The Hidden Note (Redwood Secrets #1)
Chapter 1
Chapter One
FINN
I peer through bleary eyes at the computer screen.
The bar is a little over half-filled.
I stretch my fingers, wincing at the soreness. I’d forgotten how exhausting coding could be. Especially with older systems.
My phone rings.
Rather than answer, I rub my face with the heel of my hand.
My eyes feel like sandpaper.
I blink a few more times until my vision clears.
My brother Dutch is calling.
I inhale sharply, fighting an unusual feeling in my chest. It’s unpleasant, prickly and cutting. I felt something similar when Sol got expelled because of us last year.
What is this ugly sensation?
Feelings aren’t my forte, and I don’t know how to describe this one exactly. It’s… thick and oozing. Slippery. Every time I try to throw it off me, it clamps on tighter.
Disgusting.
I hated the feeling back then too.
70% progress.
I pick up the phone. “Any…” My throat garbles the rest of my words. I haven’t drunk water or eaten a morsel since I came down here. “Any luck?”
“We went through every second of footage.”
I sit a little straighter and the beat-up, old plastic chair creaks. “Already?”
That was hours of footage. I took everything I could from the servers. The mall’s security system was easy to jailbreak. Modern technology is so trusting. Once you’re in the cloud, stealing information is like plucking flowers from the stem.
“Did you sleep?” I ask. It’s a pointless question. My brothers’ wives were kidnapped last night. There’s no way they would have gotten any sleep.
“Did you?” Dutch throws back.
We both know the answer to that question too.
“Any clues? Even someone’s face reflected in a mirror could help tell us who took them.”
“We saw Grey and Cad—” Dutch stammers while saying his wife’s name.
“We saw them walking into the mall. They were in the baby store…” He stops again and his breath rattles.
“They picked up these onesies at the front. Cadey was smiling—Damn.” Dutch pauses.
Exhales. He fights to say, “We didn’t see them leave. ”
“What about the grey van they were dragged into?”
“No sign of it anywhere.”
“And the police?”
“Not much help,” Dutch grunts.
“Did you tell them—”
“That we suspect the yakuza’s involved?”
I swallow hard.
“We told the cops everything we could. Showed them the footage Jinx sent us. They ran the plates. Found nothing. It was another dead end.”
That’s not what I need to hear right now.
“Do you think you can turn their trackers back on remotely?” Dutch pleads. It’s my first time hearing him beg for anything.
“I tried. Their phones are dead.” I shake my head. “And whoever took them could have dumped their phones anywhere.”
“I should have planted that tracker inside her like I wanted to,” Dutch whispers.
He sounds so broken.
Something sharp pricks under my ribs.
I don’t know what it is yet, but I hate this feeling.
“How’s Zane?” I ask, bracing myself.
Dutch hesitates. He and Zane are twins. They look the same, but they couldn’t be more different. Zane is the life of the party, always smiling and messing around. Dutch is serious and intense.
Tragedy struck them the same way, and while Dutch lost Cadence—his entire world, Zane lost Grey—the only one who kept his hands off the self-destruct button.
If anything happens to my brother because of this…
An invisible noose tightens around my neck.
“Zane is....” Dutch struggles for words. That’s not good. “Zane will be fine when we find them.”
When. Not if.
I share the same optimism. But it’s kind of hard to keep believing when twenty-four hours have passed. According to the investigators, timing is key. Leads are the hottest within the first two days.
Forty-eight hours.
If we don’t get a proper lead soon, the chances of finding my sisters-in-law alive start dropping. Hard.
“You okay over there?”
“Fine.”
“You should have let us come with you.”
“You’d be shot out of the building.” I gaze at the hub of wires I plugged into the electric pan. “This is something I have to do alone.”
“Finn—”
“Dutch,” I interrupt him before he can start his usual spiel about not blaming myself. “The more I think about it, the more certain I am that Kurosaki’s involved.”
Dutch sounds exhausted. “I thought the same when the girls first went missing, but I’ve been thinking about it, and it doesn’t make sense. The Japanese mafia is too powerful. They don’t need to kidnap anyone to get what they want from us.”
“I know it’s him,” I say darkly.
“Then why haven’t they started bargaining with us yet?”
“Maybe Kurosaki’s just waiting to break us before he lists his demands.”
“Then let him,” Dutch blurts. “Zane and I would do anything—give anything…”
His voice cracks again.
My brother’s losing his mind and it’s painful to hear.
I speak firmly. “I’ll get answers. I swear.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
The computer beeps.
100%.
The update is complete.
“Finn,” Dutch says.
I stop in my tracks.
“You call and we’ll come. You say the word and we’ll fight. I don’t care who your real father is. I don’t care what anyone says. You’re my brother.”
Another emotion spurs from his speech. It’s warm. It expands.
But it’s distracting too.
I stuff it down. “Try to get some sleep. And keep Zane away from alcohol.”
That’s an empty warning. Zane works in extremes. He’s either going to make really smart decisions in this critical time or really stupid ones.
No in between.
“Stay in one piece over there,” Dutch responds.
I grunt in a way that means “no promises” and hang up.
The stillness of the room creeps over me, and I pop the wires out of my laptop, letting them hang against the control panel.
I shouldn’t be judging Zane for stupid decisions when I’m about to make a few of my own.
My heart picks up speed. My blood pumps faster.
This feeling, I can identify—anticipation.
For what?
I don’t know.
Death, maybe?
It’s certainly possible I won’t see tomorrow. And maybe that’s for the best.
Maybe I’ll finally know what it means to feel alive when I’m dead.
Jinx: Curiosity looks good on you, Finn—pity it’s going to get you burned.
Keep digging into my code if you like, but ghosts don’t live in servers… and I don’t plan on being found.