Chapter 16
Sixteen
Logan
Logan Black parks on the side of the highway, cutting the engine with a sharp twist. The vast desert landscape stretches before him, flat and unforgiving. He steps out, scanning the horizon with practiced precision, feeling the familiar itch that tells him he's still on the right path.
After three days of tracking, the trail's grown colder. If Logan weren’t as good as he is, it would have disappeared entirely. Since the motel, they've been ghosts. No clean footage, no clear sightings.
But what bothers Logan most is not just how skillfully they’re hiding their tracks.
It’s how they’re moving.
The rhythm is all wrong.
They’re not just running away.
They’re running toward something. Not desperately. But purposely.
Whatever it is, it’s south. But that’s all Logan has.
Logan paces beside his vehicle, the midday sun baking the desert around him. His boots kick up small clouds of dust with each step as he tightens his grip on the phone pressed to his ear. The call connects with a single ring.
"Tell me you've made some progress," Graves says. Her voice carries that particular blend of arrogance and impatience that makes Logan's jaw clench.
Logan ignores the insinuation in her tone that he's made none. He squints across the barren landscape, a muscle working in his cheek. "I need more information."
"You have everything that I have on her. And we don't know who she's with. There was no husband or boyfriend or any contact in Montana that we can find."
Logan is not surprised. He didn't share with Graves who he reminded him of. It was too crazy. Too far-fetched. Logan's mind playing tricks. But the grainy footage replays in his mind, as it has for the past three days. The way the man moved, his build, his posture. Impossible, yet...
"I need to know what she found that was so important you had to bury her," Logan says. There's silence on the other end of the line. Logan lets it ride. He watches a hawk circle overhead, searching for prey.
"You know that’s on a need-to-know basis," Graves finally says, her voice steel.
"And I'm telling you I need to know," Logan says.
Graves sighs on the other end of the line. She knows she's lost, and Logan knows she's just stalling. The sound of papers shuffling comes through the connection. "There's a black site. Along the border."
Logan's eyes narrow. His posture shifts, predatory, focused. The pieces click into place. "Where is it?" Graves stalls again. This time, Logan presses. "I need to know where it is." His knuckles whiten around the phone.
"Why?" Her voice carries a note of suspicion now.
Logan's face remains impassive, but something cold and eager stirs behind his eyes. The hawk dives. "Because that's where they're going. I’ll find her and bring her back.”
And if the man is who Logan thinks he might be, Logan is going to kill him.