Meanwhile he had a mission to run.
He took the file, shoved it in his bag, and opened the car door. “How much time do I have to persuade her?”
His superior looked at his watch. “Fourteen minutes.. I suggest that you talk fast.”
Izzy had a bad feeling as he walked to the heavily graffitied apartment building. The front door had been broken and repaired badly at least three times. The lock might require the skill of a six year old to break in. Or maybe not, Izzy thought sourly. He made a mental note to get the door fixed—or to get Madisson moved to a better location.
His anger grew as he walked up the stairs, where litter and urine were the prominent design elements. How in heavens name had she ended up here?
Another thing to look into.
He glanced at his watch.
A little after five. They had told him she was home but they hadn’t mentioned if she was alone. He tried to remember if she had been involved with anyone back in school. He couldn’t remember.
But there had been some problem about her mother.
Her door looked like all the others on the hall. Grimy beneath layers of old graffiti.
He tried the buzzer, but it didn’t work. Izzy frowned at the broken cord hanging down out uselessly. He knocked hard.
No sound inside.
He tried again. This time he put his ear to the door.
Soft rustling. A movement at the peephole.
“Madisson, it’s Izzy Teague. I need to talk to you.”
Silence.
“You need to let me in, Madisson. It’s important.”
Then her voice, husky and angry as he remembered it. “Got nothing to say to you, Teague. Beat it.”
“I wish I could. But this isn’t exactly a social call.”
He heard the bitter laugh and then the slam of a hand against the inside of the door. “No? But let’s see, it’s been five—no make that six years. And you show up now? It has to be important if the great Izzy Teague comes to visit. But I’m still not interested.”
Izzy studied the lock, frowning at the anger in her voice. She had always been angry. It was part of the reason she had screwed up as a student all those years before. But this new voice from behind the grimy door was colder, flatter. Totally devoid of any personal feeling.
That worried him. “We need to talk. Open the door and give me five minutes. If you still feel the same way after that, then I’ll leave.”
There was a pause. “Talk outside. Right where you are,” came the flat, unemotional answer.
“You know I can’t do that. Not about this subject. Let me in.” He was working as he talked, pulling a small wedge of plastic from his coat pocket and sliding it along the outside of the door.
A loud buzzing sounded inside. Okay, her door wasn’t as bad as it looked. At least she had some security in place.
“Forget it, Teague. My door stays closed. I’ve got it wired. The next time you get a little shock. The time after that you get a nice nasty one.”
He had to smile at that. That was the old Madisson he remembered.
But the fact was if it hadn’t been for his testimony, she might still be in a jail cell somewhere. She’d been a juvenile offender, but the government meant to make an example of the group.
“Nice work. But we both know it’s not going to keep me out. And the clock is ticking. You still hoping to get your brother into that specialized aviation college in Florida? The deadline for his recommendations is next week, as I recall. We should probably talk about that.”
He heard a muffled string of words inside. He could almost feel the snap of her anger. Silence fell. Then a chain banged. The door opened a crack, anchored by two more chains.
“So what? Don’t tell me you’re going to help, because I’ll believe that as much as I believe the other lies you told me six years ago.”
“Then you’d be wrong. I am going to help. I’m sorry how this all turned out. I should have kept in touch after your sentencing. But I’m going to change that. Let me in and let’s get started. As I remember, you never liked to waste time, so don’t waste my time now.” She’d had a tough childhood and she wouldn’t want his sympathy or concern. So Izzy would give her what she expected. “Or maybe I should leave now.”
She muttered, pulled the last two chains free and stood back, opening the door.
He saw the inside of the apartment first, navy blue walls brightened by anime posters. Everything else inside screamed computer geek. There were at least a dozen hard drives arranged on the long table by the wall. Two bookcases with thick tech books.
Then Izzy saw Madison. He wouldn’t have recognized her in the oversize flannel Hello Kitty pajama bottoms that made an odd match with her biker boots and torn leather motorcycle jacket. A single earring dangled beneath her multi-colored hair. She looked too thin. Too cold.
The guilt slid in again and twisted hard. Izzy looked around, searching for a chair, but every surface was covered by books, schematics, and hard drives.
She saw his look, strode to the small table at the grimy window and knocked everything off. “There, have a seat. My decorator was busy this week. Ditto for the maid service,” she said flatly.
“Don’t suppose I could get a cup of coffee. It’s been a long night and it hasn’t even started yet.”
“Fresh out. There’s a Starbucks about five miles over. You probably don’t want to walk there alone. Anyone walking alone around here has a problem.”
Izzy raised an eyebrow. “How do you get by in that case?”
“We have an arrangement. I provide services on the computers when the street crowd needs it. In return, they leave me alone. In fact, they even provide protection on occasion. Works out nicely all around.”
Izzy made another mental note. “Why didn’t you move to a better place?”
She leaned against the wall, shaking her head. “Move? You really don’t know? I can’t move. That was part of the terms of my parole. I can’t leave DC. I can’t leave this apartment. I can’t take classes. All I can do is sit here and rot for three more years until the government decides it’s done with me,” she said bitterly.
Izzy hadn’t known that. If he had, he would have found the right people to get her situation changed. And he would do that now.
But it would probably come too late. She had lost her childhood in this dingy apartment; probably she had lost her idealism long before that, Izzy thought. She had never had much chance for a normal life, not with a drug addict mother and a father who had gone AWOL when she was four. He remembered the details now. Tough break for a kid.
No point wishing things were different. He was here now. He was going to make a lot of changes. But first they had to come to terms.
He sat down on the table, feeling it wobble. “Okay, scratch the coffee. How about some water?”
She gave a cold smile. “Sure. You want Evian, Perrier, or DC tap sludge?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope.”
He gave a shrug. “Door number 3 in that case.”
She filled a glass and slapped it down in front of him. “What do you know about my brother’s application to aviation school?” Her hands trembled and she shoved them quickly behind her.
“I saw your file. It’s not going to be easy to find recommendations. Then there’s the whole tuition thing.”
“I don’t need your help, Teague.”
“Don’t you? Look at me, Maddie. This isn’t a pressure tactic. I should have stayed in touch. I should have seen what was going on with you. I didn’t. So I owe you. Whatever you decide, that won’t change.” He found a blank piece of paper amid the chaos at his feet and held it out to her. “Write down your brother’s name and his school information. I’ll do everything I can to help him.”
She crossed her arms tightly. Yet again Izzy saw the young-old eyes stare at him tensely. For a moment he had seen a flash of hope in those eyes. Then she looked away.
“I’d trust bin Laden
before I trusted you.” She shrugged thin shoulders.
Odd how she looked about fourteen. Fourteen going on ninety, Izzy reminded himself quickly. “Well?”
“Even if I do give you my brother’s information, it doesn’t mean I’m going to help you.” She toyed with a pencil.
“What have you got to lose?”
Izzy waited. Finally Maddie scrawled on a paper and held it out to him. He scanned the sheet, folded it carefully and stuck it in his pocket. “I’ll do what I can for him. But is that the truth? They really won’t let you go to college?” The punishment defied his imagination. That was another thing he was going to get rectified fast.
“No. They say I can’t be trusted. I have to earn the right.”
“You did break the law. There’s no getting around that. But plenty of lawbreakers get to take classes.”
“I’m supposed to believe you didn’t know about any of this?”
“That’s right. If I’d known, I would have changed things.”
Maddie moved around the table and toyed at an open of soda. “So what’s this big important thing that you need me to do?”
“I can’t tell you. Frankly, I don’t know much myself. But it has to be crucial if they’re sending me after you like this. There’s a jet waiting for us at Dulles in—” he glanced at his watch. “Nine minutes.”
“No shit. A private jet?” She rolled her shoulders, frowning. Her fingers moved restlessly up and down her flannel shirt. “If I do it…you’ll help my brother?”
“I will.”
She hesitated. “And then you’ll see if I can get out of my parole early and attend college? And get out of this dump too?”
“I intend to do both of those things anyway, Maddie. Your help will make no difference. That’s a promise.”
“Right. I know all about promises.” She drained the soda can and then shrugged. “It’s not like I have a whole lot of choices right now.” She studied the dingy room. “Sure. Okay. Whatever. Give me three minutes to grab my stuff. If there’s a dress code involved, we’re both up shit creek,” she said. Then she vanished into the one room beyond the bathroom.
Three minutes went by. Then four.
Izzy heard rustling and the muffled bang of a closet door closing.
“Maddie, we have to go. What’s taking so long?”
There was no answer.
Frowning, he walked to the door of the room off the little hallway. She was sitting on a narrow futon with a laptop opened beside her, typing furiously.
“What are you doing? You’d better not be emailing about any of this.”
She shot him a cold, measuring glance. “About what? I don’t know where the hell I’m going or what you’re getting me into. I’m just leaving behind a little insurance. If I don’t turn up in a week, there will be people asking questions about me. I’m pretty well known in the hacker world, even though my active days are behind me. So if you’re just screwing around with me, Teague—”
He shook his head. “I’m not.” At least, he didn’t think he was. At this point, he had no idea what they were getting involved in. But she would be safe. He’d make sure of that. “Finish sending your mail in the car. We need to move.”
She closed the computer, then stood up and dropped the pajamas bottoms in the same movement. Izzy cleared his throat and looked away, but the image of her thin legs and red bikini underwear burned into his memory. How could one person look so young and so old at the same time?
He walked outside, shaking his head. “I’ll be downstairs at the car. Get the lead out.”
Her voice rose in an angry singsong. “Aye, aye, sir.” She clicked her heels together and pulled on a sweater.
Izzy’s phone rang as he walked outside, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t trust himself to answer, too angry from the things he had just seen and from what Maddie had told him.
Someone was going to answer for this mess.
But first they had a mission to complete.
He was already flooded with secure emails when he heard a tap at the window. Maddie gave a snappy little wave, a backpack over her shoulder and a brown paper bag gripped at her chest.
“What’s with the bag?”
“Computer. Books. Pajamas.”
“A brown paper bag? You don’t have anything else to carry them in?”
Her eyes went very cold. “My trust fund payment is a little late this month, Teague. Since I don’t do a whole lot of traveling, a paper Trader Joe’s bag works just fine for me.” She tossed the bag inside and looked around the big limousine curiously. “Nice wheels. You got any alcohol in here?”
“I doubt it. You’ll be skipping the alcohol anyway.” Izzy closed the door that Maddie had purposely left open to annoy him. “This is work, remember?”
2
It was all pretty overwhelming.
Staggering was a better description.
Not that she wasn’t grateful. Not that she was going to enjoy one second of this trip with the man who had arrested her five years before. Maddie’s life had been a closed box for too long, and she had prayed daily for an escape. She just hadn’t expected it to come like this.
As for the man who’d arrested her at fourteen? Izzy Teague looked just the same. Chiseled mahogany features. Cool, intense eyes. A strong, lean body. Not that she was paying any attention to that. But if he would actually do half what he promised—a quarter even....
If he helped her brother follow his aviation dreams, then maybe after that he could get her out of this crippling probation mess.
Empty promises, Maddie, my girl. You know all about them.
Maddie had stopped trusting adults when she was fourteen. The foster care system in a big, impersonal northeastern city had stripped away her innocence within the first week. She had fought to survive and keep her younger brother with her in their placements. Her only saviors during those years had been the smart group of friends she had met. Together they had studied programming books and stumbled across a hackers’ forum online. One thing led to another, as they usually did.
Maddie frowned at the gray sky, watching the rain begin. The memories that came next seemed to belong to someone else. She had been so stupid and gullible back then. Now those mistakes had ruined her life.
But there was no point in whining about it, because you couldn’t go back. And she had been no innocent victim in the scenario. She had known perfectly well that it was a crime to hack into a government site. But the challenge had been impossible to resist. The thrill of success had become a drug to her.
Now the man who had arrested her was asking for her help. Talk about payback. This time Maddie was going to be very smart in everything she did. She was not going to trust him, like him, or believe in him. She had learned how to play the game of appearances well in the last few years.
So she would use him in any way she could to ensure that he helped her brother. And then he would help her.
Her small hands closed to fists. He owed them that.
She frowned at the wet street as the car came to a halt. The driver rolled down the window and presented some kind of ID to a man in a uniform. Maddie didn’t know where they were, but it looked like a military base? That would figure, wouldn’t it? Izzy worked for the government, and if this project was as important as he said….
So maybe she was going to get some quality time in a secure government facility. Let them think she was bored, but she’d be paying attention to every detail. There might be something she could use later.
With the inspection complete, the car sped forward with a powerful purr. Maddie’s brain danced through possibilities of new ways to use the applications that were installed on the iPad Izzy had loaned her. With a jailbroken iPhone hidden in her backpack, she could stay in touch with her friends, in case the government decided they didn’t want her around and decided to lock her up. She wouldn’t put anything past them.
The car slowed. She leaned toward the window, squinting out through the rai
n. “No way.” She sat rigid in panic. “This is so not happening, Teague.”
He looked up from his sleek laptop, which had a design that Maddie had never seen before. “What isn’t happening?”
“That.” Maddie rolled down the window and pointed out, oblivious to the pounding rain. The sleek private jet on the tarmac had three people working around it. It would barely hold ten people, she figured. The size made her stomach take another sharp twist. “You didn’t tell me that I’d be flying in a thimble.”
“That happens to be exciting new technology. I know people who would give their IRAs for an hour in that little beauty. Your brother’s probably one of them.”
“Well you can take your IRAs and shove them. I’m not getting into that.” Her nails were on her knees, her fingers digging in hard. She’d only flown once, a short flight for a foster care interview. But that had been on a full-size carrier, and she had still gotten sick. Crazy with fear, she had spent the whole flight throwing up in the bathroom.
And now—what if she was boxed up inside this fragile metal frame?
Maddie fought panic, her arms locked. “It’s not happening. File closed.”
Izzy blew out a sigh. “Scared of flying? Odd, that didn’t make your file. I’ll let you in on a secret—I used to be too. But I took a course that helped me. New age blah, blah, blah, but it worked. I’ll look into that.” His eyes narrowed. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time for that now. If you want my help, I need your full commitment right now, Maddie. I can’t build any kind of a case for helping you if you don’t bring your complete skills to the table.”
“The only table I’ll be sitting at will be the one where I’m hugging my knees, puking my guts out. That’s a promise, not a threat,” she said between gritted teeth. “I can’t fly. Impossible. Definitely not on a tiny plane like that.”
“Just stay with me here. We’ll get on board and then I’ll find something for you.”
“Like what? A lobotomy? Because seriously, that’s what it would take.” Maddie gripped her churning stomach. She could already feel the nausea kicking up. “I’m not kidding about this, Teague. I can’t get on that plane. When you said jet, I thought you meant one of those huge things.”
Forbidden Lovers Boxed Set Page 39