Josh puts up his hands once more in a placating gesture that only makes me want to punch him. “They probably took a bunch of backroads, which means they won’t get here for another fewhours at least. Logan’s pretty sure Coltello’s not with her.”
“Prettysure?Prettysure?” I’m about one second away from tearing out my own hair in despair. “Pretty sure is not fucking good enough! We fucking took a plane to get to her location, and now you’re telling me she isn’t even there, and you’re onlyprettysure Coltello isn’t with her! You know what happens the second Coltello lays eyes on her!”
“Right.” Josh swipes at the beads of sweat on his temple. “Listen, bro, we all want to save her. We’re all on the same side, doing our best.”
“I’m not your fucking bro!” I roar. “And no one is on the same side as me! No one loves her like I do! You think Logan’s on my fucking side? Logan fucking handed her off to a stranger! That’s the man we’re pinning all our hopes on, when he fucking abandoned her, just like my mom abandoned me!”
A ringing silence follows my words. Then Josh puts a timid hand on my shoulder. “Okay. I understand you’re upset. But this is the best plan Logan could come up with.”
“What is it?” I spit out. “Tell me. Fucking tell me. It better be a good one, or I’ll fucking shoot the piece of shit myself.”
Josh nods hurriedly. “He says he found the place they’re bringing Piperto. It’s where Coltello’s men are hiding. He doesn’t have eyes on Coltello, but he’s pretty sure—”
“Prettysure.” That word again. Fuck. Me.
“Yes, pretty sure,” resumes Josh nervously, “that Coltello is heading there too. And what’s more, so is the Moretti faction. Basically it’s about to be the center of action, in just a few hours. Meaning if we get in there now, we could take them by surprise. We stand a chance to kill them all. And it’ll be much easier to do it, because Logan wants us to…” He swallows, looking more nervous than ever. “Well, he wantsyouto…”
“Yeah?” I prompt, though I have a pretty good idea of what Josh is going to say next.
“Well, it’s in the suburbs of Idaho Falls. Like, the really ugly suburbs, where there’s a bunch of massive warehouses that service different companies. Like, there’s even an Amazon warehouse—”
“Josh,” I cut in. “Get to the point.”
“Right, right. Well, Coltello’s men have taken over one of the warehouses. One of the more isolated, abandoned ones, where no one would notice if there was any shooting. The Moretti clan is heading there now, they’ll be there in like an hour or two. It’s seven p.m. now, and it’s already pretty dark out. Dark enough that we could probably… well, let’s just say there’s a bomb in the back of the plane.”
“A bomb in the plane,” I repeat numbly.
“Yeah. Logan had a few different planes outfitted out with weapons and stuff. He was worried about this kind of thing happening. No offense, man, but he was like, Quill is such a blockhead that… well, anyway, doesn’t matter. No offense.”
“Josh,” I say quietly, after a beat of silence. “Has it ever occurred to you that Logandoesn’twant to save Piper?”
He stares at me. “Uhm, no. It didn’t. Why would it occur to you?”
I hang my head, rubbing at my temples, my brain working overtime as it tries to make sense of this plan of Logan’s. “I’m his best Devil soldier. Maybe he’s figured out I could be useful to him as something more than a toilet scrubber.”
“Huh?”
I lean in, suddenly wary that we’re in a Devil plane. While there’s no flight attendant, only a pilot in the cockpit, I realize this place could be bugged. I definitely wouldn’t put it past Logan.
“Remember what my dad said? For the big stuff, they use subcontractors. But Dad had realized how useful the Devil soldiers were for ordering contracts that the founders wouldn’tbother to look into. Because it’s supposed to be housekeeping. Nothing they’d worry about. And Damien might have quit, temporarily, but Logan probably still wants to keep things on the downlow. So…”
“So he wouldn’t use a subcontractor,” nods Josh. “He’d use you. But… what does that have to do with Piper?”
“Piper’s not here,” I hiss. “But you know who is? The threat to Devil.Boththreats. And it kind of looks like I’m walking straight into a trap. Because I can bomb the fuck out of this place, but what are the chances of a single soldier walking away unharmed? Even the best soldier?”
Josh blanches. “You think this is a suicide mission?”
“I think,” I grit out, “that Logan doesn’t give a shit if we survive. He’s using us as pawns in his own game. Hoping we’ll do enough to at least weaken the threat to Devil. Delay it. Whether we make it out or not. This isn’t about Piper. Maybe it never was about Piper. It’s all about Logan’s own game. And we’re his fucking fools.”
Josh’s eyes widen. He stares at me for a beat in shocked silence. For once, it seems, I’ve outsmarted the geek.
But then, he says, “Why the hell would Logan try so desperately to go behind Damien’s back if it’s not to protect Piper?”
“Huh?” I blink, back to feeling confused.
“You said yourself that for important shit, they use subcontractors. So if Logan is using the soldiers, the only possible reason is because he doesn’t want Damien to know. And why would he want to keep Damien in the dark about a threat to Devil unless it was to protect Piper?”
I blink again, three times, realizing Josh is right. There’s no other explanation than that. I guess Dad and Tragen have fucked so much with my head that I’ve lost the ability to trust anyone. Maybe there’s no shadiness to Logan.
