Secrets of Mine (Of Mine #2)

32. Freya

32

FREYA

J osh’s car looks untouched from the outside. The paint work on the Jeep is a dark green, mud up the wheels from where Josh likes to go out hiking in the woods.

I tie my hair back and scan the parking lot. A few people mill about, dipping into the corner shop or grabbing a pizza. I figure the pizza getters are hungover because it’s only nine in the morning.

There aren’t any security cameras that I can see. Someone could have easily driven the Jeep here then simply walked off. It might have sat here for days before someone noticed, which only makes me more sure that the anonymous tip was called in deliberately.

“I don’t like this,” I murmur, shuffling closer to Eli. It feels too much like a trap. I’m about to say that we should sweep the vehicle but before I can Luke jimmies the lock on the driver’s side.

“Luke, wait?—”

He pulls the door open.

My breath sticks inside my chest, my heart expanding. Nothing happens though. No big explosion.

The chatter from the teenagers outside the pizza shop filters through the parking lot.

A woman with two armfuls of bags and a little kid walk past.

We’re all still alive.

The air is fairly warm for a fall morning but a chill runs through me nonetheless.

“That was stupid,” I say, marching over to Luke and shoving him away from the car.

He screws up his face and drops his gaze. “Shit. Sorry, I’m not thinking straight.”

I close my eyes. The photo of Josh is burned into my mind. The bruising on his face makes my stomach roll and I turn my back on Luke. I don’t tell him it will be okay. I can’t.

Ruiz hands out gloves and the four of us search the car. Other than the satnav system being smashed up everything is as it should be. Which doesn’t make sense. If the car itself isn’t the trap, then it has to lead us somewhere. I take out my phone and go over the messages again. Follow the trail .

“The fitness tracker Josh had on, it went offline, right?”

Luke glances up at me from where he’s leaning into the car, searching the back seats. “Yeah. A few hours after he went missing.”

“But Josh wears it because he likes trail running?”

Luke nods, his face still a few shades paler than normal. “All the time. He keeps spare stuff in the trunk.” Our eyes clash.

We both round the car to the back. Jeeps have weird trunks and I pull the lower door open as I lift up the rear windscreen. There’s nothing obvious.

“There’s a compartment underneath.” Luke leans forward, his hands running over the carpeted surface until he finds a latch. He pulls, opening up a hatch to reveal a canvas bag.

We empty it out, searching through the running kit. I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for until my fingers brush against a small, hard object. I pull it out of the jacket pocket and turn it over in my palm. It’s another fitness tracker.

Luke picks up the black rectangle “It’s his old one.” He presses the side button and the screen lights up. “Shit, shit. Okay. If they didn’t know this was here it could show us where they’ve been.”

I eye the tracker. Follow the trail. My gut twists, pinpricks stabbing at my upper back.

I stand by as Luke syncs the tracker with his phone. I have a feeling he’s right, the tracker is going to lead us straight to Josh. The trouble is, I’m also pretty sure that’s exactly where whoever has him wants us to go.

The trail leads us to a warehouse, because of course it had to be another fucking warehouse. Memories of what happened last time, when Oz was kidnapped and I ran away to find him, shatter through my body. The scars on my chest burn and I have to focus on just breathing to stay in the present.

Eli’s hand slips around mine and I hold on tight as he pulls the car to a stop on the dirt road.

Ruiz and Luke are just behind us, parking next to the barbed wire fence. The warehouse is too much of a coincidence, we’re in the right place.

Josh is here.

I pull Ruiz to the side while Eli and Luke scout the area. “Call an ambulance,” I tell her. “And whatever you do, don’t let Luke inside the warehouse.”

Ruiz’s thick brows furrow.

I shake my head but I need her to do what I’m saying so I get out my phone and show her the photo of Josh.

She looks away and works her jaw. Dust kicks up from her boots as she strides over to Luke. I don’t know what she says to him but after a moment she leads him away to check out the area behind the warehouse.

Eli and I wait until they’re out of sight before approaching the side door next to the garage style front of the building. There’s no lock. I get that uneasy feeling again.

We draw our weapons and slip inside.

“Stay close to me,” Eli orders.

I nod. “You too.”

A wall of crates is stacked in front of the entrance so we can’t see the rest of the warehouse. The whole place is cast in shadows and a chill ices my skin. I breathe in to calm myself and the acrid scent of blood scrapes the back of my throat.

We move steadily, our guns and flashlights out, both of us expecting an ambush any second now.

What I’m not expecting is a fucking spotlight.

We move out past the crates that line the entrance and the rest of the warehouse becomes visible. A bright, stage spotlight is rigged up, the light falling in a perfect circle around Josh’s body.

There’s no one else here. Not my sister, or Farrah. Not my dad. No one’s waiting with a loaded gun. Whatever this is, it isn’t the endgame, so I lower my weapon and go to Josh.

The damage looks worse in real life. His face is puffy, his shoulder pulled out of its socket. The clothes he’s wearing are bloody and torn and every inch of his body is bruised.

I hold my breath and ease two fingers onto his distended neck. There.

The air rattles out of me and I collapse back onto my butt, pulling my legs in close. “He’s alive,” I say. “He’s still alive.”

Eli hooks a hand under my arm and helps me stand. There’s not much we can do until the ambulance gets here but we stem the bleeding as best we can.

God knows how, but Ruiz manages to keep Luke outside, so he doesn’t see Josh until the paramedics arrive and we’re walking out of the warehouse with him on a stretcher.

“Josh,” Luke screams. “Josh!” He breaks free of Ruiz and runs towards us. He goes to hold Josh’s hand only to end up gripping the stretcher when he sees the state of it. I think every finger is broken.

“Luke,” I say, but his eyes are glued to Josh. It’s like everybody else has ceased to exist and I get that. It would be that way for me if it was one of the guys lying there. Unconscious, beaten so brutally.

It’s not my father’s normal style. He likes precision. Cutting.

This is pure rage.

Luke goes with Josh to the hospital, but we stay behind. Ruiz called out some Uniforms and the tech team and they get to work analyzing the scene.

It’s not until I’m sitting back in the SUV that I fall apart.

My breaths come in ragged gasps.

Eli twists in the driver’s seat and reaches for my hand but I pull away and stumble back out of the car.

I bend at the waist and throw up, vomit burning away the taste of blood. I screw up my face and spit on the ground.

A hand settles on my back and Eli passes me a water bottle. I take a sip and let him walk me back over to the car.

My hands tremble as I climb up onto the seat and turn so I’m facing Eli. I suck in the fresh air, trying to calm my shaking body as Eli settles his hands on my knees.

More tears fall, my chest vibrating as everything spills out of me.

Eli moves closer, wedging himself between my legs. He puts his arms around me and I rest my forehead on his chest as I cry. When I’m done, I wipe my face dry and shift so I’m facing the front of the car.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say.

Eli nods and rounds the car.

It’s only once the tears are gone that the anger fully settles in my chest. It burns like a brand and fills me with steel. I want to know who hurt Josh because there’s no way my sister did that. Nor would Farrah have the strength needed to cause that much damage which means either my father managed to get out of L.A., or he’s got yet another partner. I slip my phone from my pocket and type out a message to the unknown number.

Freya: Who the fuck are you? What do you want?

It shows as being read but there’s no reply. I’m ready to throw the damn thing at the windshield when it starts ringing.

Eli cuts me a look as he drives but I answer before he can stop me.

“Tell me who you are,” I demand.

“Freya?”

“Allie?” I choke out. “Allie, are you okay? Where are you?”

The other end of the line goes quiet.

“Allie talk to me,” I plead.

Her breath whispers in my ear.

Eli taps my thigh and mouths ‘speaker’.

I switch over and hold the phone out in front of me.

“Did you find your friend in time?” There’s nothing taunting about her tone this time. She sounds worried.

“He’s being taken to the hospital. Where are you?”

“You don’t have to worry. He’s promised he’ll look after me.”

“Who? Dad? You can’t trust him.” My hand grips the leather edge of the seat.

“I need to go now. I shouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Allie, wait.” I sit forward, the seatbelt digging into my chest. “Do you know where our mom is?”

She goes quiet again.

“If you know, I need you to tell me. I think Dad’s going to try and hurt her.”

A rustle, like she’s shaking her head. “Dad would never hurt Mom. He loves her. He saved her from the Dying Angels.”

“What does that mean? Who are the Dying Angels? Allie?”

The screen goes black. She’s already gone.

I look over at Eli.

Who the fuck are the Dying Angels?