Specter: Circuit Series Book One

by Dailey, Lacey

  It wasn’t that I had no faith in our legal system, it’s that I knew the resources Kade had, and I knew he was crazy enough to risk everything and use them.

  “Where did they take Julie, Kade?”

  “Julie?” He tapped his chin like he was trying to conjure up the name. “Oh. Julie Clemmons? So sad what happened to her husband, don’t you think so, Cookie?”

  “You smug son of a bitch!” I pounded the glass, ignoring the security guard stomping toward me. “Tell me where Julie is! What the hell do you want from her?”

  “You see, Cookie. Somebody went against me. And you know how much I hate it when people go against me.” He shoved the tip of his thumb in his mouth and started chewing. “I thought maybe it was the man who came to get drugs from my crew every once in a while. So, he had to go.”

  I went still. “You ordered a hit on Julie’s husband?”

  He reared back and spat a chunk of dead skin into the air. “Well, what was I supposed to do, Cookie? The FBI pounded into my home and he was a stranger. It was only logical of me to believe it was the stranger that had betrayed me. Thankfully, I didn’t have to order the hit. One of my men took care of it before things went south.”

  “The moment you were born into this world was when things went south.” Tears filled my eyes for Julie’s husband. That poor man just wanted to walk again. He didn’t go about it in an ethical way, but he didn’t deserve to die either. “You are a monster.”

  “I’m not a monster, baby.” He shoved his thumb back in his mouth and tucked the phone between his shoulder and head as if we were discussing where to meet for lunch tomorrow. “I was trying to protect my crew. Imagine my surprise when I hear the real reason my home was raided and you were taken from me was because a group of computer nerds stuck their noses where they didn’t belong.”

  I used all I had in me not to react. “That has nothing to do with Julie.”

  “Ah, but Cookie, that has everything to do with Julie. We don’t care about your therapist friend or her husband. What we care about are the names inside her head. And now she’s resting nicely in a hospital with no severe injuries because she was smart and she gave us what we wanted.”

  I faltered. “What?”

  He spat out another hunk of skin. “I gotta tell ya, Cookie. It was real brave of you coming all this way in secret to try and save your friend.” He chuckled. “And that’s with the assumption I’d actually tell you where we held her. Rest assured, baby, your friend is safe and sound. But let me ask you this.”

  He sat forward and met my gaze. My body wobbled at the storm that broke out into the eyes I thought would be void for the rest of time. “While you were racing here to save your friend, who was saving your boyfriend?”

  23

  Wren

  I heard once that in the time of a crisis, it’d be your adrenaline that’d save you. Fight or flight would kick in and you’d somehow know exactly what to do. Either that or you’d acquire sudden superhuman strength and destroy the ground your enemy walked on. I didn’t need superhuman strength to destroy anything. All I needed was a computer. I helped dozens and dozens of people every damn day. I saved my phantom girl’s life.

  My computer was enough.

  Until it wasn’t.

  “Do you think they will let me see him?” Brett’s knees bounced uncontrollably next to mine. He had a death grip on the flimsy armrest. There was a fire burning deep in his soul fueled by nothing but pain for his sister. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Whoa, big guy. Pump the brakes.” Ace laid his hand over Brett’s. “He’s locked up, man. No way can that mother fucker touch her.”

  “What the fuck was she thinking?” A sound tore out of Brett. He pushed his face into the crook of his elbow and shuddered.

  I sat next to him, eyes glued to the screen in front of me. It was somehow stuck inside the back of the seat. There was a map on the screen, a plane flying across that map with an estimate on when we’d touch down in Indiana.

  I hadn’t taken my eyes off that little plane since the moment it appeared on my screen.

  One hour and forty-six minutes left.

  That was too long.

  I cleared my throat. It was clogged with panic so thick, I had a paper bag in my lap for the moment I’d start hyperventilating. A flight attendant gave it to me after I lost my shit when she told me how long the flight would be.

  “There’s something between them, right?” It was the first I’d spoken since we sat down. “Glass or metal or a ten-ton door?”

  A tear fell from the corner of my eye. I let it. Fuck all the stereotypes that said I wasn’t allowed to be scared. Fuck everyone and everything that said I had to toughen up and beat the hell out of Kade Wilson.

  That was not me.

  I didn’t want to punch him. I didn’t want to press a gun between his eyes. I didn’t want to torture him and cut off his manhood like Brett wanted to do, though I would if it meant protecting her. I didn’t even want to kill him.

  I wanted to sweep my girl off the ground and take her far, far away from the man who abused her.

  I was drowning in my worry for her. I was wearing my fear like a second skin and didn’t give a shit who saw me crying for my girl. I used to be a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, think of one fucking reason why all this had happened to Sage.

  “It’s a federal prison. They won’t let him close to her.” Ace’s words were meant as a comfort, but I knew even he was struggling to believe them.

  Less than a day ago, I spent hours sitting in my desk chair at Circuit, watching ice melt instead of contributing to the dozens of missions my fellow hacktivists were on. My eyes took turns flicking between my ice cube friends and my cell phone screen. When it’d been four hours since her victory lunch and I still hadn’t heard from her, I bit the bullet and called her brother to make sure she got home okay.

  I knew it’d upset her on some level that I thought she couldn’t take care of herself, but I simply could not focus without knowing she was okay. It was a major day for her. She climbed a massive mountain when she ate that sandwich. For all I knew, she was having a panic attack on the side of the road, and I didn’t want that for her. So, I checked to make sure there wasn’t an American Girl Doll tucked into her bed.

  What I wasn’t expecting was Brett to tell me Sage hadn’t been home yet. When I heard that, I shook the panic out of my body, cracked my knuckles, and did what any hacker would do. I hacked the GPS system in her mother’s car and found her last location.

  What I thought I’d find was a nice conversation happening between counselor and patient.

  What I found instead buried me.

  So much fear fell on top of me I forget how to reason. I just stood there, taking in the blood, vomit in the carpet, broken glass, bullet hole in the wall, and one of Sage’s shoes. All while the rest of her was nowhere to be found.

  My chest collapsed. It was as though someone took a sledge hammer and started wailing on my lungs while I stood there and fought for air.

  That was almost an entire day ago, and I still hadn’t found any air.

  “Mrs. Clemmons is gonna be okay.” Ace spoke quietly. “August texted me before we boarded. He’s been camped out at the hospital.”

  I nodded my head. Knowing Julie was going to be okay did not make it any easier to breathe, but I knew how desperately Sage wanted her friend safe. I didn’t want to bring her any bad news when I brought her back home.

  “What about them fuckers who took her?” Brett ground out, his knees still bouncing.

  “In custody.” Ace answered. He put his hand on Brett’s thigh and the bouncing stopped. “One of them...” He cleared his throat and dipped his head. “One of them was the man who killed Sage’s best friend.”

  “Trish.” I rasped. “Her name was Trish.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose as if it would hold me together. Really, I was being torn in two. I couldn’t c
elebrate the victory of taking down the scum bag that killed Trish and kidnapped Julie when Sage was miles and miles away from me inside a prison while her abuser looked her in the eye.

  My stomach rolled.

  I threw my fist at that dumb fucking screen. A roar escaped my throat. “Does this plane move any fucking faster?!”

  “Come on, Wilder.” Ace shot daggers into me. “If you make a scene, they will take you to security the minute you get off this plane.”

  “Fuck security, bro! My girl needs me!”

  “I still don’t know what she thought she was gonna do.” Brett sighed. “What is she gaining?”

  I knew my phantom girl. Probably better than she knew herself sometimes. I knew the way her heart operated even though she’s claimed it didn’t function. I knew how smart she was despite how often she said her brain didn’t work properly. And I knew she wished she was stronger because she didn’t know she was the strongest woman I’d ever met.

  “She was trying to save Julie.” I answered. “She thought she could get Kade to tell her where Julie is.”

  “Well, that was dumb.” Brett spat. “Circuit saved her.”

  I wasn’t sure how long I’d stood inside Julie’s home before I smacked myself in the face and got a grip. I about broke my phone when I yanked it out of my jeans. I called a dozen people in what felt like sixty seconds.

  The FBI showed up before the county police did and that’s when shit hit the fan. It was clear as day someone had taken Julie and by the car in the driveway, we’d all thought Sage was taken too.

  Her parents were an utter wreck. I couldn’t look at them without fighting the urge to burst into tears. Brett was screaming at the Feds and risking being detained.

  Me?

  I snuck away, got my ass back to Circuit, and hacked like the tips of my God damn fingers were on fire. I’d never worked so fast in my life. The entire team was going after different leads, going down every road that may end with the location of Sage and Julie.

  In the end, it was Cruz who found Julie’s medical records and discovered she had a pacemaker. As fucked up as it sounded, we used Julie’s pacemaker to find her location. The FBI busted in there, guns blazing.

  It was the first time I was able to take a breath. And then I found out Sage wasn’t with them and the sledge hammer started pounding again.

  “She is such a stubborn brat.” Brett wiped at his face. “She really thought we wouldn’t find her?”

  “I think she knew Circuit would find her.” Ace massaged the shoulder he could reach. He’d only met Brett once before, but I knew it was his way of providing comfort. Brett didn’t seem to mind. Or maybe he didn’t notice.

  “So she ditched the cell phone and the car so she couldn’t be tracked?” Brett snorted. “But she didn’t think about how easy it is to track credit card transactions? That’s nothing. You don’t need fancy hackers for that shit. I could’ve logged into my parent’s account and found out she purchased a plane ticket to Indiana. Whoop de doo.”

  “I think Circuit is pretty sweet.” Ace shrugged.

  I rolled my eyes.

  “They’re fucking awesome.” Brett nodded. “I’ll bow down to them if I ever meet them. I’m just saying, why take one extreme and not the other?”

  “I think she was buying herself some time.” I sighed.

  She knew I’d find her. What’s more, she knew I wouldn’t stop until I did. Still, she’d bought herself so much time, I didn’t actually find her until she used her father’s card to pay for an Uber that took her from the airport to Terre Haute Federal Prison.

  I put my face in my hands and begged the universe to keep her from any more pain.

  Give it to me. I’ll carry it for her.

  The ride from the airport to the prison was the longest of my entire life. Sage’s mother was sobbing. Brett screamed at every red light. Ace was trying to give everyone a massage, and I was a total basket case. The closer we got, the more terrified I became something had happened to her.

  I wished I’d brought that paper bag with me.

  Marshall turned around in the passenger seat of the Cadillac Escalade we were in courtesy of the FBI members in Indiana. He scanned us all behind a pair of aviators, his gaze landing on Brett.

  “When we get inside, we’re all gonna have to go through security. If you make a scene, you will not get through.”

  Brett grunted but said nothing.

  Marshall turned back in his seat. This wasn’t normally in his job description, but I’d asked him to come. He talked to his supervisor and bought a plane ticket with no questions asked. I didn’t know what it took to get inside to see an inmate in a federal prison, but I wanted someone I could trust with me.

  I was playing every card I had to make sure I could get to Sage.

  The moment the vehicle rolled up to the prison, I flipped the lock and fled the car before it even came to a complete stop. I didn’t stop to take in any surroundings or memorize what the place looked like. I ran full speed at the doors with one mission and one mission only.

  Get my girl.

  To my horror, it wasn’t as easy as I hoped it would be. After going through security, I thought maybe she would magically appear. That’s not what happened at all. I demanded to be taken to Kade Wilson and got laughed at.

  I was not a violent person, but my hands shook with the urge to strangle anyone who kept her from me.

  “Each inmate has a list of pre-approved visitors.” Marshall explained to all of us. Once everyone got through security and he stopped me from strangling a prison guard, he hauled us off into a corner. “Only people on that list are permitted to see Kade.”

  That made no sense. “How did Sage get in then?”

  Marshall did not meet my eyes. “Kade has her listed as his fiancée.”

  I choked on vomit.

  Her mother about collapsed. “How can he do that?” She demanded. “Don’t these people know what he did to her?”

  “I don’t have all the answers, ma’am.” Something in the wrinkle that formed above Marshall’s eyes told me a few things weren’t quite adding up. But when he didn’t elaborate anymore, I let it go.

  “Sage has been here for six hours.” Marshall told us. “I was just informed she was with Kade for an hour and then she was detained.”

  “Detained?!” I spat. “What the hell for?”

  “Uhm.” Marshall rubbed his face. “It seems Sage tried to break through the barrier and attack him.”

  My body jerked. I cocked my head and stepped closer. “What?”

  “She was described as ruthless, vengeful, and dangerous.”

  “Sage? My Sage?”

  He nodded and gripped my arm, pulling me from the group. His voice dropped to a whisper. “They said she kept screaming for Wren over and over. They assumed she was talking about a bird.”

  My hands flew out and gripped the sides of his shirt. I twisted and yanked him so hard, the bottom of his shirt popped free of his trousers. “Take me to her. Now!”

  “Wren.” He clamped a hand on my wrists and pried me off him. “I have clearance to get her. They aren’t charging her. You have to stay here though.”

  “Why didn’t they call her parents?”

  “Apparently, she hasn’t spoken. Wait here, Wren. And don’t do anything stupid.”

  He pushed me aside and explained the situation to her family and Ace before he disappeared with another agent behind a steel door.

  I collapsed against a wall, struggling to breathe and sweating through my shirt. She was asking for me back there. Screaming my name while she stood in front of the man who beat her. It cut me so fucking deep I wasn’t there the first time she sobbed my name. I was an absolute mess thinking of how fast I went from the guy who saved her to the guy who didn’t come when she called.

  Tears were dripping down my cheeks when I heard it.

  “WREN!”

  I flew off the floor and swiped aggressively at my cheeks, almost knocking my gl
asses off my face. I gravitated towards the steel door and everyone went quiet.

  “WREN!”

  Her unrestrained sob hit me so hard, I gasped for breath and rocked backward.

  “SAGE!” I screamed, launching myself at the door that separated us. I became desperate. I kicked and punched the ever loving shit out of that door while she sobbed my name over and over. My knuckles split from the force of the hits but I didn’t stop.

  Blood was smeared across my knuckles and there would be a hefty bruise on the side of my foot but I could not stop.

  She was screaming for me and I was still too far away.

  “SAGE! SAGE!”

  There was a loud clank before the doors began to open. I shoved my body through the crack the minute I saw an opening. I heard my shirt tear and took off running down a hallway I wasn’t supposed to be in. My chest burned with the loss of oxygen and the need to get to her.

  My lungs were spasming. My heart was erratic.

  My eyes found Marshall, and then I saw her.

  She was barreling down the hallway, a monsoon pouring down her face. She was sobbing so hard she could barely keep herself upright.

  And then she was mine.

  “I got you!” I pressed my face into her neck the moment she collided with me. “Sunshine, I got you. I got you.”

  “Wren!” She was hysterical, wailing into my chest. Her knees buckled. She started to melt towards the ground. I tightened my grip on her and lifted her off the ground, coaxing her legs around my middle so I could carry her from the hallway.

  “Sunshine, it’s okay. I’m right here.”

  The steel doors clanked shut behind us and not a single person approached her. We all stood there, listening to her sob while she fisted the back of my shirt like I was about to take off.

  “Sage, I’m not going to leave you, okay?”

  She nodded aggressively, shaking so violently, I slid down the wall and sat down with her in my lap. “Look at me, Sage. I’m right here.”