Every Precious Thing

the best position, but there were at least four different ways he could take both of them out.

Doable, if he were alone.

While Dev was more than capable of handling the other two, his positioning was not as favorable. The two training their weapons on him could put a bullet in the back of his head before Logan could vanquish his two.

Escape would have to wait for a better opportunity to present itself.

When Logan and his two new buddies reached the others, the man who had searched him handed the wallet and other items to the woman-Dr. Paskota, presumably. She opened the wallet and examined the license, then compared Logan to the picture.

Once she was done, she said, “This way.” She started to turn.

“Whatever you want to talk about, we can do it right here,” Logan said, not moving.

“I’m sure we could, but we won’t. Let’s go.”

The three gunmen had backed off far enough that even with a coordinated effort, Logan and Dev would have been condemning themselves to death if they tried anything. Reluctantly, Logan gave Dev a nod, and they followed the woman to the familiar gray sedan.

Six people in a car designed for no more than five meant a tight squeeze in the backseat. This could have been another opportunity, but the others weren’t fools. The two who got in on either side of Logan and Dev gave their weapons to the guy in the front passenger seat-Frisk-preventing the chance one of their guns could be wrestled away. Frisk swiveled around and leaned against the dash to get a clear view of everyone in back. He made sure Logan and Dev saw the gun in his hand.

“Where are we going?” Logan asked as they drove down the street.

No one answered. He asked again a few minutes later, but received the same response.

Soon Flagstaff was behind them, and they were on a quiet, two-lane road, the forest lining each side. This part of Arizona was decidedly not desert.

For the first several miles, Logan caught glimpses of homes amongst the trees, but it wasn’t long before they dwindled in number and all but disappeared as the road transitioned from asphalt to dirt.

Logan didn’t like the situation at all. If it were just talk the woman wanted, they would have found a quiet spot in town. This was more an end-of-the-line kind of thing. He shared a quick look with Dev, conveying without words that they would make their move at the first chance. Dev blinked once, indicating he understood.

They hadn’t gone far on the dirt road when the woman slowed and carefully scanned ahead. She took the first turn that came up. This new path wasn’t so much a road as the memory of one. They weaved between the trees, going no more than a quarter mile before they stopped.

Leaving the parking lights on and the motor running, Dr. Paskota ordered everyone out.

“Put them over there,” she said, pointing at a spot about fifteen feet in front of the car.

Frisk motioned for Logan and Dev to move.

The tree cover was dense, letting little of the moonlight to filter down. With the exception of the light from the car, everything was in near total darkness.

“When I make my move, head into the woods,” Logan whispered as he and Dev walked in front of their escort.

For a second he wasn’t sure he’d said it loudly enough for Dev to hear, but if he raised his voice, the guy behind them would have noticed.

“Uh-huh,” Dev grunted.

“Right there,” Frisk said.

Logan and Dev stopped.

“Now turn around.”

As they followed instructions, Logan made out the silhouette of the woman leaning against the vehicle. The other two were standing to either side of him.

Frisk took a step back toward the vehicle, but Dr. Paskota said, “No. Move to the side, but stay over there in case they try anything stupid.”

The escort didn’t seem to be too happy about this, but he didn’t protest as he moved several feet to Logan’s left.

“So, Mr. Harper, you want to tell me what you were doing in my motel room?”

“I was curious.”

“About what?”

“Whether it was your room, Dr. Paskota, or Mr. Frisk’s here.” Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Frisk flinch at the mention of his name.

“I guess we’ve established that you’re resourceful,” she said.

Logan shrugged, but remained quiet.

“You haven’t answered my question,” she said.

Logan smiled. “If you hadn’t been following us, I wouldn’t have been in your room. But since you had, I wondered why. See, I’m looking for someone, and you keeping an eye on us made me think you didn’t want us to do that. The obvious reason is that you know where she is and are trying to hide her. That’s why I was in your room.”

“You mean Diana Stockley.”

Logan shrugged. She knew why. She was working with Diana, after all, but if she wanted to take her time and play games, that was fine with him.

“Or was what you told that real estate agent a lie?” She smiled. “I have a feeling Diana Stockley doesn’t owe you any money.”

Logan kept quiet.

“I thought not. The picture, then. The one of the other woman you were showing around. That’s why, right?”

“You should know,” he said. “You beat up my friend because he was showing it around, too.”

Off to Logan’s side, Frisk had started looking at his boss every few seconds, as if he were waiting for a visual order to pull the trigger.

“Now why would we have done that?” she asked.

“Look, I know you’re helping Diana and Sara, and you think that my friends and I are some kind of danger to them, but we’re not here to harm them in any way.”

She stared at him, the look on her face curious. After a moment, she said, “Then why are you here?”

Something was not right, he realized. He’d made a mistake somewhere, figured something wrong. Can it be…?

Beside him, Frisk was taking even longer looks at his boss, a smirk growing on his face.

“Well, Mr. Harper? Why?” she asked.

He considered his response. “Sara’s a friend, that’s all. We were just trying to find her.”

Her look of curiosity was now one of pity. “I don’t know if that’s the truth or not, but I will tell you that you’ve been working under a misconception. I’m not helping Diana and Sara. I’m looking for them, just like you. The only difference is, I’m going to find them. You and your friend are a complication that has no value to me.”

Logan was right, but he had no time to process the bigger picture of what that might mean. He checked Frisk again. While the man was pointing his gun at Logan, he was once more looking at Dr. Paskota.

“Are you saying you had nothing to do with the man in the hospital?” Logan asked.

“Mr. Harper, I think we’re-”

Logan grunted, “Now,” and dove to his left, slamming into Frisk’s legs and knocking the gunman to the ground. He grabbed the man’s hand that was holding the gun, wrapped his free arm around the man’s waist, then rolled with him side over side quickly into the trees.

Behind him, several shots rang out.

“Let go of me, you son of a bitch!” Frisk yelled.

Logan punched him in the jaw and slammed the gun hard into the ground, catching the man’s fingers between the grip and the dirt.