Free Logan's Leap by JJ Ellis, TA Ellis

she said softly. A tear dripped from
her eye onto CJ’s cheek and she brushed it away.
    “Please
don’t,” Logan begged. “Promise me you’ll stop doing this. I want to help.”
    Jayna
looked up at him. The look in his eyes was somehow always comforting even when
he was frustrated with her. “I promise,” she whispered. How could she not. The
thought of being on the run, alone with a newborn, terrified her.
    Logan
handed her a notepad and a pen and she got started on a list for them. When she
was done, he sat down next to her and took the paper. “Can you use a gun?”
    “I
grew up in bear country, Logan. Of course I can. But I don’t have one anymore,
Reginald took it."
    He
left her side and went to the closet. From the top shelf, he grabbed a locked
box and brought it back to her. Taking the 9mm out, he checked it over and
handed it to her once CJ was safely in his carrier. “If anyone but me comes in
that door, shoot them.”
    “Okay,”
she agreed getting used to the feeling of the cold metal in her hands. “Nice
piece.”
    “Yeah
it is,” he smiled. “I’m going to go get supplies then I’ll come back up here to
get you and CJ. I think we’re going to take a ride in a bread truck."
     
    **********
     
    Logan
had the supplies boxed up, made a few calls, and then bought a pay-as-you-go
cell phone before heading back up the stairs. Jayna was singing to CJ when he
walked in the door.
    “Are
you ready to go?” he asked, picking the pistol up off of the table and putting
it in the back waistband of his jeans.
    “I
guess. Why are we leaving in a bread truck?”
    “We
were followed here by a couple of nasty looking guys in a black car. I guess
they don’t realize how observant I can be.”
    “Shit.
Reggie’s goons are usually meaner than he is.”
    “That’s
why we will be leaving here in the back of Curtis Blackwell’s bread truck.
We’ll meet up with my dad’s friend, Travis, where we will get a vehicle and
head out of town.”
    “Where
too?” she asked, grabbing her purse.
    “Someplace
that I barely remember,” he murmured, a tortured look clouding his eyes. “Come
on, let’s go.”
    The
loading dock was deserted and all of the bays were closed but one. A Blackwell
Bakery Distributors truck was backed all the way into the opening.
    “Jayna,
give me your cell phone,” Logan said as his manager, Andrew, approached.
    “Uh.
Okay, why?” Her hand slipped into her pocket and she turned the phone over to
Logan.
    He
gave his cell phone, and hers, to Andrew with instructions to put them in the
office until their return. “I trust you to take care of my store. If you have
any trouble, call my mother.”
    “Yes
sir. We’ll return the store to you exactly as you left her.” The two men shook
hands and Logan picked up the suitcase and the baby then ushered Jayna into the
truck. Five bumpy miles later, the big white delivery vehicle came to a stop
and within a few moments, the door rolled up.
    “Were
you followed?” Logan asked Curtis immediately.
    “Nope,”
he chuckled. "The two gentlemen are enjoying complimentary hot dogs
and sodas at Harper’s Grocery’s post Labor Day blowout.”
    Logan
looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. “Andrew’s idea?”
    “Yes,”
Curtis answered with a grin.
    “Good
ruse. Tell him I said thanks.”
    “Will
do.”
    Logan
and Curtis unloaded the truck – two boxes of supplies, a suitcase, the base to
CJ’s car seat carrier, and a rifle that Jayna hadn’t known about. The two men
shook hands as Cole Harper’s old friend, Travis Miles, pulled up in a pickup,
followed by an old model SUV driven by another older man.
    While
Travis and Logan talked, the other man loaded the SUV and even helped Jayna to
install the car seat. She was getting a kick out of the conversation the two
were having. They both obviously missed Logan’s father.
    "So
son, are you sure you want to go there? If you give me another day or so, Old
Bill there and I could find you a