Page 66 of Burning Hearts

Logan got to his feet, trying to think what he had in his jumpsuit or any of his pockets under it. The thing was cumbersome but kept him alive when he jumped. The helmet with its wire face shield usually protected his face from tree branches, which was why when he swiped his cheek now, his fingers came away with blood on them. His helmet was somewhere back in the snow.

He hadn’t cared at the time. He’d only been thinking about getting to Jamie as fast as he could.

The guy with the gun shoved him forward. He poked Logan in the back with the gun, causing him to stumble. But he kept his feet under him, hands out to the side as he followed the guy with Jamie over his shoulder.

Would she regain consciousness soon?

She could need medical help, but they were too far from it to save her. He might wind up losing her out here because he’d walked the team into a trap.

Logan’s young faith in Jesus had never been tested like this before.

But he believed God had it all in His hands.

He prayed as he walked, following the guy ahead of him down the side of this mountain as he picked his way down a deer trail. Snatch got on his phone, but Logan couldn’t learn anything from the pieces of one-sided conversation.

The one behind him, holding him at gunpoint, wasn’t going to answer any questions.

He needed a way to convince these guys that he knew nothing. But would that even help? They’d probably kill the two of them out here and leave them for the animals. “Where are we going?”

They had no leader.

Logan glanced back at Snatch. “Are you in charge now that Howards is dead?”

The guy behind Logan shoved him forward. “Shut up and keep walking.”

As they did, Logan scanned the trees. The terrain. At one point he spotted what looked like a cave entrance in the hillside. But unless he could grab Jamie from the guy in front and run without getting shot in the back for his trouble, it was of no use.

Hiding didn’t mean safety.

He had enough faith to trust the outcome, but if he did move fast, it needed to be because he felt a strong nudge from the Lord to move.

The guy carrying Jamie made a quick direction change, going around something. Not an obstacle. It was a crack in the ground, where part of the hill had separated. Logan didn’t like the look of it, wanting nothing to do with a potential landslide.

It was only inches wide.

If he used it as a distraction to get the gun from the guy behind him, could he fire it at Snatch fast enough to not get stabbed? The scenario played out in his mind, and as far as he could see, his two options were to suddenly become an action hero or wind up getting himself killed.

Logan didn’t feel a strong nudge from the Lord. Or the adrenaline from before had worn off and his nervous system was fried from being overloaded. Maybe he would feel nothing at all and there would be no nudges.

Just a tiny sound.

The crack of a branch to his left, several feet away in the trees.

He didn’t look at it or react to it in any way. He just kept walking. Praying. Wondering.

Had help come?

* * *

Jamie had been awake for at least a minute, snippets of conversation swirling around her. She was definitely over someone’s shoulder, which, given the bone poking into her stomach, hurt a lot. Just not as much as her head.

The splitting pain in her skull wasn’t the worst thing though.

Lord, I don’t think things have ever been this bad.

She stared but saw nothing. She listened but couldn’t discern what was going on. Everything in front of her eyes was black. Because she’d hit her head? She was blind.

Someone, a man, yelled, “Hey!”

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