“Goes under the stream in the backyard,” Joe responded breathlessly. “About a quarter mile down, there’s a shed hidden by the Everglades with a car in it. Let’s just hope the battery isn’t dead. I haven’t had the need to start it lately.”

“I’m really sorry about this, Uncle Joe,” Logan said. “I promise to make it up to you.”

“Nonsense, boy,” Joe said. “I wouldn’t have given you the coordinates if I didn’t want you to use them. But you might want to figure out how they followed you here, so you don’t make the same mistake again.”

Logan looked back at her, accusation in his eyes. “Did you use my phone or anything else since we’ve gotten here? Call into work to coordinate our nightmare as your big story?”

Seems trust went only one way with him.

And here she’d thought things had changed between them after yesterday’s conversation and last night’s nonconversation.

Clenching her jaw to keep from giving him a piece of her mind and holding Walter tighter to keep her fists from flailing, she took a deep breath and exhaled before responding. “No. I’ve done nothing since I’ve gotten here but submit to you, sleep, and come downstairs to find you. If one of those things was the cause of alerting the FBI to our whereabouts, then I apologize.” Nope, she couldn’t do it. She added, “And I’ll make sure never to do it again.”

His eyes softened. “I didn’t mean—”

“Mind having your lovers’ quarrel a little later? I don’t think this is any of my business,” Joe said gruffly.

She didn’t embarrass easily, but her cheeks heated at her oversharing. Still, she didn’t regret defending herself. It was one thing to submit in bed, but hell if she’d ever submit outside it. She fought for herself as hard as she fought to right wrongs through her investigative reporting, and she wouldn’t change for anyone, including Soldier Boy.

They continued down the tunnel until it ended at a ladder. Joe climbed up and threw open a hatch.

Logan started his ascent, and held out his arms out as he neared the top. “Give me Walter.” She handed him the dog so that she could use both hands to climb, and he passed Walter to Joe.

She followed Logan up the rungs of the ladder, blinking away the spots in her vision caused by the brightness of the sun. In front of them was a brown wooden pole barn, which, from the looks of it, had been slowly decaying for the past thirty years. But she had to hand it to Joe. If she’d stumbled upon it without the knowledge of what lay inside, she would walk past it, never thinking twice about inspecting the contents. Although it seemed odd to find a structure like this in the middle of a swamp.

A splash from the stream behind startled her. She whipped her head around, seeing nothing but a circular ripple spreading out from the center, and turned back to Joe, questioning him with a raise of her brow.

Joe wiped the sweat from his forehead then worked the combination on the lock of the barn. “You might want to keep the dog in your arms for now, Logan. We grow the gators big down here.”

She didn’t know what was worse at this point, gators or FBI agents. “What’s the plan here? We’re just gonna drive away and hope they don’t follow us?”

Joe removed the lock and swung open the doors of the barn to reveal a Jeep inside. She and Logan were about to follow when Joe held up his hand to halt them. “You’re not coming with me.”

Chapter Twelve

“WHAT?” SHE ASKED. “You’re going to leave us here for the FBI?” With a wave of her arm, she motioned to the estuary. “And the gators?”

“No.” He pointed to a cluster of bushes. “Right behind the red mangroves over there, you’ll find a fan boat. Head west and keep going until you see a bunch of small buildings. That’ll be the town. Dock the boat over there and find the purple house in town. Ask for Morrie. Tell him I sent you and you need the truck. While you’re doing all that, I’ll be taking the FBI on a wild-goose chase. By the time they catch up with me, you’ll be long gone.”

Logan shook his head vehemently at Joe’s attempt to hand him one of the bags he’d taken from the house. “No. I can’t ask you to do that for us. There’s got to be another way.”

Joe grabbed Logan by the shoulders. “You just figure out who’s behind this setup and don’t worry about me. I’m sure I can keep them up to their eyeballs in paperwork while they try to figure out how a dead man has aided and abetted two criminals.”

As soon as the words dead man left his mouth, she realized how the FBI had found them. She bit her lip, hating she was about to burst the man’s bubble. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think they already know you’re alive.”

Joe released Logan and narrowed his gaze on her. “Why would you think that?”

Her ability to string together facts to come to the right conclusion was one of her strongest attributes. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Once they got the tip from Walter’s previous owner about our location, the FBI probably checked to see if Logan had any contacts in Florida.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Joe. Apparently, the FBI already knew where to find you before we got here.”

The men froze. She transferred her weight from foot to foot, watching Joe’s puzzled expression as he processed her theory.

Laughing, he pounded Logan’s back. “You’ve got yourself a smart one, Logan. Don’t fuck it up.” He jutted his chin toward Walter. “Morrie just lost his dog. Might want to consider giving him Walter. The man could use a companion.” On a salute, he climbed into his truck and slammed the door shut. The engine roared to life and he drove off, waving his hand out the window as he headed back toward the direction of the house.

She and Logan started for the boat that was allegedly hidden behind the bushes. What if they couldn’t get it working? They’d be stuck here in the middle of a swamp.

“Know how to drive a fan boat?” she asked, trying to get her mind off the danger hiding all around them.

“No, but I have a feeling I’m about to learn unless you’ve got some experience with them.”

She puffed out a breath. “Closest experience I’ve got is a canoe in summer camp. You’re military. They must have trained you for things like this.”

“Sorry. There weren’t many opportunities to go boating where I was stationed. But unlike you, I’ve driven a boat with a motor before. Fan boats can’t be too different from a pontoon, right?” he said teasingly.

Rounding the other side of the bush, she got her first sight of what Joe had left them to use as their getaway vehicle and stopped in her tracks. The boat looked like a tin can sliced in half with a huge fan stuck on the back. There were only two rows, each wide enough to accommodate one person.

The boat tipped as Logan stepped onto it with Walter tucked under his arm like a football. In her mind, she saw herself falling into the open mouth of a waiting alligator.

No way was she riding that thing.

Logan set Walter down and held out his hand to her. “Hop on.”

“No, I think I’m going to find another way to get out of here.”

“Rachel, there’s no other way.” His voice softened. “Trust me.”

She must be out of her mind to trust him after he’d practically accused her of inviting the FBI to find them, but when he used that voice on her, she couldn’t resist. She did trust him to keep her physically safe.

Emotionally was a whole other matter and one she didn’t have time to explore at the moment.

“Fine,” she said, taking a deep breath as he helped her onto the boat. She sat in the front, taking Walter from Logan and putting the dog on her lap.

Logan unknotted the rope anchoring the boat and dropped it in the back before getting behind the wheel. “This should be easy. It’s just like a car.” He handed her a pair of headphones. “I think we’re supposed to wear these.” After they placed them over their ears, he turned the key and put the boat into drive.