Her Temporary Bodyguard

(Part 14) Chapter Thirteen

Tara wondered how many drugs the doctors had pumped into her to get her to sleep. She hadn't been too injured, she knew that. A broken finger and a few bruises were all that they'd managed to inflict, physically anyhow. Emotionally, Tara was a wreck. She had never been more terrified in her whole life than she was at that moment, even surrounded by all of the beeping machines in her hospital room. If she hadn't been safe with Logan keeping watch over her, how could she possibly be safe now? One of the machines started to beep erratically as her breaths quickened with the force of the panic surging up within her. Oh God, she couldn't breathe. Her chest was tight and her throat was closing up. She couldn't get enough air. Tara pressed a hand to her chest, gasping for a few ragged streams of oxygen. A hand came down on her shoulder and she found the air to scream.

"Tara. Tara, it's okay. It's just me." It took her a moment to register that it was Logan's face, Logan's blue eyes looking back at her. He was alive? The knot in her stomach loosened just a little bit as she drank in the sight of him. His left arm was in a sling and he was staring at her with concern. A sob shook through her as he pulled her against his chest.

"Breathe, honey. Just take a deep breath. That's it. You're safe," he said soothingly. His heart drummed a steady beat against her ear and after a moment she was able to take a normal breath, full of the warm masculine scent of him. A fine tremble ran through her as she sat back, determined to sit on her own.

"Did they get him?" She asked quietly. He hesitated. Tara could see it and it made the panic start up again.

"Johnny B is in police custody," he told her. Her gaze narrowed as she considered all of the things that he could be leaving out.

"But?" She prodded. Logan sighed and pulled a plastic chair up beside her bed. The seriousness in his expression made Tara feel sick to her stomach.

"Somehow Joey managed to get past the task force."

"So, what, he's still out there somewhere?" She spoke slowly, not wanting to piece them all together in one solid thought.

"Yes." She supposed that she should be grateful that he was being so forthcoming with her and not beating around the bush, but all Tara really wanted was for Logan to lie to her and tell her that she had nothing to worry about and the police were going to catch up to Joey Balboni at any second.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Tara asked, sounding detached and matter-of-fact. Numbness had begun to shroud her and she was grateful for it. She was exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster of the past few days and she needed a break from it. Logan sighed, shifting in the chair. When his gaze lifted to meet hers again, his face was calm and completely blank. It told her nothing.

"There is an officer posted outside your room. You will have to give a statement to the police and the FBI, though I don't know if they'll do that here or at the station."

"And after that?"

"It's quite likely that they'll assign you to WITSEC." Logan watched as all of the colour leeched out of Tara's face and wanted to give himself a good swift kick in the rear. He wouldn't lie to her though. As much as he wanted to promise her that it would all be rainbows and bunnies from here on out, he wasn't going to insult her intelligence by doing anything less than telling it like it was.

"Witness protection?" She whispered, sounding horrified. Logan ignored the way that his gut twisted at the sound of it. He knew that it would be best for Tara to disappear, at least until Johnny B was brought to trial on her kidnapping. He was hoping that the mobster would be facing a whole slew of other charges as well, but that was in the hands of the authorities now. Nothing mattered to Logan except Tara. It felt as though his heart was being ripped out of his chest as he looked at her and realized that he likely wouldn't be seeing her again for a very, very long time; if ever again.