The Boys Club Read Online Free PDF Page A

months
pregnant, Karen postponed a trip to visit her parents due to a nasty bout of
nausea. She spent the morning throwing up, and Logan convinced her to go see
the doctor.
    Logan walked her to the car, which sat in the middle of
their driveway, since boxes from their recent move filled the garage. He ran
back into the house to get his wallet while she started the engine. He went
back outside to a smoke-filled car and his wife screaming in pain. Then he saw
the flames. A second later, the car exploded, throwing Logan back into the
house through the open door.
    A bomb intended to explode upon turning the ignition key and
instantly kill Logan did not perform its designed function. Investigators
believed the smoke started first, confusing Karen so she couldn’t find the
seatbelt latch or the door handle. The fire started soon after that, searing
her skin for a full minute before Logan came back outside.
    Since that day, Logan had often tortured himself by watching
the clock as a grueling minute ticked by, wondering what she thought about
while her skin bubbled and boiled under the intense flames. He wondered if she
blamed him, if she thought he abandoned her while she died, if she worried for
the baby, or if the pain denied her any coherent thoughts. Had he been in the
car with her, he could have found the door handle for her and pushed her to
safety, giving her time to escape before the bomb finally did its job.
    But he had been in the house, performing the mundane and
meaningless task of retrieving his forgotten wallet from the kitchen counter.
    Logan rushed through a shower and shave, after which he
threw on an old pair of jeans, black T-shirt, and his sneakers. He secured the
sling Allie gave him over his bad shoulder. He would take it off when he got
home, but did not want to get called out on his way out of the building. With
his duffel bag slung over his good shoulder, he took one last look around the
room to make sure he had not forgotten anything. Pain stabbed his heart when he
caught sight of the bed and he hoped Allie was okay.
    Heading down the hall to the elevator so he could get to his
debrief and hurry home to his small apartment, Logan heard a commotion
overhead. When he reached the first floor, almost everyone who worked at The
Boys Club was gathered in the main lobby.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” Jack asked, as he walked
up to Logan.
    “To my debrief and then home for a couple weeks, which is
exactly where you should be going.” Logan gestured to the sling on his arm. “I
have a few injuries to take care of.”
    “Funny how you were the only one on the whole team who was
injured,” Jack said with a laugh. “But we’re not going home anytime soon.
Schaffer called everyone in for this job. I’m surprised you didn’t get the
memo.”
    Logan glanced around the room and saw the other members from
last night’s team with their own bags in their hands. It appeared as if they
also thought they were going home for some time off between jobs, but got stuck
here like he had.
    “What are we waiting for?” Logan asked Jack.
    A loud click sounded through the lobby and men started
moving toward the main doors.
    “That,” Jack said. He turned to file in after the others.
    Logan followed suit, walking with the last of the group down
the long hallway that led to the main chapel. Though the pews had been replaced
by chairs and the Catholic artifacts donated back to the diocese, the stained
glass windows remained. Sunlight filtered through the colorful scenes of Jesus,
Mary, angels, and saints. Logan wondered if Schaffer left them in place to give
the boys a sense of calm when entering the chapel, like the one that came over
Logan now.
    He found a chair toward the center of the chapel next to
Jack and set his bag down on his lap. His eyes landed on the empty podium at
the front of the room where Schaffer usually stood to brief them on a new job.
A large white screen filled the majority of the back wall,