by Cherrie Lynn
Human trafficking immediately sprang to mind. Except that she would just be gone. No phone calls, no demands to find Jace or anyone else. Lindsey would never see her sister again, and he couldn’t bring himself to think of what she might be enduring, no matter how much he hated her.
There was another alternative niggling at the back of his brain, but it was one he only wanted to extract and examine with Helix. So he could tell him how stupid he was being by even bringing it up.
Scrubbing his hands over his face, he glanced at the clock and then finished watching Lindsey’s journey home. He stayed with her until it looked as if she entered her building on the other side of the city and then moved no more. She was home. He checked on Griffin—still no movement. Jace wasn’t sure how the guy fit into anything. He might very well be who and what he claimed—a concerned friend. But very few people were who and/or what they claimed.
Which was why, earlier tonight while Lindsey had been dressing, he had installed a listener on her computer to see if there was anything she was keeping from him that he needed to know. It wasn’t that he genuinely thought she was in on the whole thing anymore, though it might be good to keep her on her toes in that regard. But if she was compromised or being forced into doing something against her will, he needed to know. Shitty and intrusive, yeah. But utterly necessary.
Never mind that he was holding a secret about Lena that could shake the very foundations of everything Lindsey thought she knew about her twin. There was nothing to be done for it. He had to cover his ass, and as he’d told her—he wasn’t her friend.
He’d planned on doing it through her email at first, since it was still easily accessible to him, but then he had the golden opportunity to visit her apartment. Lindsey probably wouldn’t have trusted anything he sent her himself. His plan had been to clone one of her work contacts and name his payload after a file they’d recently exchanged—something she would readily click on, which would allow him to exploit her system and give him access to record from her computer’s mic.
No need for all that now. He sat back and tried to tamp down on the guilt over invading her privacy like this. He could let those feelings through if he didn’t find anything. If he did…well, he would be glad not to be made into a fucking sucker again over a pretty girl asking for his help. Surely she wouldn’t fault him over a little self-preservation, and if she did, that was her problem.
Never again. Never, ever fucking again, Lindsey. I’m sorry if you can’t understand that.
He wasn’t able to gain access until the next evening. And he began to see what a quiet life she led.
Since he’d seen her apartment, he could imagine her there amid the cozy and comfortable surroundings—nothing like the chic and modern decorations and furniture that had been strewn around Lena’s place. He listened while she talked on the phone to someone who could have only been her mother, never mentioning Lena.
He sipped coffee, listening to her voice, her laughter, her efforts to sound normal, and wondered if only he could detect the faint tremor underneath her words. After she assured her mother more than once that she was fine, he decided that no, he wasn’t.
Silence fell for a while after she ended her call. In the background, he could hear her TV and the unmistakable voice of Bart Simpson. He had to chuckle. In fact, she surprised him even further as time wore on and she flipped over to South Park, giggling at the most inappropriate jokes.
His need for knowledge about her activities became a fascination with her. What made her emit that musical laughter despite everything happening in her life. The sound of her typing—he imagined slender fingers flying over her keyboard with lightning speed.
When he heard her munching on something that sounded like potato chips, he thought of those pretty downturned lips he’d scarcely been able to look away from over dinner.
And later, of all things, she started playing The Legend of Zelda. He knew that old-school, original Overworld theme music anywhere. It had been one of the constants he had relied on during his years of foster-home living. Video games and computers. They had saved his fucking life, given him a connection to people and to the world outside.
But some of the memories that jaunty tune unearthed made his breath burn through his lungs and his heart lodge in his throat. It was so familiar to him it had practically become ingrained in his soul.
All at once, he jumped up and turned his whole fucking system off. There wasn’t any time for shit like that. It was as if she had plugged into his head and downloaded information she shouldn’t have any access to.
She couldn’t have any way of knowing. There was no other explanation aside from her being a fan of the series, too. Which meant she was girlfriend material.
And there damn sure wasn’t any time for thoughts like that.
He plugged up Lena’s computer and set about finding out who had exploited her system and how. It didn’t take him long.
Crafty bastards, that’s who. But there was nothing he couldn’t find if he worked at it long enough; this was his art. After hours of staring at the screen, he sat back, fingers steepled under his chin, one uncovered message on his screen, the letters standing ten feet tall and burning themselves into his mind.
hi wraith
He knew his next move, at least, if Lena’s captor didn’t make one first. But he needed to talk to Helix, the idea in the back of his mind growing larger with each passing minute, no longer capable of being ignored.
But Helix had been MIA for a couple of days—nothing unusual, really, the man’s sex life was the stuff of legends—so Jace was left to his own devices. All he learned during his intermittent snooping and listening in at Lindsey’s apartment was that she was a homebody, a gamer, had few truly close friends—if any—and was a bit of a geek. She talked to herself sometimes. She hummed to herself a lot. She sang Christmas carols in the shower—surely that was a seasonal thing. Hopefully.
Nothing sordid. Nothing suspicious. She talked to no one about Lena. She talked to no one about him. He began to feel like an even bigger asshole than he had already. So after day three, he stopped listening to her altogether, when that huge weight of guilt he’d been holding back finally crashed through to suffocate him.
She must be telling him the truth. Unless, of course, she’d fully expected him to do something like this.
“I don’t know,” Helix said a day later as the two of them went over everything Jace had learned during his stakeout. Where he’d been—or whomever he’d been with—had put a spring in his step. “Most people don’t have the suspicious minds we do.”
Yeah, he had a hard time remembering that sometimes. “You’re probably right. I only spent a few hours with her, but she never came off as insincere. I can’t see her having the guile to pull off something like this.”
“But we’ve been wrong about that before,” Helix pointed out, turning his chair in a lazy circle.
And that was the damn truth, too.
“Seems to me,” he went on, “you need to spend more time with her. Get closer to her. Obviously you aren’t finding anything out this way.”
Jace grumbled an incoherent response.
“Do what I just said instead of growling at me.”
“Fuck off.”
“I’m thinking Sully might be on to something. I’ve seen you run laughing into the face of death before. Right into it. Sometimes I never thought I would see you come out again. But here you are, avoiding this girl who apparently couldn’t hurt a mouse.”
Jace glared murderously at him, gunfire and explosions ringing in the spaces between his ears. “I’d hate to have to physically remove you from the premises.”
Helix laughed. “I’d hate that, too.”
“What do you expect me to do? Move into her fucking apartment?”
“Nothing that extreme, and you know it.”
“Yeah, yeah. I k
now it wouldn’t hurt to go check in on her. We didn’t part on the very best of terms. But look at this.”
He brought up a map, zooming in until the center of the screen rested on a rectangular, nondescript building on the outskirts of the city.
“What am I looking at?” Helix asked.
“I traced the IP of Lena’s attackers to this place. But it’s air-gapped, and I can’t get in.”
“Could be a proxy.”
“I’m sure it is. But it’s all we have to go on, unless we want to sit back and let these assholes come to us. If I can get in there, I can figure out our next move.”
“Great! When are we going?”
Jace shook his head. “When am I going, you mean.”
“That’s what you meant,” Helix said cheerfully, “but what I meant was when are we going?”
“Has it ever occurred to you that this has something to do with Rhys?”
Helix’s expression froze, and he fell silent—which was remarkable for him. Jace watched his throat constrict as he swallowed.
“I’m sorry to bring it up,” he quickly added, hating to have to drop that particular ax on his brother’s jovial mood.
It had taken a long time for Helix to forgive himself for what had happened all those years ago. If he ever had at all.
“I just… It’s me, man. It has to be me these fuckwads are targeting, no one else. She was told to come to me. It probably doesn’t have anything to do with Lena or Lindsey. I’m not saying it’s a sure thing, but who else would have this much of a grudge against me? Who else would know the perfect way to drag me in?”
“Then I’m damn sure going with you when—”
“No. I want you out.”
“Jace.”
“Don’t even ask again.”
“Then why the fuck tell me at all?”
“Because I hoped you’d tell me I’m way off on this.”
Helix cursed, rubbing the back of his neck, his agitation heartbreaking to see. “No, you aren’t. It makes sense. But I don’t get why you want me out. He wouldn’t only target you. He would target all of us. We all have a stake in this if what you’re saying is true.”
“Because I’m the one who ruined him.”
And almost killed him.
But no one knew about that, not even the Captain. He didn’t necessarily want them to know now. It wasn’t something he was proud of. But after what Rhys had done, what he’d used Helix to do, he’d deserved every blow Jace had given him.
And he’d given him plenty, at least three for every death their former brother had caused. “Look, I didn’t want to think it myself. I want to keep all options open. It’s just that this one is starting to make sense. He knew all about Lena and how I ended up here. And he knows my call sign.” Jace brought up the message he’d uncovered and showed it to Helix, only for him to curse a blue streak.
He could sympathize. He felt like doing the same or saying “fuck it,” jumping a plane, and running from past demons forever. But that was chickenshit and wasn’t him.
Question was, how much did he tell Lindsey?
Chapter Twelve
It wasn’t long before the call she’d been dreading above all others came.
“Lindsey? I can’t get ahold of Lena. Have you talked to her?”
Lindsey finished stirring sweetener into her cup of hot tea and closed her eyes as she set her spoon aside. “Um, no, I haven’t, actually.”
“That’s odd,” her mother said. “I know she tends to disappear, but she usually returns my calls eventually. When was the last time you talked to her?”
“I’m not really sure. It was before the party.”
“Me too.”
It was sad that her sister’s disappearances were so sudden and so common that no one really thought anything of them, not even her own parents. If Lindsey had dropped off the face of the earth, there would have been a manhunt organized. Because she was always home. She had no life.
“I hope she’s okay,” her mother was saying.
“She’s always griping about the cold. She’s probably lying on a beach in Bali. You know Lena.”
“True.” But her mom didn’t sound quite convinced this time.
She needed to see if Jace had found anything. What was taking so long? It had been five days since they’d visited Lena’s apartment, and nothing. Patience wasn’t her virtue. That was a trait she and her polar opposite twin actually shared.
Thank God, her mother didn’t stay on the phone long, so Lindsey didn’t have to perform too many mental acrobatics to deflect her questions. But guilt was like a gut punch. If her parents found out—when they found out—she had been keeping this from them, they would never forgive her.
As she carried her cup of tea into her living room, ready to pile up on the couch in her sweatpants and Netflix the day away, her doorbell rang.
Ugh. She was so not in the mood for company. But when she pressed the speaker button and said “Hello?” the warm male voice that answered nearly made her drop her cup.
“Hey, it’s Jace. You got a minute?”
“Uh. Um, uh, yeah, sure. Come on up.” Damn. She was in sweats, a hoodie, and a two-day-old topknot. For him, she had all the time in the world, but couldn’t he swing by when she looked presentable?
Why did she care so much?
Gently, she set her cup down. And then she bolted around her coffee table in a dash to her bedroom. A glance in the mirror showed her how hopeless it all was—one look at her hair down made her pile it back up again. Then she only had time to brush her teeth before he was at her door.
He, of course, was perfection. She tried her damnedest not to notice, but all her efforts were futile. The cream sweater and brown leather jacket he wore accented his tan complexion, and those thigh-hugging dark jeans just wouldn’t quit hugging those thighs.
“Did you find anything?” she asked by way of greeting, beckoning him inside. As he walked past, she inhaled the scent of leather and something subtly sweet that made her want to push him down and lick him all over.
“Maybe,” he said after she closed the door. Her cooling tea still sat on a nearby accent table. She picked it up and walked toward the kitchen, at once dreading and anticipating what he might say.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone or I might’ve tried to look more presentable.”
“You look fine.”
Gee, that was reassuring. She wanted to pull her hood over her head, run into her bedroom, and jump under the covers. But she watched him closely as he slipped his jacket off, taking note of the grim set of his lips, the tension in his jawline.
He looked as if he were ready to leap out of his skin, and that couldn’t bode well. Lindsey felt the beginnings of panic build in her chest. Mechanically, she tossed her tea down the sink, her stomach roiling, and rinsed out the cup.
“Jace? Tell me.”
He took a seat on her couch, leaning his elbow against the arm and rubbing his brow. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Is my sister—”
“I don’t know any more about her or her whereabouts than I did.”
Lindsey, suddenly overheated, unzipped her hoodie and tossed it away, not giving a crap anymore how she looked or that underneath the jacket she was wearing an old T-shirt she’d had for years. “Okay.” She dropped into the chair across from him, watching him over the coffee table between them. “Isn’t no news good news?”
He looked at her then, seemingly for the first time since he’d come in, eyes taking in her sloppy hair, her makeup-less face. And then her T-shirt. “Are you wearing a Zero Wing shirt?” he asked, murdering her fantasy that he might have been staring at her boobs.
“Oh God. Yes.” Blushing madly, she tugged the shirt h
em outward so he could see the badly translated All your base are belong to us quote.
He laughed, and it was a thing of beauty. Not the cruel, biting laughter she had heard from him before but a genuine, robust laugh that brightened some of the darker places in her soul. “That’s awesome,” he said.
“I’m a bit of a retro gaming geek.” She crossed her legs under her and gestured toward her entertainment center, where some of her consoles were on display and some were stored in the various cabinets. “It’s readily apparent, huh? I have no life.”
“Ah, but you do. Since you’re a gamer, you have many.”
“True, true. But, um…can we get back on the subject of my sister?”
“Sorry.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, his posture more relaxed now. “I traced the IP of the people who were watching you from her webcam. I know where it’s coming from, but I can’t find any information about the address, and I can’t get into their network because it’s air-gapped.”
Lindsey sat up straighter, fired with excitement. “Do you think that’s where she is?”
“Not necessarily. In fact, not at all. I seriously doubt they would just give me her location like that.”
“Well…maybe they’re stupid?”
He chuckled, but this sound rang hollow, no humor to be found. “I doubt it.”
“But we’re going to check it out, right? I mean, leave no stone unturned.”
“Of course,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her, “but what’s this we? ’Cause that ain’t happening.”
“Don’t you dare think for a single minute that I’m not in this with you. She’s my sister. I’m going to be there when we get her, Jace. How do you think she’s going to feel if you bust in to rescue her? The one man who probably hates her more than anyone else on earth? It’ll probably scare her to death.”
“Aren’t you the daredevil,” he said. “I like it. But there is no fucking way I’m bringing you in on this. If I can get in that building and scope it out, crack into their network or security systems, I’ll be able to figure out what’s going on. There’s no need for you to put yourself in danger, and I won’t let you.”