Page 66 of Coff

Logan shakes his head. “That’s what they’ll expect. Once they find your car, they’ll assume you got a new one and drove north.”

Logan’s phone rings, and he answers.

“Did you find her?” a man asks over the speakers.

“I did. She and her brother are in the car with me now. Want to say hi?”

“Duke Manzia?”

Duke leans forward. “Who the fuck is that?”

“Special Agent Brian Folger with the FBI.”

Duke falls back against the seat. “The damn FBI.”

Brian responds. “We need to get you both into protective custody.”

I turn to Duke, and he’s frowning. “Just get us out of this area, and we will be fine on our own.”

“No, you won’t,” Brian says.

Duke laughs. “Do we have a choice?”

“No. Logan, keep me apprised of your location. I’ll call if anything new turns up.”

“Sounds good,” Logan says.

We drive for a couple of hours in silence. Duke snores in the back seat. How the hell he can fall asleep is beyond me. The throbbing of my head reminds me I need caffeine.

“Can we stop for coffee?” I ask.

Logan doesn’t respond.

“A drive-through is fine. Please.”

He sighs. “I’ll find a place. I should gas up, too.”

Twenty minutes later, he pulls up at a mini mart. “Hope you aren’t too much of a coffee snob. They should have something in there, though.”

“It works. Want one?”

“Sure.”

I glance back at Duke, and he’s still sleeping. Once inside the mini mart, I find the bathroom, then buy three black coffees. When he wakes up, Duke will want one. I manage to get them back to the car without dropping any.

Logan finishes gassing up the car and then gets in. I take the opportunity to really study him. When I saw him the other day, we were standing side by side, and I didn’t get a chance to really look him over. He has a beard now, and his hair is longer. But also, his demeanor has changed. I can’t put my finger on it, but he’s more serious now. Well, of course, he would be.

“You’re staring,” he says.

“You’re different,” I say.

He nods. “Been through a lot since we were kids.”

I wince. We were kids, but somehow, his saying that diminishes what we were to each other. “Is that all we were? Kids? With some crush?” I ask.

He turns to me and licks his lips. “It was more than a crush for me.”

I nod. “Me too.”

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