Cee didn’t need money. Unless… “Please let me do the job. Please.” Had she wanted to fund her own shadow League? But where did Tyler fit into this mess? Had she contacted him for the money?
Crud. She went back to the computer, checked her connections. One of the screens blinked on. Finally. She began to type in her access codes to bring up the GPS locator.
Nothing she typed showed up on the screen.
She tried again and a video of her mother, Sheila, popped up. Dumbfounded, she listened as it played. Her mother was giving the exact same testimony she’d given about Andrew Lincoln Rush, except the voice asking the questions wasn’t asking about Rush.
This was what Dusty had told her about—one of the other versions of her mother’s recording. How the heck was it on her screen?
“Gracie Divine?” John stepped back from the monitors. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him looking like he was getting ready to run, straight to the police.
Tyler. She needed to focus. Find Tyler.
Gracie fished her cell from her purse to call Leland. Her cell rang in her hand. She looked at the screen. Victor. So not a priority right now. She sent him a “Can’t talk right now” text.
She dialed Leland.
He picked up on the second ring. His voice was military gravel and too many roughly-barked commands. “Gracie, how’d it go today?”
How’d it go? Oh, the hospital. “Leland, I’ve got a situation. Can you ping Cee and tell me where she is?”
Leland must’ve heard the anxiety in her voice, because he didn’t even question. “Hold on. Let me get to the right computer.”
She bent and continued to try and get control of her computer system. After a moment, Leland said, “She’s on campus. In her room.”
Her room? Thank God. But then where was Tyler? “Are you sure? She couldn’t have taken her chip out?”
“No. We’ve finally figured out a way to program the chips to go off if removed, without making them vulnerable to hacking or easily destructible.”
Gracie let out a breath. She mouthed to John, “She’s there.” And then to Leland said, “Can you get her? I need to talk with her.”
“I’ll have home security run her down. No problem.”
“Thanks.”
The video of her mother was now on every monitor. Playing over and over. Each one with a different time stamp and a different man being mentioned. She squeezed her cell between chin and shoulder and continued to type commands, but nothing was happening.
The click of a call coming through her cell buzzed in her ear. She ignored it, let it go to voice mail.
Someone had taken control of the system. Someone had blocked her.
How…?
The fire. They hadn’t been searching for something. They’d been planting something. Fudge. This was bad. “Leland.”
“Hold on.” She heard Leland talking with someone, then come back on the line with a gruff “Security searched Cee’s room. She wasn’t there. They found a chip.”
“You said it couldn’t be removed.”
“This one was clean. Not a speck of blood. She must’ve had a duplicate made.”
“Wouldn’t there then be two signals for her?”
“Not if she wore a device that blocked one of those signals. In that instance, the signal on the first chip might drop for a moment in the control center, but then we’d have pinged her and picked up on the second chip.”
“What about her cell?”
“In her room.”
She felt panic rising. Why would she do this? What game was Cee playing? Could she have anything to do with the attempt on her life, the club fire?
Tony was alive. Dusty was a huge liar. Anything seemed possible. Besides, Cee had gotten into the club when Gracie hadn’t been there. She could’ve planted explosives. Could’ve used the money from Tyler to get them made. Could Cee’s need for payback extend to her? Had she lured Tyler away to hurt Gracie? “Tyler is missing too. John is here. Says Ty and Cee have been in contact. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t think we’re going to get an answer on that unless it’s directly from her. But I’m going to work on how.”
“You think Rome…?”
“I’m going to go talk to him now.”
“Thanks. I’m on my way over.”
She hung up. Her cell rang again. She ignored it. Turning to John, she braced herself to tell him she had no idea where their son was, tell him that the family he had feared—had rightly feared—had taken Tyler.
Chapter 56
It wasn’t so much a dirty main street as a poor main street. Boarded-up businesses, like missing teeth, were interspersed with open businesses—an old-fashioned pharmacy advertising the lowest price on cigarettes, a thrift store, and a corner market that smelled like pickle brine.
Having traveled by bus an hour from his home, Tyler stood in front of the store, eating the beef jerky he’d just purchased with cash. He lowered his baseball cap. This didn’t seem the type of city to have high-tech cameras, but he’d been told to avoid cameras. He had on special sunglasses that blinded facial recognition software, but he could still be filmed, so his hat came down.
He put his hand in his jeans pocket, feeling the smooth steel of his folded pocket knife. A gun would’ve been better. But his family didn’t have one. And he’d only ever practiced with one once. His friend’s father had taken the two of them to a range. And though Tyler’s father had told him to “Just observe,” Jake’s dad had let him fire a couple of rounds.
When his hand grew slick against the knife, he took it out. Felt like he’d been waiting for this moment forever. And here it was.
A shiny limo pulled up to the curb. A big guy with a nose that had been broken once or twice rolled down the window. They’d sent a limo? Tyler leaned on the open window. The man inside said, “Your mom sent me. Time to go.”
He hesitated. Then remembered not getting into a strange car were instructions you gave little kids. They didn’t apply to a six-foot covert vigilante.
Besides, it was a limo. Why would they advertise if they intended to hurt him? He opened the door and slid into the back seat, shut the door. The cold temperature in the car was a relief. It smelled good in here, a new-car smell. The partition between him and the driver slid down. “Help yourself to a drink,” the man said.
There was a fridge. Awesome. He took out a grape soda from the small fridge. The inside was lit with a blue light. Neat. Flicking open the silver tab, he took a long sip. Tasted incredible. His parents never stocked soda or any sugary drinks.
There was food and candy in an inset cabinet, too. Shouldn’t eat the candy. That was for kids. But since the driver had lowered the divider, he asked, “Do you know where we’re headed?”
Duh. Of course he did. He was driving. Nice, Tyler. You’ll make one observant spy.
“Yes, sir,” the driver answered as if Tyler hadn’t just said the stupidest thing in the world. “We’ll be arriving at our destination in two hours.”
Two hours? A phone rang out through the speakers. The driver must’ve accepted the call, because suddenly he heard Cee’s soft Spanish accent. “You’ve made it. You are officially one of us.”
A burst of joy raced through his chest, making him want to shout. He’d done it!
After all the jumping through hoops. He’d stolen from his parents—well, technically, taken money from a trust that was his without them knowing. But he’d lied to his parents, visited the dark web, planned, plotted, snuck around, and now he was going to meet his…Gracie Parish. “That’s great, but two hours is a long time. You told me not to bring a phone, so how can I let my parents know when I’ll be back?”
His mom would freak when she found him missing. Luckily, it was summer, so she probably wouldn’t discover him gone for a few hours.
?
?We’ll text her for you. Even make it look like it came from your phone.”
“You can do that?”
“Your mom can. Now settle back. You’ll be there soon enough.”
Ty relaxed in his seat. They’d taken care of everything. This was what it meant to be part of an elite covert group. So cool. He rested his head back. Took another sip of his drink. He suddenly felt so tired. His eyes drifted closed. And the world went black.
* * *
Tyler woke up in a bedroom that was and wasn’t familiar. He struggled to place the light-blue walls, the Mario lamp on the nightstand and matching curtains, and then it came to him. He was in his bedroom at the family cabin—far from home. So thirsty. He licked his dry lips, tasted like chemicals. His head hurt. What had happened? What time was it?