Logan nodded as he realized she was changing the subject and letting him off the hook. The result was a little mind-spinning as she launched into a lecture of the dos and don’ts of growing daisies in a pot, in the window.
He had to admit, it helped. And, he couldn’t help but wonder at her assessment that she sucked at relationships and reading people. She seemed to be damned good at knowing exactly when he needed her to move on, and she did it. No questions asked. She might move on to some strange topic, like the care and growth of daisies, but she did it. He had a feeling she was a lot better with people than she realized.
Chapter 2
Three days later, Logan was halfway down the hall to the company welcoming party for him and his new technology team, when his phone rang. Someone had transformed the company’s reception area into a chic cocktail party. Dim lights and a temporary bar manned by two bartenders, and from where he stood he could see wait staff circulating with appetizers and tiny napkins.
The caller ID on his cell caused him to step back to his office and close the door rather than head down the hall to join the rest of the company.
“Hey, Cabo, I didn’t think you guys were stateside,” he said, by way of greeting. Jake Cabo had served alongside Logan for the majority of their missions. Cabo had been right there with him when Logan joined the special ops team that took orders directly from the Admiral at USSOCOMM, and Cabo had taken over as Lead Petty Officer when Logan had been medically retired.
“Just got back. I wanted to fill you in on some old friends of ours.”
Logan tensed. “Old friends” usually meant the kind that wanted to kill them. Logan would prefer not to have any reunions with old ghosts. His only response was a grunt, but that was apparently enough to encourage Cabo to keep going.
“It seems the princess has come home. She seems to be taking over the family business.”
Logan whistled. There was only one woman Cabo could mean. Klavdiya Bogolomov, although she typically used the name Diya Molov rather than her full given name. Whether that was for ease of use or to hide the connection to her father, he didn’t know.
It didn’t matter. Diya Molov was the only surviving child of Nikolai Bogolomov, one of the US government’s most wanted, until Logan’s team had taken him out.
“No shit. I always thought Nikolai kept her well clear of all his business. I figured we took down the entire empire when we took him out.” Logan didn’t mention they’d also taken out both of his sons, but he cringed as the thought ran through his head.
He and Cabo both knew what happened. They didn’t need to relive that op, or any of the six-ways-sideways shit that had happened that night.
“Well, we’re not entirely sure about all that, yet. We’re looking into it. It seems one of her cousins who was pretty involved in the business is serving as her right-hand man.”
“Yoshi?” Logan asked, digging back through his head for any information on Nikolai Bogolomov and his family. The man had at one point been nothing more than a gun runner. By the time Logan’s squad got the order to capture or kill him, Nikolai had moved from running guns to terrorism, ultimately targeting American military installations abroad. The man was a coldhearted killer and the more massive the scale, the more his murdering heart reveled in it.
“That’s the one. Yoshi Bogolomov. He’s not the brightest guy and apparently he was happy to defer to Diya as new head of the family, throwing his brawn behind her brains. We’re not sure if they’re dealing in arms or if she’s taken on her father’s political causes.”
“Huh,” was all Logan said. He knew damned well what Cabo meant by political causes.
Nikolai Bogolomov supported a grab bag of the world’s terrorist organizations and was often the mastermind behind many of their plots. All of their intel indicated that Diya had not been active in the family business, nor had she seemed to share her father’s bent toward terrorism. She’d attended university and lived in England, far from the family home outside of Omsk, Russia.
“Why call me about this?” The hair on Logan’s arms stood at attention. The antsy feeling he always felt at the back of his neck when things were about to go belly-up came on full force.
“We’re still checking on the source and trying to get more info, but it seems she’s got her cousin looking into our squad. They’ve got a hacker. We don’t know if he got into official records. Intel says Yoshi might have found someone willing to talk to him. Someone who knows our names. But nothing’s confirmed yet.”
Logan didn’t hold back with the string of curses before calming enough to ask the pertinent question: “One of our own?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. “How the hell did that happen? No one should have access to that information. Those records are sealed. Shit, very few people in the military can get that intel. How the hell did an outsider get it?”
“They should be sealed,” said Cabo, his tone grim, but resigned. “We don’t know for sure how the information leaked and we’re still trying to find out if it’s accurate. But, you need to watch your back on the off chance it’s true. If she’s got your name . . .”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t have to. They both knew what could happen if that kind of information got out. If Diya Molov was anything like her father, she’d head his way, guns drawn.
“You know I like you, right?”
Okaaaaay. Not exactly what Logan expected to hear from Chad. Logan glanced over at the big man standing next to him and frowned.
They’d gotten to know each other over the past few months, since Chad and Zach were friends, but he had no interest in talking about Chad’s feelings. And Chad hadn’t really struck him as the touchy-feely type. The man had been an Army Ranger and he was a big man. He didn’t scream giant teddy-bear. He was more like one of those giant rock monsters in movies.
“Uh, sure.” Logan took a step to the side, inching away from Chad. There was an odd glint to the man’s eyes.
“I’m just saying, I like you,” Chad said and then let his gaze move to where Logan’s had been moments before. On Samantha Page. “But it needs to be said, if you mess with Sam, I won’t hesitate to implement a few of the more interesting techniques for dismembering bodies I’ve got tucked away.”
Andrew Weston, the third in the trio of best friends who ran Sutton, sidled up on the other side of Logan. “Hear, hear,” he said quietly, raising his glass in a toast.
Logan rolled his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment, gentlemen, and let me assure you, I have no intention of messing with her, but please. Don’t delude yourselves into thinking you can take me. You’ve been out of the action for, what, ten years, Chad?”
Logan had to admit the conversation might have turned a tad juvenile after that, with him and Chad murmuring insults at one another. Andrew cheered one side or the other as the mood seemed to strike him.
It didn’t have to be said that Logan had heard the warning and respected it. They loved Sam like a kid sister.
Logan might be unreasonably attracted to her, but he also knew his head was in the wrong damned place to be starting anything with a woman. Especially with a woman like Sam. One who mattered.