Those They Betrayed Read online

  “So you need my help with organizing security? Or do you need me on ground-level, doing the grunt work?”

  “Both, actually. Of course, you’re a talented bodyguard. We all know that. But you’ve also had more experience dealing with the Brotherhood than anyone on my team. I mean, hell, you’ve foiled more Brotherhood plots than anyone else I’ve ever heard of.”

  “You’ve been keeping tabs on me?” Logan teased.

  “It’s hard not to when you’ve done such good work.”

  Logan sighed and got to his feet. He made a passing glance into the kitchen. Glenn and Roselyn were no longer there. He walked over to the window and looked out at the back yard. He saw the two of them running around outside. They were weaving between the slide and the sand pit and the swing and the toys. At intervals, Glenn would throw a football at Roselyn, and she would dodge it.

  This was supposed to be Logan’s chance. This was his week. He was supposed to prove himself responsible right here, right now. “I want to help,” he said hesitantly. “But I have the children this week. This is the first time I’ve gotten to have them over for more than a few hours.”

  “Is it really?” Keanu walked up behind him and looked out at the back yard. “You’ve really worked hard for this, haven’t you? Well, I can understand that. All I can say is that this is a once-in-a-lifetime event, if the media is to be believed. Can’t you ask their mother to trade a few days with you? You do this job, and I’ll make sure that you are paid enough that you can take the next two months off to be with your children. You can spend as much time with them as you want. Be the best father in the world.”

  Logan watched as Glenn threw the football at Roselyn. She finally got frustrated, picked it up off the ground, and chased after Glenn with it. She cornered him and nailed him in the leg as hard as she could. Logan smiled a little.

  “Two months’ wages,” he contemplated. “That would be nice.” He paced back and forth across the kitchen, mulling over the possibilities. “I tell you what,” he said finally, “I can do it, but I’m going to need help to manage this job.”

  “Let me guess. You want me to hire Randell the Vandal, as well.”

  “I can’t believe that’s the name that stuck with him,” Logan stifled a laugh.

  “It’s easier to remember than Randell the Drunk,” Keanu said, huffing out a hearty laugh.

  “True. But either way, I need him. Here,” he said, pulling his PH out of his pocket and pressing a button. “My contact info is updated on your PH. If you’re willing to hire Randell as well, then I’ll get in contact with their mother, and I’ll let you know if she’ll be willing to postpone my time with the kids.”

  Keanu offered Logan his hand. Logan accepted it, and tried not to groan out loud as his fingers were crushed in Keanu’s strong, excited grip.

  “You can have anything you need,” Keanu said, typing a few buttons on Logan’s PH. “Anything at all. If Sonequa is alive by Friday afternoon, and I don’t have to go job-hunting, it’s all worth it.”

  “We’ll keep her in one piece,” Logan smiled, putting his PH back in his pocket. “And if you ever want to take up a couple jobs on the side, I’d be happy to help, you know.”

  “Not if I can avoid it,” Keanu laughed.

  Logan escorted him back to the front door, and they said their farewells. Logan reinitiated the security system as Keanu walked down the driveway, then returned to the living room.

  ⌬

  “Well, here goes nothing,” he whispered to himself. He walked to the middle of the room, then ordered, “Holo, call Elizabeth.”

  The room filled with the dialing animation, and after three rings, she answered. She was in a lab coat, but Logan couldn’t make out any other details from the projection.

  “Logan, what’s going on?” She sounded annoyed by his interruption. “I’m at work. There can’t possibly be a problem already, can there? You’ve only had them for twelve hours.”

  “Nice to see you, too.” Logan crossed his arms.

  She didn’t respond. She just sat there, seeming content to wait until Logan resigned himself to answering her original question.

  “Something’s come up,” he said, breaking the silence.

  “Come up? What could come up? All you’re doing is taking care of your children. Are you too busy for that?”

  Logan tried his best to allay the animosity that he was experiencing, and simply said, “Someone came and told me they need me for the week. It’s for an important public appearance, and the pay will cover my expenses for the next two months.”

  “Logan,” Elizabeth sighed. “You know how important this week is for you.”

  “I know, Liz, but—”

  “This was your chance to show me that you could handle the responsibility of taking care of your children for more than an afternoon, Logan.”

  “Oh,” Logan rolled his eyes. “So they’re my children now, are they?”

  “Don’t be that way,” Elizabeth said softly, “You know I wanted this to work as much as you did.”

  Something in Elizabeth’s voice told Logan that she meant it. She really did want him to succeed.

  “I know,” Logan sighed. He found it hard to meet her eyes, even more-so than usual, so he let his gaze pass right through her to the bookshelf on the wall. He saw that same book, the one that he had been reading on the day he first met her. “I wasn’t looking to ditch our plans, Liz. But this came up out of the blue. I only need to postpone this visit until next Sunday.”

  “So what great cause needs your life-saving attention this time?”

  Logan couldn’t make out anything below her shoulders, but he could tell that she had just crossed her arms. “I have to do a body-guarding gig for the Senator of Minnesota.”

  Whatever Elizabeth had been expecting, it wasn’t that. “Senator Johnson…” she said, trailing off.

  “Yeah. She’s going to be releasing that big new gene mod everyone is going on about, and the Brotherhood has made threats on her life.”

  Elizabeth remained perfectly still as she contemplated this new information. Logan couldn’t tell what was going through her head, but something about the details of his job had changed her disposition.

  “Ok,” she finally replied. “I’ll watch them until Sunday. It’s not like I don’t have experience taking care of the kids while also being incredibly busy. We’ll postpone the visit until then.” She pointed her finger at him. “Just make sure you leave your calendar open for next week.”

  “It’ll be open for the next two months,” he smiled. “I’ll make this all up to you. I promise.”

  “I’m sure you will,” Elizabeth said, disconnecting from the call.

  The room went dark. Logan closed his eyes and thought back to the first time he had seen her face. Things were so different. He would have given anything to be on the holo with her for five minutes back then, back before—everything. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then left the room, not looking back.

  ⌬

  Logan walked through the kitchen to the back door and looked outside. Glenn and Roselyn had found a couple sticks and were doing an impromptu sword-fight out by the slide. Glenn climbed up the ladder that led to the top, warding off all her blows along the way, and stood victorious on top of the platform. Roselyn was perturbed.

  “That’s not fair!” she cried out, throwing the stick on the ground.

  Logan called for them. “Hey, you two, could you come over here please?”

  Roselyn ran over and stood in front of him. Glenn slid down the slide and arrived shortly afterwards.

  “What is it?” Glenn asked.

  “I’m sorry, but something came up.”

  Glenn groaned, already predicting what would come next.

  “You’re going to be going back to your mom’s place for a couple of days—”

  The words had no sooner came out of Logan’s mouth than Roselyn did a jump for joy and ran inside, presumably to pack her things.<
br />
  “Seriously?” Glenn asked, dumbfounded. “But this was supposed to be our week with you.”

  “I know, Glenn. I’m sorry. I just have to do some overnights this week for someone important. But I talked to your mom, and we agreed to push back your time here till next week, so on Sunday, we’re going to be doing the exact same thing again. I promise I won’t be working again for quite a long time.”

  Glenn wiped something from his eye and ran into the house without saying a word.

  “Glenn!” Logan called out. He whipped around and hoped to see his son standing there in response to his call. He wanted to be able to talk with him some more about it, to reason with him, but he wasn’t there. All he saw was an empty kitchen. Logan sighed and headed for the stairs.

  ⌬

  Logan found Glenn laying on his bed, crying. “Hey, do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

  “Go away,” Glenn said abruptly, rolling over to face the wall.

  “Listen,” Logan continued anyways, rolling his desk chair over and sitting next to the bed, “I know you were looking forward to this week. I was, too. I promise that I’ll make it up to you, ok?”

  Glenn didn’t respond.

  “What if,” the idea suddenly came to Logan, “when you come back next week, I teach you how to shoot?”

  That got his son’s attention. He rolled over hesitantly and asked, “Do you really mean it?”

  “I do,” Logan said. He slid his revolver out from its holster. He took the bullets out one by one, then handed it carefully to Glenn. “I know you’ve been wanting to learn for a long time now.”

  Glenn nodded, eyeing the revolver. It was an old-fashioned six-shooter, with intricate scrollwork etched into the barrel, and the name “Turner” written in ornate letters down each side of the handle.

  “My grandfather’s grandfather etched that design by hand,” Logan said, sliding over to the bed and pointing at the barrel, “a long, long time ago. It’s been in the family ever since. You know, I was younger than you are now when my father taught me how to shoot. I grew up appreciating the power of this tool, and the responsibility that comes with having it. I think that you’re responsible enough to learn how to shoot now, too.”

  “But how would you know if I am or not?” Glenn asked hesitantly, obviously in awe of the gun in his hands.

  “Because I know that you respect power, and you know how and when to use it. You know all those letters the teachers send home?”

  Glenn nodded slowly, his face turning red.

  “They think they’re warning us about misbehavior, that you’re a trouble child and we need to do something about it before it gets worse. But you know what I see in those reports?”

  “What?”

  “I see a strong young man who respects power, rather than abuses it. I see a man who’s tougher and stronger than the school bullies. But you never start fights, and you never fight for yourself. You’re always fighting to protect your sister, or your friends, or anyone else who the bullies happen to be picking on. That’s how I know that you’re responsible enough for this.” Logan pointed at the revolver. “You are a great son, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

  Glenn smiled and gave his father a big hug. “So,” he said, letting go again, “you’ll teach me when I come back?”

  Logan nodded.

  “When you’re done with your job?”

  “As long as you don’t tell your mom,” Logan smiled.

  Glenn grinned back. “I guess,” he said, pausing, “I guess I can wait, then.” He slid off the bed, ran to his closet and pulled his suitcase out.

  ⌬

  The drive from Minneapolis to Rochester was long and tedious, especially with such young children in the back seat. They were easily bored, and weren’t used to making these trips between Logan’s house and their mother’s.

  Logan breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he saw Elizabeth’s exit number, 61, the first exit in Rochester. He pulled into her subdivision and drove all the way to the end of the street. Her house was the last one on the right. Behind it, corn stalks were just beginning to stretch up out of the ground.

  There was a car parked on the street right outside her house. Logan didn’t recognize it as anyone he knew. He looked over and saw Elizabeth standing on the front porch, talking to another woman. Whoever it was, she had striking features. Her hair was a rich shade of red, and her eyes were a cool blue, bright enough for Logan to make them out all the way from the road.

  “Who is that?” Logan asked hesitantly.

  “That’s Eveline,” Glenn replied.

  “She’s mommy’s friend from work,” Roselyn added.

  “Interesting,” Logan said, soft enough that only he could hear himself. “Very interesting.”

  The car pulled into the driveway, and Logan hopped out, running around to grab the children’s bags.

  “Hey, Logan,” Elizabeth said.

  The two woman had stopped talking. Their attention was trained exclusively on him the entire way from the driveway to the porch. The last time Logan had felt such bad nerves from having a woman look at him, well, it had been a long time ago.

  “Hey, Liz,” he struggled to get out. He took a deep breath and inhaled some spit, and began hacking up phlegm. “Thanks,” he finally gasped, “for taking the children on such short notice.” He set their bags down on the porch.

  “Yeah, no problem,” Elizabeth said nonchalantly.

  Glenn and Roselyn picked their bags up and ran inside with them.

  “Well, I should get going,” Eveline chimed in, excusing herself from their conversation. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Elizabeth replied.

  Eveline’s beauty, even more readily apparent from close-up, captivated Logan. He couldn’t help but keep his eyes trained on her as she walked down the sidewalk and climbed into her car. It took him a moment to become aware of himself again. He turned around and, just as he had expected, found Elizabeth’s freezing-cold death stare boring into his skull.

  “Looking for something, Logan?” she asked bluntly.

  “I’m just looking at the new ground we’re breaking in our relationship. It’s so nice that we’re finally tearing down boundaries. You know that I have never once much met one of your workmates from your oh-so-secretive job until just now?”

  “You know what? You’ve never mentioned it before. And so what if I decided to keep my work and my personal life separate. You, on the other hand, said, ‘Screw it. Who needs a personal life when you can work non-stop all week long?’”

  “Yeah, that’s me in a nutshell. Still the ungrateful, selfish bastard you divorced, never thinking about anyone but myself.”

  “Ha,” Elizabeth barked.

  “Well, I’ll be back on Sunday. Don’t forget to be home when I call this time so I can talk to my kids, would you?”

  “Oh, that was one time, Logan!”

  “One time was enough, Elizabeth.”

  Glenn and Roselyn walked back outside together to see Logan off. Roselyn ran up and briskly gave Logan a hug on the leg, then ran inside, barely taking the time to say bye.

  “I love you!” Logan called out.

  “Loveyoubye,” she replied.

  Logan sighed. He looked at Glenn and saw that he was looking rather downcast.

  “Hey,” Logan said, putting his arm on Glenn’s shoulder. “I’ll be here bright and early on Sunday. So early that I’ll be subbing in for your alarm clock! And then we’re going to have a week of pure awesomeness. I promise.”

  Glenn smiled. He closed the gap between himself and his father, and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing tight. Logan squeezed back.

  Chapter II

  Logan walked through the entrance of the Minneapolis City Hall. He passed a rather pretentious statue of a man sitting on a crocodile and hoped it wasn’t an indicator of the Senator’s own attitude.

  Keanu had welcomed him almost the second he had arrived, and becko
ned Logan to follow him. Logan was doing his best to walk with large strides, but even still, he could barely keep up with his new tour guide. He found himself more often than not jogging, or even breaking into an all-out run, to catch back up with him.

  The building was bustling with activity. It was obvious that the security department wasn’t the only one that had a lot of work to do before the release of the Cure on Friday. Logan couldn’t help but feel like he was in the way.

  “So basically, what we’re planning on doing,” Keanu explained, gesturing emphatically, “is doubling the Senator’s round-the-clock detail for today, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And we’re going to have twelve people on the recon holos at all times. They’ll be our eyes and ears for the rest of the week. They’ll be keeping an eye on security footage, monitoring social media, all that good stuff.”

  “Where are they going to be located?” Logan asked, tripping over his own feet as he struggled to stay abreast with the man, just to be able to hear his reply.

  “We have a room right here in city hall that our guys work out of.”

  “We need to change that,” Logan declared bluntly.

  “What?” Keanu asked, stopping in his tracks so that he could talk to Logan directly. “Why?”

  “If someone hits the building, if they take out the power, we’d be blind. You said we have a dozen people watching the holos, right? Ok,” Logan said, starting to do the math in his head, “so leave four of them here in the building, then get four unmarked vans and set them up around the city in inconspicuous locations. Put two people in each van, and have them relocate every time shifts rotate.”

  “Good idea,” Keanu said. “I’ll get my people working on setting that up right away.”

  “So when do I get to meet the Senator?” Logan asked as they reached a door in the hallway.

  “Right now,” Keanu answered. He pushed on the door handle and propped it open, gesturing for Logan to enter.

  He walked through the doorway and found himself in a big round room. It reminded Logan of the pictures he had seen of the original Oval Office, only without the view. He wondered if it had indeed been modeled after the Oval Office itself. Logan could only imagine what that could do to the ego of the person who stayed in this office.