Set Me Free

by Melissa Pearl

  Lucy's brows puckered. "Yes. My dad wasn't cheap."

  Zach's head popped up at her sharp tone.

  "I didn't mean it like that." Jaeda shook her head. "There's just something slightly weird about this stone." She stood up and walked towards the sunny window, pressing the green gem against the glass."

  Lucy and Zach stood at the same time, following her.

  "See." She pointed at the gem. "There's a tiny black square, which I guess could be a flaw, but it just looks wrong to me, it's too straight. It doesn't look natural."

  Zach saw where she meant and reached for the stone, flipping it over and picking at the gold casing around the gem.

  "What are you doing?" Lucy sounded panicked as she tried to reach for it.

  He stopped and looked at her. "You have to trust me."

  After a hesitant pause, she pressed her lips together, stepped back, and let him do his thing. Taking it into the kitchen, he pulled out a small tool kit from the drawer beneath the telephone.

  "Here, let me." Jaeda took the tiny flathead screwdriver from his hand and gently began to pry at the tongs of the setting.

  "Damn, your dad knew what he was doing." Elliot drew Lucy's attention away from Jaeda's dismantling project.

  She slid up beside Alex and looked over the computer whiz's shoulder.

  "Woah, the encryption used here is something new, something awesome. Not sure if I can break this thing without some serious firepower. May need to grab some time on Tianhe-2. Chinese are going to love me again." Elliot bent his head low over the screen and went to work.

  "Do you think that's why Tenner kept the computer? Do you think he's spent all this time trying to hack into her dad's stuff?" Zach asked while keeping his eye on Jaeda's movements.

  "It's a good theory." Alex stood back, crossing his arms. "I mean it's not like he could take it to anyone. He can't risk anyone seeing what might be revealed."

  Elliot grunted, a deep frown marking his features. "It's not working. Maybe I could try—"

  "Hey is that a memory stick?" Alex interrupted, reaching over Elliot and pushing some files aside. Lifting up the little black device, he studied it with a growing frown. "Maybe not."

  "Let me look." Elliot practically snatched it from him, running his fingers over the hard plastic casing and spinning it in his hands. "It's not like any flash drive I've seen before." He squinted at it then grinned. "Ah-ha." Elliot slid his finger up the side and one click later, a flash of silver popped from the end.

  Elliot slotted it into the computer and stared at the screen. After a moment his expectant stare became a confused frown. "Where is it?" He pressed a few more keys and flicked the mouse around. "There's no icon. It's not in the main..."

  "What are you talking about?" Lucy leaned against the table, frustrated.

  "The computer's not reading the flash drive...like it's dead or something." He pulled it out of the machine, blowing on the end before trying again.

  Nothing.

  "That's just weird." Elliot tapped the end of the memory stick. "I mean, I get not being able to open the files, but for the computer not to register the presence of an external device at all seems odd."

  "Got it!"

  Jaeda's triumphant call made them all turn back to the kitchen. Her eyes were practically glowing as she gently placed the casing on the counter and walked towards them with the jewel.

  Lucy's breath hitched.

  Within the back of the emerald was a perfectly cut indentation and within that lay a green square that looked a little like a SIM card, except it wasn't.

  "Is that a computer chip?" Zach held out his hand so Jaeda could tip it into his palm.

  Elliot lurched from his seat and peered over Lucy's shoulder. "No, that's a micro board." He nudged Lucy aside to get a better look. "At least I think it is."

  It was ridiculously tiny. Elliot pressed his finger onto it and picked it up, holding it close to his nose.

  "Look at the circuitry pattern. I've never seen anything like it." Elliot's words were breathy, his eyes glimmering with awe. "This is...I've never seen...This is incredible technology...I..."

  "How does it work, Elliot?" Jaeda practically snapped as she crossed her arms.

  "Well, it must fit into..." His eyes grew wide as he spun back to the computer. Yanking out the mysterious flash drive, he examined the edges more closely. Finally his mouth lifted with a small smile.

  "Zachy-boy, you got some tweezers?"

  Without a word, Zach stepped back into the kitchen, wrenching open the first aid kit and pulling out a pair of tweezers.

  Everyone held their breath as Elliot gently lifted the chip from his fingertip and fed it into a tiny slot on the end of the memory stick.

  "Cross your fingers, people." He let out a breath as he sat down in the chair and slotted the flash drive into the computer with a slight reverence.

  Chapter 28

  ZACH

  It felt like an eternity before the icon for an exterior flash drive finally popped onto the screen.

  "There it is!" Jaeda pointed at the screen as she jumped onto her tiptoes.

  "Yeah, I see it Jae." Elliot double-clicked the icon. The computer screen flickered, made a whirring sound and then went dead. "What? No!" Elliot tapped the side of the screen. "Don't die on me. Oh man, please say I haven't wiped the hard drive," he groaned. He was just reaching to restart the computer when it burped with a musical sounding beep and a wheel started spinning on the screen.

  Elliot drew his hands back, his eyes wide as he watched the screen turn white and then flicker to life.

  The desktop reappeared just how it had been before.

  "Where's the icon gone?" Alex leaned down, searching the screen for the flash drive again.

  "Hang on. I wonder..." Elliot moved the cursor over one of the files and doubled clicked. "Damn it."

  "What?" Jaeda nudged Elliot's shoulder.

  "I was hoping that maybe this flash drive was somehow overriding the encryptions on his files, but this one seems...to...." Elliot squinted at the screen, his nose wrinkling. "Unless I try..." Elliot pressed a few keys and a black window with a flashing cursor appeared on the screen. He typed in a sequence of numbers and letters that no one else seemed to understand, bringing up lines of garbled text. It came down in chunks and then the flashing cursor appeared again.

  He typed in Lulu!9602.

  INCORRECT PASSWORD flashed on the screen.

  "Okay, bummer, I thought he might have used the same password. Help me out, Lulu-girl."

  She breathed out a chuckle, shaking her head. "I'm not sure, maybe Lulu and Eddy. That was my mom's nickname. Or—"

  Elliot tried several combinations and failed.

  "Why'd they call you Lucy?" Alex interrupted. "Any special meaning? Do you have a middle name that goes with it?"

  "No." She shook her head. "No middle name. I think they just liked Lucy. Dad used to laugh at Mom because she loved that TV show, I Love Lucy, and he accused her of naming their only child after a 1950s sitcom."

  Elliot's head tipped to the side. His fingers skimmed over the keys, typing in: ilovelucy

  An explosion of text appeared below the words and the box disappeared.

  "No way." Elliot chuckled. "I'm in!" He raised his hands. "I love Lucy!" He shouted, clicking at folders on the desktop, revealing lines of neatly labeled files and jpegs.

  "No, I love Lucy." Zach pressed his nose into the side of her face as he whispered the words, following them up with a kiss. She absentmindedly grinned, her eyes fixated on the screen.

  "Try that one." Alex pointed to a file.

  Elliot followed the reporter's instructions, opening up file after file until they stumbled across a gold mine of information under a folder marked TenWil.

  "Holy crap," Zach whispered as they all read the meticulous notes on the main page.

  The PDF of Jack Tate's testimony didn't miss a detail. He had been suspecting William Tenner for a few months and decided to secretly
track his movements, his finances and go back through his reports. The file contained photographic evidence of bribery and corruption, falsified investigative reports and money laundering. Recognizing a couple of names, Zach scrambled for the files on the table.

  "Here's more evidence." He lifted the statements up to his uncle. "See that charity, that must be a cover for the gang work referred to in paragraph...seven?" His fingers scanned over the computer screen. "See there."

  Alex took the file from Zach's hand, pulling over a chair and finally sitting down next to Elliot. For the next two hours, they worked through documents and files, opening all the evidence Jake Tate had spent months meticulously collecting.

  "This is amazing. Your dad's a total legend. We've got enough here to bury Tenner. There's no way he can hide this stuff anymore." Alex jumped from his seat. "I gotta move on this." Pulling the files together, he started shoving them into the bag. "Elliot, you want to join me?"

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'm heading to the Chronicle. I want to talk to my boss about the best way of exposing this. It'd be great to have you there to walk him through the files and tell him how you worked your magic on that laptop."

  "Okay." Elliot nodded, his chest puffing out as he gently closed the laptop and stood.

  "You guys want to come too?"

  Zach looked to Lucy who hadn't said a word in the last two hours. She glanced his way and shook her head. "It's a lot to take in, you know?"

  "Yeah." Zach rubbed her back. "You okay?"

  "Yeah, I...I will be, I just need to clear my head. I want to stay here. Actually no, I want to go for a run."

  Everyone paused, their eyes slowly traveling to her.

  "Not run away." She rolled her eyes. "A run. As in to clear my head. I will come back." She gave them all an emphatic look.

  "Do you want me to come with you?"

  "No." She squeezed Zach's arm. "I just need to process this. Running helps me do that. We'll talk when I get back, okay?"

  He couldn't help feeling deflated as she brushed past him and headed for the stairs. Leaning against the back of the chair, he glanced toward Elliot.

  "You coming, man?" His friend flicked the bangs out of his eyes. Zach wanted to. Finding all this stuff on Tenner was thrilling. They had him now. He was pumped up and couldn't wait for this to all come out, but he was worried about Lucy. She didn't seem excited at all and he didn't want to go flouncing off to San Francisco for the afternoon. He wanted to be there when she returned.

  "Nah, you know what, I'm gonna stick around. Keep me posted though, okay?"

  "Definitely."

  "Jae?"

  "No, I want to go give Liesl and AJ an update. They'll be dying. It's nearly noon."

  "That's cool. I'll text you guys when we get there." Elliot looked on fire, his eyes dancing with the thrill of it all. Alex was waiting for him at the door, looking just as pumped as he was. They left without saying goodbye, slamming out of the house and running for Alex's car.

  Lucy came down the stairs a few moments later, an iShuffle clipped to her shorts. "You don't mind me going?" She stopped in front of Zach.

  "As long as you come back." He added a wink to his cheeky grin, forcing her to smile. She placed a brief kiss on his lips before turning to Jaeda. "See ya." With a wave of her hand, she was gone.

  "You alright?" The big bangles on Jaeda wrist made a tinkling sound as she stepped towards Zach.

  "Yeah." He closed his eyes. "Yeah, it's nearly over, Jae. I just can't wait." Exhaustion swept over him as the events of the last few days came hurtling forward.

  "Do you want me to wait with you? Until she gets back?"

  "No, I'm cool. I'll just..." He pointed to the dining room table. "I'll just clean up and potter around. You know...."

  "Go stir crazy while you wait?" Her head tipped with a cynical frown.

  "She needs me to be here when she gets back."

  "I know." Jaeda kicked at the carpet. "Hey, um, I'm really sorry about losing it with you and I can't remember everything I said, but if I was mean... well, you know, just forgive me, okay?" She winced.

  Moving towards her with a grin, Zach wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head. "Hey, you're our Jaeda. I'll always forgive you, no matter what. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you."

  "Yeah, well, you're our Zach, so you're forgiven too." She nudged him with her elbow. "Maybe I should bring AJ and Liesl over this afternoon? We both know they'll want to be a part of this."

  "Yeah, sure, why not, that's a good idea."

  The phone in Jaeda's pocket dinged. Zach let her go and stood back while she pulled it free. "Seriously, AJ has got to change his profile shot, it's just plain embarrassing." She spun it around to show Zach an image of AJ wearing a puffy chef's hat with a spatula in one hand and a whisk in the other. His smile is so incredibly cheesy. Jaeda giggled, while unlocking the screen. "I can't wait to tell them about this morning."

  Her smile fled as she read the message, her eyes popping wide.

  "What is it?" Zach's stomach clenched.

  She pressed a few keys on the screen and lifted the phone to her ear, her lips trembling as she replied. "They've been in a car accident."

  Chapter 29

  LUCY

  It felt good to be out running with music thumping in my ears. I kept in time with the steady rhythm, my nerves settling just a little with each stride. When I first hit the pavement, I couldn't help feeling bad for just ditching Zach and his friends, but I needed to be on my own. They were all looking at me with those expectant eyes, waiting for me to be thrilled about what we'd found, but I couldn't muster it.

  Seeing everything my dad had done was overwhelming. He was such an amazing guy and I'd totally let down his legacy by going into hiding for so long. I still felt pretty cowardly as I loped along the residential street. I should have gone with Elliot and Alex. I should be standing excitedly by their sides, proclaiming Tenner's guilt and relishing the dishing out of justice, but I was too numb to feel anything.

  Justice was good, yes. But it didn't give me back my parents or the last five years of my life. If everything went according to plan, I had a shot at a future, but the very idea terrified me. I'd never had a future to own before and I was scared. Bringing Tenner's indiscretions into the spotlight would also have the beam landing on me. I'd be in the public eye. I'd have to confess my sins to the police, admit to my thieving, my cowardly hiding. I had a lot to face up to. It felt good to know that Zach would be there holding my hand, but it also felt unfair to drag him into it.

  I grimaced, shaking my head. It was like going around in circles. I was supposed to be running to clear my head, not confuse myself even more.

  Focusing on my breathing, I pulled in a mouthful of fresh air and slowly expelled it, zoning into the way the air moved through my lungs. I had no idea how long I'd been running for, but my body was slick with sweat and my limbs were starting to feel the ache of weariness. Reaching the end of the street, I crossed the road and started weaving my way back to the Schultz home. It felt good to have a place to return to and even though a lot of crap awaited me in the near future, once it was done, I 'd have a clean slate to work with. I'd have Zach.

  I let myself smile, the feeling of his love and warmth rushing through me. The night before still sent hot tingles over my skin. Heat pooled inside me as I imagined lying with him again, re-exploring every inch of his body until I knew him better than anyone.

  Picking up my pace, I sprinted past a blue SUV on the corner and arrived at Zach's letterbox, out of breath. My legs were prickling from exertion as I walked up the path and into the house.

  "Hey! I'm back!" I pulled the buds from my ears and listened out for noises around the house. I heard nothing. My stomach clenched, instinct putting me on high alert as I closed the front door and crept towards the kitchen. "Zach? You home?"

  My heartbeat was thrumming in my ears as I stepped onto the tiled floor. That's when I spotted the
piece of paper on the counter. Snatching it up, I read the text and drooped with relief.

  Hey gorgeous girl,

  Sorry to not be here when you returned. AJ had a minor crisis and Jaeda and I are on rescue duty. It shouldn't take too long and I'll tell you all about it the second I get back. See you soon.

  I love you.

  Z.

  I placed the note down with a grin. He loved me. The idea still sent a thrill shimmering through me. I was curious as to what AJ's crisis was, but the way Zach worded it made it seem pretty minor, so I shunted any unnecessary worry aside. I needed to do that more. I was so sick of feeling scared and apprehensive all the time. I wanted to feel strong and confident like Jaeda...or the girl I used to be, the one who got the lead role in the spring musical. I wanted that life back.

  "No, I can't have that." I pursed my lips, then sighed. "But you can have a new life."

  I glanced at the note.

  A life with Zach.

  I didn't need to be scared about my future, especially if he was going to be in it. He had proven to be true through all these months and so had his friends. It was time I started being a person worth fighting for.

  Now that I had stopped running I had a chance to do that.

  So, who did I want to be?

  I unclipped my shuffle and leaned against the counter, twirling the headphone cord around my fingers.

  What did I want my future to hold?

  It was the first time I'd really asked myself that question. I'd never played with the idea before, because the answer would have always been, "I can't think past my next escape route." All my teenage years had been living from one exit to the next. It was time to stop and walk through an entranceway. Walk into a future that I wanted. That I had chosen for myself.

  So, what did I want for myself?

  My eyes skimmed back to Zach's note. I grinned. The immediate answer was a really easy one.

  With a chuckle, I bit my lower lip and reached for a pen. I could think about the distant future later, but for now...

  Beneath Zach's note, I wrote,