Chapter 10

Amy watched as Logan’s fingers flew over his keyboard, only stopping for seconds to move his mouse to another spot before typing again.  He had once tried teaching her what he knew, said that it would be useful to her in the long run, but besides the basic computer tasks she had learned in college, she had no clue as to what went on when Logan sat down at a computer.  She knew that he was a genius when it came to them.  He could hack into any government sites he wanted to, but lucky for the government, he worked for them.  It made Logan dangerous; one of his people had once told her.  It was the only reason why Logan couldn’t get away from the government even if he wanted to.  He was too big of a liability to let go.

A small smile turned the corner of her lips.  She knew this was what he really enjoyed doing.  Anything technology related and her brother was on it in a second.  Amy had a feeling it was because computers didn’t talk back as he made it do what he wanted.  It was probably the easiest tasks in his life, because she knew for a fact that she hadn’t made his life any easier.  She only made it harder, and now, she brought him into this mess.  Should she have called him?  Logan would say yes, but the more she watched him, the longer she stood there, the less she believed she had made the right decision.  He wouldn’t have involved her, wouldn’t want her to be put in danger, but when the time came, she didn’t hesitate to put him in danger.  What kind of sister did that make her?

“It’s nice having a Navy SEAL in the family,” Jaxon mumbled.  Amy turned towards him, noticing his eyes weren’t on the computer or the particular SEAL he was speaking about.  His eyes were directly on her, and if she didn’t mistake the emotion in his eyes, he was worried, but about what?

“Former,” Logan muttered as he clicked away on his keypad some more.

Jaxon raised an eyebrow at her in question, making her shrug in reply.  “He still works with them, but only as a consultant.  Once his tour was up, he opted out signing up for another year.”  She glanced away as guilt hit her.  She was the reason why he hadn’t signed up another year.  He had worried after her, just like all her brothers, but whereas the others kept living their life, Logan seemed to put his on hold.

As if sensing her thoughts, Logan paused in his work to frown at her.  “I didn’t quit for you, Amy.  After my years were up, I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”  He motioned towards the dormant laptop on the counter.  “This is what I love to do, not sniper people from a roof a hundred yards away.”

“Hundred yards?” Jaxon interrupted, causing Logan to turn his from on him.

“Give or take some.  We had to get close.”

“Close?  That’s the size of a football field.”

Logan scrunched his eyes at Jaxon in confusion before shrugging and turning back towards her.  “You know it wasn’t because of what happened, Amy.  I stopped because I wanted to, not because I felt obligated.  Plus, it’s not like I still don’t work with them every once in a while.”

He said the last words with a smile before he turned back to the machine.  The sound of his fingers clicking against the keys on the computer was the only noise in the room.  She could feel Jaxon’s eyes on her, could feel his curiosity.  He was just going to have to suffer, because no matter how comfortable she felt with the guy, she wasn’t about to share her past with him.  She let out a deep breath, knowing that her thoughts were hypocritical.  As soon as he had started giving her information into his life, he had been an open book, while she held back anything she could.

“Amy,” Jaxon started as he took as step towards her.  She could see it in his eyes, knew that his next words were going to be questions about what happened.

“Got it,” Logan interrupted as she let out a sigh full of relief.

Taking a step towards the computer, Amy frowned at the random numbers on the screen.  “Is it supposed to mean anything?”

They both ignored her as Logan scrolled through the numbers, stopping once or twice to let out a small curse before he continued.  “You have videos?”

“Only of the crimes I was there for, most of them are ones I committed myself,” Jaxon admitted, his voice sounding hollow.

Amy glanced towards him, noticing that once more his eyes weren’t on the screen but on her.  Despite not wanting to get involved with this man, despite the warnings that were flashing in her mind, she reached out and gripped his hand in hers.  The relieved expression that quickly flew onto his face and the smile that followed made her small action worth it.  She just hoped that he only took it as her being nice.  Nothing passed that was allowed. 

“I don’t think you should watch this,” Logan said, his mouse hesitating over a folder. 

She didn’t have a clue when he had gotten away from all the random numbers, but she didn’t really care.  All she cared about was what was in the folder.  It would tell her what exactly Jaxon had done for the past year of his life, would show her the man he had to be to find his brother’s murderer.  “There is no way you’re making me leave.”

“I was afraid of that,” Jaxon mumbled as Logan clicked on the folder.

Various still frames of videos popped up, most of them dark as if they were blank, but with the time stamp beneath them, Amy knew that they were anything but.  The small white arrow hovered over the first one, but when Jaxon made a noise in the back of his throat, Logan scrolled down to pick the very last video instead.  He double clicked on it, making it pull up into a large window. 

At first, there was only darkness, but soon, a sidewalk came into view, along with the sound of someone running along it.  It took her a minute to realize that it was the cameraman who was running; it was Jaxon. 

“How’d you get the video?” Logan asked with his eyes trained on the screen as if he could pick out every single detail.

Jaxon shrugged, but his grip on her hand tightened.  “When I worked as a reporter, I learned all sorts of ways to hide a camera.  It’s my luck that these boys didn’t seem to look too hard for one.  They thought they were unstoppable.”  He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up.  “They had enough people in their pockets to think so, as you saw.”

“Button cam?”

“Yeah,” Jaxon said with a small, humorless chuckle.  “I got them with a button cam.”

Logan glanced back for a moment before turning his eyes back onto the screen.  “It’s always the simplest things that bring down the biggest bad guys.  Their ego doesn’t allow them to think anyone would try something so small.  So, they stop checking for it.  It’s the only reason why you weren’t killed before you infiltrated them.”

Jaxon didn’t say a word as the screen changed from being completely dark to showing a large lit up building.  Amy squinted at it, knowing she recognized it from somewhere.  She couldn’t place seem to quite place it though.  “Why does that look familiar?”

“It’s where the District Attorney lives,” Logan replied.  “The fu—” His eyes darted towards her.  “The damn bastard is dirty.”

Her eyes rolled at his move.  She was old enough to hear a few curse words here and there, but despite the few mumbled ones they allowed to escape their mouths, her brothers never cursed in front of her.  Their dad would be proud.  He had always said that when women were present, they needed to be treated with respect.  When they leave the room, curse like a sailor if that’s what floats your boat.

She shook her head, clearing all thoughts of her father.  If she kept on that track, he would probably be the next person she called.  “How do you know he’s dirty?”

“You could watch the rest of the video,” Jaxon offered, but Logan was already double clicking onto another one.  “Not that one.”

The grip Jaxon had on her fingers tightened as Logan ignored Jaxon’s plea and allowed the video to play.  Amy watched, noting that this time, the video wasn’t as long as the other was.  Instead of it being dark, a bright room was displayed on the screen.  Amy moved a little closer, watching as the guy tied to the chair struggled to escape all while screaming behind the cloth his in mouth.  The wide, frightened eyes he sent the camera clued Amy in on what was going to happen next.  It didn’t keep her from wincing as another man came into view. 

The guy was wearing a suit, looking as if he had just stepped out of the office, but it was the coldness in his eyes that sent the man in the chair struggling harder against his binds.  Those empty eyes looked towards the camera, and Amy wanted to draw back when she saw the excitement in the man’s eyes.  “You got this one?”

“You don’t want it?” Jaxon’s voice asked.

The man shook his head as he grabbed the tied up man’s face.  Tilting it towards him, the man in the suit smiled.  “Say goodbye to my friend.”

She could hear Jaxon let out a noise beside her and knew that the next part of the video was the part they were all dreading.  The man in the suit stepped away from the frightened guy in the chair.  Pleading eyes stared into the camera, and Amy wished she didn’t have to watch more, wished she didn’t have to know what was going to happen next. 

“Sorry,” Jaxon whispered in the video, low enough for only the camera to catch, just as a shot rang through the computer speakers.

Before she could see the man’s lifeless eyes, before she could see the bullet connect with the man, Logan clicked the video off.  “I think I should watch the rest of them later,” he said, clearing his throat.

“Yeah,” she mumbled as she chanced a look at Jaxon.

He stared at the wall, his hands were curled into tight fists, and it was the first time Amy had realized that she had drawn back from him.  When she knew what was going to happen, she had let go of his hand.  Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at his profile.  The things that he had to do were worse than she thought.

“How many?” she asked, not knowing why the question was so important to her.

He hesitated, but didn’t glance in her direction.  “Four, and only when I was with him.  When I was with the other guys, I insisted they take care of it.”

“If that’s who I think it was,” Logan said as he shoved his computer back into the laptop case, “you were doing those people a favor.”

Jaxon’s eyes snapped towards Logan and the angry expression in them made Amy want to step between the two men.  “I wasn’t doing any of them a favor.  If I did, they would be alive right now.”

Logan shrugged as if Jaxon’s words weren’t important.  “You kept them from being tortured.  I’ve seen that man’s victims, and the only way they can be identified is by their dental records.”  He hesitated, his eyes turning towards Amy.  “Don’t be too hard on him, sis.  You don’t know what it’s like to be in that position, to have to pull the trigger because you’re under orders.  I’m not saying to accept what he did, but don’t be too hard on him.”

With a small nod in Jaxon’s direction, Logan grabbed his computer bag and began walking towards the bedroom.  He hesitated as he got towards the door before he looked back at Jaxon.  “I have headphones.”

“Thanks,” Jaxon said with a small smile on his face, but Logan simply nodded once more before walking into the room and shutting the door behind him.

Amy stared at the door, knowing that her brother was on the other side getting himself ready to watch the other videos.  This was what she wanted, wasn’t it?  To be involved in Jaxon’s mess, to help him out?  How was she supposed to do that when she didn’t understand a single thing besides the fact that Jaxon had killed four people, shot them in cold blood?  She shook her head at her thoughts.  If she were being honest with herself, she would admit that she didn’t want to see those videos.  Logan taking them into another room where she could neither hear nor see them was a blessing. 

 “Amy,” Jaxon said in a low tone.

She glanced towards him, noticing the sadness in his eyes.  Hadn’t she been familiar with that look not too long ago?  Before she had called herself pathetic and moved on with her life?  This was different though.  His hurt was nothing like hers; his wouldn’t be so easy to move on from. 

“Can I explain?” he asked, a small twinge of desperation underlining his words.

Shaking her head, she sent him an apologetic look.  “I just need time,” she whispered as she walked towards the front door.  “Just some time.”  Her hand turned the knob, and she didn’t hesitate to walk out the door, didn’t hesitate to leave him standing alone in the living room with a helpless look on his face.