Exposed

by Judith Graves

  Jace stuffed the handwritten list in his pocket. “We’ll try.”

  “I can pay you. I have money saved.”

  “I don’t want your money.” Jace’s lips twisted. “But you will owe me.”

  I nodded. After seeing his digs, I knew Jace wouldn’t come cheap. I’d expected a trade of services. “Of course.”

  He turned and made again for his home.

  “What makes Jo think she can trust you?” My words froze him in place, but he didn’t turn back around.

  “I don’t know.” He glanced over his shoulder. His eyes glittered in the night. “What makes her think she can trust you?” He continued across the lawn.

  Good question.

  I glanced around at the huge expanse of ground, the multiple levels leading down to a boathouse, a dock and the glorious waterfront, then took in the imposing two-story brick home. The high fence and automatic gate. Something was off.

  Then I got it. The absolute silence.

  No one had come out to check on Jace or back him up when he’d gone charging after an intruder, armed with only a wizard’s broom. Not hired security or his parents. Except for Jace, the place was just a sprawling Better Homes and Gardens isolation tank he called home. At the warehouse, I was constantly surrounded by people, and yet I felt just as alone as Jace looked right now, striding across the lawn to enter an empty house. I wondered where his family was.

  Just as alone as Jo had been for who knows how long before she’d reached out to me. But each of us had taken on the responsibility of protecting or avenging those few who had become dear to us. Willing to risk our lives to see justice done. We were all so different and yet so much the same.

  A smile tugged at my lips. Maybe some of his embrace-your-inner-nerd, T-shirt-wearing, comic-loving, see-the-world-through-superhero-colored-glasses world view had seeped into my veins, but Supersize would say we were like Dark Knights. Tarnished warriors out to take on the big bads with a bit of beauty, brawn and brains.

  Jace could have called the cops when he spotted me. He could have said no to Jo and me, could have said screw the consequences. And yet he agreed to help us both. He understood the need for vengeance.

  The need for the truth to be exposed. I wondered what truth he was looking for.

  I let out a long breath, tension easing from my shoulders, and the knot that had been coiling in my gut starting to loosen. Sureness seeped into my bones. It was hard to admit I couldn’t take Diesel down on my own. But even Batman had Robin. Now Jo, Jace, his friend and I were all indebted to each other. I thought of Supersize and his failed attempt to play the hero. I couldn’t let his death be for nothing.

  Some debts could never be paid.

  “Hey,” I called out to Jace’s retreating form. “We’re good, right? I need you guys for your wicked hacker skills and ability to knock down pawns. You know that, right?”

  Jace dipped his head in agreement but didn’t look back. He entered his house and closed the door behind him.

  That went well, I thought.

  ELEVEN

  “And fare thee well, my only Luve

  And fare thee well, a while!

  And I will come again, my Luve,

  Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.”

  The last bell screeched, drowning out Mr. Nicholson’s recitation of Robert Burns’s “A Red, Red Rose,” complete with a thick Scottish brogue and a plastic rose pinned to his shirt pocket. Nicholson was all about the props.

  Still, he’d managed to weave a spell over at least half the class. Girls blinked back to awareness while the guys rolled their eyes and bolted from the room. Except for Emmett. His gaze lingered on mine as I weaved through the desks and made for the door.

  The weight of his stare, the heat of it, left me gasping by the time I reached the safety of the hall. Since the debacle with the kiss of all kisses, Emmett had kept his distance. But he still looked at me. Driving me mad with those concerned, wanting, dark eyes. Eyes that saw more than most.

  I lingered outside Nicholson’s door. Emmett hadn’t exited yet. I could slip back inside and…and what? Tell him I couldn’t stop thinking about him? That I wished it was him who was taking me to that stupid freaking dance? That we’d have the most amazing time in the history of lame school dances? And I’d pick him up—in a car I’d stolen?

  My cell phone thrummed in my pocket, making my decision for me. I answered the call and deliberately forced my steps toward the school’s front foyer. Leaving Emmett and his normal little life safely behind.

  “It’s Jace,” a low voice said in my ear.

  “How did you get this number?” I frowned. Jo might have given Jace hers, but I hadn’t handed out any digits.

  “You two came to me, remember?” Jace all but growled. “You wanted the best. Well, you got it.”

  I snorted. Arrogant much? I was infinitely glad Jo was the one stuck on him and not me. I had my own tall, dark and brooding to deal with. “I’m betting it was your hacker friend who landed my number. Bentley’s the brain, you’re the brawn.” I paused. “Oh right. But you embrace your inner nerd with the chess thing. You’re like a Renaissance man.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment. Are you still on for tonight?”

  “Of course I am. I picked the location, remember? Robson and Burrard at midnight.”

  “Good.”

  He ended the call. I stared at my cell for a few seconds, then shook my head. Abrupt jerk. But there was a lightness to my step as I descended the stairs outside the school and headed for the bus. I might be risking a lot by helping Jo tonight, but I wasn’t doing it alone.

  At exactly 12:15 AM, I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Will you stop with the pacing?” I smacked Jace’s arm as he crossed in front of me. “You’re making me nervous. What does it matter if Jo’s late? Bentley is AWOL too.”

  “He isn’t AWOL. He’s waiting for us at another location.” I must have looked as pissed as I felt, because he held up a hand. “Don’t start. No, that wasn’t part of the plan. But I wanted to be sure Jo got here safe with no one following her before we picked up Bentley.”

  So Jo and I weren’t the only ones with trust issues. I kind of respected Jace for that.

  Jace glanced at his cell. “Something’s wrong. She should be here by now.” He plugged in a few numbers, then spoke into the phone. “Track Jo’s cell.”

  I held my breath. Right. If Jace’s friend had our phone numbers, hacking into the phone-company servers and accessing the tracking software would be a breeze. You know, for a genius and all that. A short time later, Jace said a terse “Thanks, we’ll pick you up in five” into the phone, and then he was dragging me along to his SUV.

  “What’s going on? Where are we going?” I opened the passenger door, but Jace jerked his head.

  “Backseat. Bentley sits there.”

  “Are you serious?” I griped, hopping in behind the passenger seat, as far away from Jace as possible. The guy was on my last nerve.

  He peeled away from the curb. “As to where we’re going, we’re going after Jo, of course. Bentley has her location. She’s on the move, and it’s not in our direction. It will be easier if he’s here to navigate.”

  We pulled up in front of a Dairy Queen. Jace went inside, telling me to “stay put” like I was an untrained puppy. Less than a minute later he exited with his friend. Shorter than Jace. Much shorter. As in dwarf shorter. He had a high forehead and a very chopped walking stride. He wore a backpack slung over his shoulder, and he was chowing down on a Peanut Buster Parfait with a look of absolute bliss on his face.

  “Bentley, this is Raven. Raven, Bentley.” Jace introduced us as he pulled the SUV back into traffic.

  “Mhuufff…” Bentley said around a mouthful of goopy ice cream.

  I met Jace’s gaze in the rearview mirror. This explained much. Jace kept Bentley tucked away because he was different—but with his talents and lack of social skills, so easy to exploit. No wonder Jace played gua
rd dog.

  Jace plucked the icy treat from Bentley’s grip, lowered the driver’s-side window and tossed it out. “Time to focus, Bentley,” he said. “Where’s Jo now?”

  Bentley shrugged. He pulled out a tablet from his backpack, accessed an application and pointed left. “That way. The signal is stationary. It has settled in one location. Close now.” Silence for a few blocks, then another finger point. “That way.”

  And so it went until we turned onto a dark residential street. We rounded a corner. A chemical scent drifted in through the car vents. I wrinkled my nose.

  “Where is she, Bentley?” Jace’s voice was deadly calm. “Where’s Jo?”

  Bentley panicked, twisting in his seat. He held a hand to his mouth, muffling his words, but when I made them out, they filled me with absolute dread.

  “She’s inside the fire.” He pointed to a house straight ahead that looked as abandoned as the other houses around it. But something churned behind the front window. I squinted into the night.

  Smoke. That’s what the smell was.

  “This is so not good.” I shoved my door open, but Jace was already out of the SUV.

  He stopped me with a curse and a solid grip on my forearm. “I’m stronger than you—I can carry her out of there. You can’t.”

  “You’re not Superman. What if you need help clearing a path? Or finding the exit? I’m coming with you.”

  “Me too,” Bentley said, standing beside me.

  Jace scowled, his features set in hard lines. He fired me a killer glance. “If it gets too dangerous, you come back to the car with Bentley, understood? Don’t let him out of your sight.”

  “I won’t.”

  The three of us bolted for the house. I was surprised at Bentley’s speed. The back entrance seemed the least affected by the fire. “Must have started near the living room,” I said.

  We navigated through the derelict interior, rats streaming by us in their panic to escape. The smoke was worse in the narrow hallway. Here, Bentley had the height advantage. He was low, and the smoke didn’t hit his face like it did ours. I hunched over. Jace followed suit, and we half crawled into the living room.

  There. Jo had been tied to a column between the living room and the small galley kitchen. Jace cursed under his breath, charging forward. He held a hand to Jo’s face, and she began to cough.

  I took the pocketknife I kept strapped to my ankle and cut the plastic ties that bound Jo’s wrists to the column. “Newb,” I said when Jo’s bloodshot eyes met mine.

  Jace hoisted Jo over his shoulder. “Idiot,” he said.

  We followed him out, Bentley trailing close behind me. The house continued to burn as we hoofed it to the SUV.

  “Jerks,” Jo countered weakly once we were outside and the fresh air hit our lungs. “You tracked the laptop GPS. You were supposed to put the files on the Internet.”

  Jace said something back to Jo, but I couldn’t make out the words. Then he got louder. “We’re a team, whether you like it or not.” He placed her gently in the backseat.

  Jo’s head swiveled around. “God, how many cars do you have?” she asked.

  “Wait till you see the clubhouse,” I said, thinking of Jace’s estate. I didn’t think Jo heard me—she closed her eyes in exhaustion.

  “Should we take her to the hospital?” The words had barely left my lips when Jo’s eyes opened wide.

  “No way! I’m fine. Just get me out of here.”

  I climbed in beside her and kept checking on her during the trip. We soon arrived at Jace’s estate, the iron gate swinging smoothly open as we entered the driveway.

  Jo tried to make the walk to the house under her own steam, but Jace would have none of it. I tried not to be dazzled as he carried her into the house via an entrance within the four-car garage. I also tried not to think about the price I could get for the vehicles tucked safely inside. Diesel would have a conniption if he saw the cherry-red vintage 1930s Ford Coupe. A car in that condition…maybe sixty grand.

  Plus it just looked really cool.

  Jace set Jo down on a leather sofa in what had to be the biggest living room I’d ever seen. And the sparsest. No books lying around, no half-eaten bags of chips. Like one of those grand show homes you could buy tickets for at the exhibition. The place just didn’t look lived in.

  While Jace cleaned up Jo’s scrapes, I hovered over Bentley’s shoulder as he accessed the files on the laptop Jo had provided. Holy hell, the guy was efficient. Stubby fingers, but those fingers moved like lightning. My gaze fixed on a tattoo on his inner wrist. Interesting. I’d never have pegged Bentley as an ink man, but the small, black infinity symbol seemed to suit him. Mathish. Hackerish.

  The screen flooded with text, demanding my attention. At first it meant nothing, but then a picture began to form.

  “Payments,” I said, finally getting what Jo’s corrupt cop had been up to. “Looks like she was helping someone hide drug shipments and avoid any raids.”

  “There’s more,” Jo said. “I don’t know what it is, but it goes beyond drugs.” She rose up on her elbows. “What now? Upload the files to the news outlets? Take it to a police station and hope some cop listens?”

  Jace shot her a look. “You’re kidding, right?” He took the laptop from Bentley. “We send it directly to the police chief.” Jo moved over to Jace and the laptop and typed something. Then Jace hit Send. A happy bing told us an email had been sent.

  “There are benefits to being a member of one of Vancouver’s most powerful families,” Jace said with a sarcastic grin.

  I shook my head. “Figures you’d know him.”

  Stretching, I embraced the feeling of one small victory for the little guy, courtesy of, well, the little guy and all present company. Still, I felt the need to reinforce just exactly how things stood between Jo and me. And that was a simple exchange of services. “I helped you. Remember that when I come calling in the favor.”

  TWELVE

  That day came much sooner than I expected. It was a few days after we’d rescued Jo, and she and I were getting along well. She was living on the boat, and I was still flying high after working with Jace and Bentley—who, it turned out, was Jace’s brother—to save her. Things had been set in motion. We’d helped to do some good and give Jo closure. It was a good feeling, but there was still a lot of work to be done.

  I lost myself in music during the bus trip home from school. Hopping off at a nearby stop, I hoofed it the rest of the way—about six blocks through industrial buildings until I reached the warehouse. All of us were trained to change up our routes to our illegal little home base.

  Establish a pattern and eventually someone will notice.

  My grief over Supersize lingered, but in the distance. Like my mixed-up feelings about Emmett. I’d managed to tamp those things down and fill the gap with plans for revenge. Diesel’s betrayal had gutted me, and I’d put myself back together the only way I knew how. The same way I’d managed to walk away from my parents and adapt to life in the ring. I was in survival mode. The force of it put sort of a shield around me, cutting off the pain and nurturing the anger.

  For the moment I was simply thrilled that my plan had been set into motion. With Jo, Jace and Bentley on my side, I knew the end was in sight. Hadn’t we just toppled one of the city’s most corrupt cops?

  Go us.

  I had little time to celebrate, though, as mass chaos greeted me the moment I arrived at the warehouse that afternoon. About ten of the fifteen kids living at the warehouse, along with most of the chop-shop guys, milled around in little groups. Gesturing wildly with their hands. Talking loud enough for me to hear them over the guitars squealing in my ears.

  When they noticed I’d entered via the side door, they bolted for me like zombies on fresh meat.

  I popped out my earbuds and was soon overwhelmed by the clamor, the chorus of voices echoing to the rafters. When I’d left that morning, no one would talk to me. Now no one would stop.

  “Did you
hear about Kat?”

  “So glad you’re back—we thought they had you too.”

  “Diesel’s been losing his mind. You know he has us on lockdown?”

  What did they mean, lockdown?

  “Guys, calm down.” I held up a hand, and gradually they quieted down. “What happened with Kat? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Where was Link? Didn’t he know there was practically a mutiny going on?

  As if reading my thoughts, Link’s gruff growl sliced across the warehouse. “Raven, about time you showed up,” he called from his ground-level office just beyond the hydraulic lifts used to hoist the cars for easy dismantling. Even from this distance, I could tell he was good and pissed. He crooked his finger. “We gotta talk.” The same finger jabbed in the air at the kids milling around. “Everyone else, get back to work.” He strode into his office, leaving the door open for me to follow.

  I felt the stares of everyone as I entered the office and closed the door on their disgruntled faces. In the muffled quiet of Link’s office, I watched as he paced the narrow room. I leaned my back against the door. Waiting. I’d learned over the years that Link would talk when he was good and ready. Push too hard, too fast, and he just clammed up.

  Not what I wanted.

  Finally he found his words. “Diesel sent a group out on another run. I told him it was too soon after Supersize, that no one’s head was in the game, but you know how he’s been.”

  Boy, did I. I nodded.

  “Kat got sloppy. She was picked up by the cops.”

  I swore under my breath. So much for getting her in on my plan.

  “Diesel is at his paranoid best. Now that you’re back, the warehouse is officially on lockdown.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  Link shrugged. “Just what you probably think it means. The police force will be hunting down all the car jockies they can track. No one comes in or out, unless it’s to do a job.”

  “For how long?” Crap. While I’d been focused on staying out of Diesel’s way, things around the warehouse had been steadily getting worse. I’d been in denial, really, hanging out with Jo at the houseboat, helping her adjust to life with a semipermanent roof over her head. I kept thinking she’d take off at any moment and head back to the streets, but the girl was smart. She knew when to lie low.