.
Noah’s voice came through Logan’s earpiece. “I’ve got eyes into the house.”
“Any sign of Royce?” Jax asked on the shared com channel.
“Negative. Two tangos so far, both male.”
“Where are you?”
“Fifteen feet up a tree on the north side of the front door. Clear shot into the kitchen and master bedroom, over.”
Logan was approaching from the far side of the property, still a considerable distance from the house. “Jax, you got audio inside?” he asked.
“Negative. There’s some kind of interference. I’m going to get closer. Austin, what’s your location?”
“I made it through the orchard on my side and took cover behind the shed. I can hear yelling from inside the residence.”
“Yelling for help, or in anger?” asked Logan.
“Anger.”
Logan crested a small hill, the lake house coming into view, rising above the orchard. He stayed low. He could see Austin’s shed and wondered where Jax was.
Cowboy’s voice was loud in Logan’s ear. “Charges placed under the tango’s van. Payback is a bitch, gentlemen.”
“I’m going in,” said Jax. “The backdoor to the house is unlocked. Somebody get over here and cover my six.”
In the distance, Logan saw the slightest movement by the backdoor of the house, knowing it was Jax in camouflage.
“Right behind you,” said Austin, his form moving low from the shed to the house.
Noah’s voice was calm. “You two stay away from the windows. I’ve got a clear view of the kitchen sink area if you need me to take the shot.”
“Stand down,” said Jax.
“Approaching the house now,” said Logan, staying low and seeking cover behind an oak tree some twenty yards from the back door.
“Definitely arguing,” whispered Jax. “Three voices. We may have more than two tangos. What can you see, Noah?”
“Two men in the kitchen, both wearing black.”
“Can you see their faces?”
“Negative.”
The sound of breaking glass reached Logan’s ears. He needed to get closer to that house in case Jax took a shot.
What do you mean in case?
Jax always takes a shot.
“Don’t shoot unless you’re sure it’s not Royce,” said Logan.
“Don’t piss into the wind, either,” said Cowboy.
Logan rolled his eyes.
“And look both ways before you cross the damn street, kids.”
Logan’s earpiece exploded with yelling voices. A shot rang out in the distance.
“Tango has his back to the wall, rifle in plain sight. The other one’s missing,” said Noah.
From the cacophony in his right ear, Logan was pretty sure tango number two had found Jax.
“I’m going in,” said Logan. “Austin, on my six.”
“You’ve got it.”
“Now, Noah,” said Cowboy.
The sniper’s rifle echoed through the orchard.
“One down,” said Noah. “Looking for number two.”
Austin snapped in Logan’s ear. “Doc! Up high!”
Logan looked up a split second before a man jumped from the second-story window, his boots landing on Logan’s head, twisting Logan’s neck as he fell.
Austin fired, but the man kept going.
“He’s heading to the van,” said Logan.
“Stay back,” said Cowboy. “Arming the charges. Preparing to detonate.”
The man got into the van and closed the door. It exploded in a blinding flash of light, the noise deafening and flaming debris flying everywhere.
Logan covered his head, the shock wave knocking him against the house.
“Inside. Go! Go! Go!” yelled Cowboy.
Logan ran toward the back door just as a propane tank on a gas grill exploded. When he opened his eyes, the house near the grill was on fire, completely blocking the doorway.
“Jax!” he ran toward the front of the house, looking for another way in.
“He was in the kitchen, fist-fighting a tango,” said Cowboy.
Jesus.
How many people were in there, and where the fuck was Royce?
“Hurry, Doc. He’s getting his ass kicked.”
The front door was locked and Logan smashed a window, carefully climbing in over the broken glass, the thickly knit fabric of his fatigues resisting the sharp edges. The inside of the house was quickly filling with smoke and a piercing chemical smell.
He covered his mouth with his arm and ran, looking for the kitchen. He came full circle. “Where the fuck is the kitchen?” he yelled.
“Upstairs. Second floor,” said Noah.
“You could have mentioned that.”
“Jax is down and the tango is out of sight. Repeat, I can’t see the tango. You’ve got to get Jax out of there.”
Logan’s eyes were burning from the smoke as he made his way up the narrow staircase, not knowing where the enemy was hiding.
“Shit!” yelled Austin. “The fire shot up the dumbwaiter. Hallway’s completely blocked. I can’t get to Jax.”
“I’ve got him,” said Logan. “Get out of there, now. This place is going up way too fast.” He reached the top of the stairs and crawled to stay beneath the worst of the smoke. “Which way is the kitchen?” he yelled into his mic.
Out of nowhere, he was hit in the back of the head with something heavy and solid. “You’re gonna die, you son of a bitch, just like my brother.”
Stewart Cole.
Logan made out the silhouette of the man just as an object came swinging toward him again.
A baseball bat.
He ducked just in time, the barrel clipping him on the skull, and trained his weapon on Cole.
He fired three times in quick succession, the other man falling to the ground. Logan moved close to Cole’s face, seeing life still lingering in his eyes. He didn’t even hesitate, shooting him point-blank in the forehead.
“Jax!” Logan screamed, crawling past Cole’s body and through a pool of blood. His lungs filled with noxious air, the heat of the hallway way past a hundred degrees.
In his earpiece he heard the voices of his HERO Force brothers, their words incomprehensible over the roar of the blaze.
He made it to the end of the hallway.
No kitchen. He’d gone the wrong way.
He turned back the way he’d come, an eerie orange glow now visible through the smoky haze. He crawled through Cole’s blood, it’s metallic odor mingling with the burning air that was taking his breath away.
It was getting hotter with every inch he crawled in that direction, and he struggled to hear what his teammates were saying.
Had Jax made it out safely without him? Was he attempting a rescue that didn’t need to be made?
“I’m not leaving you behind,” he ground out against his clenched teeth. “Jax! Can you hear me?”
He rounded a corner and the flooring changed from wood to vinyl. The smoke was lower here, visibility no more than a few inches beyond his face. He put his belly on the floor.
There, through the thinnest layer of clean air, he could see Jax’s leg across the room, unmoving.
With a burst of renewed energy, Logan crawled to him, quickly moving to his friend’s face.
He was unconscious.
Logan’s lungs were screaming, pain unlike any he’d ever known seeming to turn their lining to something caustic. He looked around for a window. A doorway. Some way out of the room.
I’m not going to make it.
Fire broke through the floor beside Jax’s head and Logan wrapped his arms around Jax’s torso. He remembered Noah’s words.
Stay away from the windows. I’ve got a clear view of the kitchen sink area if you need me to take the shot.
Logan’s eyes snagged on the drainpipe coming down from the old farm sink behind Jax’s head. The window must be on the opposite wall.
He pulled Jax away from the flames and pushed him toward the window. The legs of a chair came into his field of vision and he grabbed it, hurtling it toward where the window must be.
Glass shattered and cool air rushed into the room, feeding the quickly growing flames. They billowed high against the wall and he reached for Jax’s frame.
Again he grabbed Jax and lifted him into his arms, forcing his body to a stand against the intense blowing of outside air into the fire.
“Over here!” he called out the window, his eyes so stung he couldn’t see.
Austin’s voice in his ear was like the sweetest music. “We’ve got them! Out the kitchen window!”
What happened next was a blur of motion as HERO Force rallied to get them down. Then Austin was on a ladder, pulling Jax from Logan’s arms.
“Climb down the ladder, Doc.” It was Cowboy, calling as if from so far away. Logan listed dramatically to the side. Dizziness overtook him and he fell back into the smoke and heat.
Cowboy’s voice was the last thing he heard before he blacked out. “I’m coming for you, buddy. I’m gonna get you out of there.”