17. Logan

SEVENTEEN

I'm nota spy or a special agent with the FBI. So what do I know about setting traps for one of the most dangerous criminals of our generation? If Jared and his FBI buddies think this is the best setup, who am I to argue? Even if I think they're fucking out of their minds.

We're supposed to be bait. Who says bait has to drive two hours out of the city to some abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods? No, that's not sketchy as hell. That's never been the set of some B-rated horror movie.

Why can't we just walk around a park in broad daylight and post some pictures on social media? If this Alonzo Adams guy is as smart as they claim, he should be monitoring those, right? He can track us down, find us in the park, and the FBI or the US Marshals or whoever will arrest him! Ta-da! Done.

But no. That's too simple, they said when I suggested the idea. There will be too many civilians around, which yeah, okay, fine. Alonzo won't show his face somewhere so public. But at a remote cabin, he won't be so concerned about being spotted.

Maybe they have a point. It's not like it's my call to make.

It's been a few days since it was agreed that I would tag along on this suicide mission. Victoria took me to the gun range a couple times, as promised. I never thought I'd ever shoot a gun and if my hippie parents ever found out, they'd go ballistic—heh.

She showed me how to hold a gun, how to plant my feet, how to squeeze the trigger, and absorb the recoil. To say I know how to shoot a gun is like saying I know how to do yoga. I can sort of twist myself into some semblance of a shape, but I'm definitely not doing it right.

Victoria waved away my frustrations, though. She claims it's not about actually knowing how to shoot, but more about not being caught off guard if the need arises. Sure. She's the expert, I suppose.

Jared's gotten a lot stronger in the past few days too. Either he's got some superhuman healing abilities or maybe the doctors slipped him some kind of miracle drug. But he's able to hobble around without a crutch, enough that the doctors were comfortable discharging him, and his superiors at the FBI okayed this insane mission.

"How's your leg?" I ask for the millionth time.

"The same as it was five minutes ago." Jared's voice is teasing and he squeezes my thigh. "I'm fine. I'm loaded up with painkillers and about a suitcase full of bandages and other supplies. Stop worrying."

I cover his hand with mine and bite back my objections to this entire scheme. I'm the one who insisted on being involved. I don't want them to change their minds and kick me off the team because I'm an annoying fly in their ear.

"It's the next exit," Jared says right before the car's GPS announces the same thing. Although, it's less of a car and more of a tank—a standard FBI-issued black SUV tricked out with sirens, a radio, a supped-up engine, and god knows what else.

The first thing I asked when Isaac handed me the keys was whether I could turn the sirens on. He and Victoria and Jared gave me a simultaneous, "No."

Jared didn't even want me to drive. But since it was his right leg that got shot, Isaac vetoed that idea.

"Where the hell are we?" I ask as I slow the car to a stop at the end of the exit ramp. I sneak a quick glance through the rearview mirror.

There's supposed to be an FBI car shadowing our progress from the city to the cabin. But I haven't seen any sign of them since I pulled out of the FBI's garage.

"The Catskills," Jared says.

"And you're sure Alonzo will find us out here? What if he doesn't think to check my phone?"

"He'll check your phone." He sounds so confident. "You don't even have a password on it."

I roll my eyes. "I've never needed a password. I've never been at risk of being abducted by an evil criminal mastermind."

The only good thing that's come out of Everest and Sawyer's ridiculous stalking scheme is that my phone is still connected to the AirTag I dropped in Jared's bag. And since Alonzo stole my phone when he snatched us off the street, and Jared never took the AirTag out of his bag, Alonzo technically has the means to track us down.

Now it's just a matter of waiting for him to figure it out. The FBI people seem to think it's obvious, even though I never would've thought of the idea. I guess that's why I'd be a terrible criminal.

There's a single lane going in each direction, winding through towering trees. Snow blankets everything, from the naked branches of the trees to the rocks on either side of the road. We're the only car, with not another soul in sight. All we can hear is the rumble of our engine and the occasional instructions from the GPS.

"Why do we have to go to some random cabin in the middle of nowhere?" I whine as I slow to a stop at an intersection and follow the GPS's instruction to turn left.

"It's not random." Jared checks the new phone Victoria handed him before we left.

I used it earlier to contact the guys at Mars and let them know I'll be gone for another week or so.

"It's my sister's."

I nearly slam on the brakes. "You have a sister?" I don't know why I'm surprised. I didn't know he had a sister, but then, I didn't know if he had any siblings at all.

It's yet another reminder of how far from "normal" we are. There are times, moments, when I forget that Jared isn't Jay. It's so easy to fall back into the familiar, comfortable patterns we've developed over the past six months. But the truth is our relationship isn't six months old, it's barely six days old, and I can't assume I know anything about the man sitting next to me.

"Uh…" Jared looks a little embarrassed. "Sort of?"

"What do you mean you have a sister, sort of?" I shoot him an annoyed look.

He shifts in his seat so he's turned toward me. "Faith is—was—my pseudo-step-sister when we were teenagers. My mom and her dad were together for about a year and we all lived in the same house. Our parents eventually split, but Faith and I kept in touch."

The GPS tells us to turn left onto a gravel road and I take the turn a little more aggressively than needed. Jared grabs the door handle, but wisely, he doesn't comment on my driving skills.

I have no right to be upset, and yet, I am. Not at Jared, per se, but at myself, at this whole situation, at fucking Alonzo Adams.

My life was great, damn it. I was happy. And now I have to start all over again, rebuild from the ground up. But not just that, I have to wait until we're free of this goddamn villain before I can do anything.

I'm thrilled that Jared's sharing pieces of himself with me, I really am. I'm finally discovering who the real Jared is underneath the fa?ade. But it's also a reminder of how naive I was. I was so infatuated and swept away that I neglected to ask the most basic of questions.

There's significantly more snow up here than there is back in the city, and this gravel road hasn't been fully cleared. The snow's been packed down instead, and the tires of the SUV crunch as it rolls over the tracks made by other vehicles.

"Any other siblings?" I try not to sound angry and end up sounding petulant. "Step, pseudo, or otherwise?"

Jared regards me for a second before answering. At least he sounds contrite. "No, just Faith. She's married with two kids—a boy and a girl. They live in Albany. The cabin technically belongs to her husband's family. It's been passed down through a couple generations. I don't see them much, but the kids do call me Uncle Jared."

And suddenly Jared's gone from a hardened FBI agent with a storied career to a brother and an uncle with a family and a past. How was I satisfied with the 2D version of him for so long? Why didn't I think it was weird when all my friends kept telling me it was, in fact, super weird?

I give Jared a curt nod in acknowledgment. He's trying and I can tell he's still riddled with guilt. I'm the one who suggested we start fresh, so I can't very well hold a grudge. Not that I want to. I don't want to be angry or upset. I hate feeling this way.

"That's the driveway there." Jared points out the window, but all I see is snow.

I lean forward, squinting against the sun's glare, and finally spot a small reflective diamond stuck to the top of a metal stick in the ground. Right behind it is a break in the trees and a patch of undisturbed snow. No cars have been down that drive since the last snowfall. No bad guys, thank god. But no FBI agents either. I really, really wish they would make themselves easier to spot. I'd feel so much better if I were able to see them.

Carefully, I turn the SUV onto the driveway and the sound of tires on snow grows louder and yet more muffled. I slow way down, making sure I don't accidentally run us off the road.

"It's a pretty long drive," Jared says. "Which should give us ample warning if anyone starts heading our way."

"What about all the agents who are supposed to protect us?" I stare out into the forest of bare tree trunks, strips of brown against a white backdrop. I don't see a single person. We're all alone out here.

"They're out there," Jared assures me, though I'm far from assured.

Then suddenly, in the rearview mirror, a dark blur zooms past. I look up just in time to catch the taillight of what looks like another black SUV. It's continued straight on the road we turned off.

"That's some of them." Jared points his thumb over his shoulder. "The others will be maintaining a perimeter around the cabin. We won't be able to see them, but they'll be there."

"If we can't see them, how do we know they're there?" I can't keep the snarkiness from my tone. The farther away from civilization we've come, the more my stomach churns with nervousness. I grip the steering wheel with fingers that feel weak and trembly.

I felt safe in the hospital room with the police officer at the door and hospital staff everywhere. There's safety in numbers. Bad things happen when you're all alone on a darkened street… or in the middle of a fucking forest.

"They're there. Listen." Jared picks up a walkie-talkie and turns the dial on top. "This is Alpha One. We're approaching the cabin. All units, report."

There's a static-y crackle before voices start coming through.

"Charlie One, in position."

"Charlie Two, in position."

"Charlie Three, in position."

"Delta One, in position."

"Echo One, in position."

"All units are in position. Alpha One, you are clear to proceed."

That last voice sounds like Isaac, the guy in charge of this whole shebang. He's back in the operations center with its big bank of screens and rows of agents tapping into satellite feeds and CCTV cameras.

"See? Everyone's in place. They're on the lookout and they've got our backs." Jared returns his hand to my knee and squeezes.

I know that little demonstration is supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn't. It feels like we're walking right into the lion's den while everyone stands outside and watches.

Maybe Jared was right about not wanting me here. I'm only going to be a distraction. He'll be worried about me when he should be focused on Alonzo. Maybe I should've let them stash me in some obscure safe house, far away from anything dangerous.

But then Jared would be out here all alone. I drop my hand from the steering wheel to cover his. Being out here scares me, but the thought of Jared having to face this by himself terrifies me even more. I don't want to sit around in an empty apartment waiting to hear if Jared's dead or alive. I want to be where he is. I want to be by his side.

The trees on either side of the drive fall away to reveal a small clearing. At the end of the clearing is a picturesque wooden cabin with a wrap-around porch and a cute little chimney stack poking out the top.

"Pull around so we're facing the drive again," Jared instructs. "In case we need to make a quick getaway."

I swallow down the fear and maneuver the car into place.

When I shut the engine off, it's entirely too quiet. It's the dead of winter and the snow muffles any of the normal nature sounds. Sunlight bounces off the pristine white, illuminating the space between the trees. I scan the area slowly, looking for any sign of all those units that are supposedly in place.

Nothing.

"Don't worry. They're out there," Jared says softly. "Three units on the ground to maintain the perimeter. Victoria's in the vehicle that passed behind us on the gravel road. And a second vehicle is monitoring the turn off the highway. Isaac and the ops center will keep tabs on all of us through a satellite feed. We can communicate with them through this." He waves the walkie-talkie in his hand.

I close my eyes and sigh. I asked to be here. I insisted. If I ever want to go back to my normal, happy life, then I need to see this through.

"Okay, fine. Let's go check out this cabin."