Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
STERLING
“ T his place is pretty slick,” Forrest said as we parked.
I tried to picture Griffen or Hawk here and found I could, easily. Their dark SUVs were a match for the rest of the vehicles in the garage. I could see them getting on this same elevator to go up to the office. For a good chunk of the years, Griffen had been away, this was where he was living a life I knew nothing about, a life where he did things I’d never ask him to tell me. Given everything that had happened since someone had murdered our father, it was lucky he had. As much as I agreed with Avery and didn’t want to be locked down, I was glad we had Griffen and Hawk’s skills. I wanted freedom, but more than that, I liked being alive.
The elevator carried us smoothly up to the floor with Sinclair Security’s offices. The doors slid open to reveal a small, dark-haired woman with a short bob and blunt-cut bangs. She was tiny, not just short like me, but built on a small scale with delicate bones and curious, sky-blue eyes. She wore a white dress with navy blue nautical detailing and a full skirt. The red crinoline beneath matched her lips. She was fresh and glamorous and the last thing I’d expected to see at the front desk of this elegant office.
“Hi,” she said, holding out her hand. “It’s so nice to meet Griffen’s sister, Sterling. I’ve heard so much about you.”
I rolled my eyes, liking her immediately. “That’s a scary thought.”
“No, not like that.” Her eyes flashed with humor. “Griffen adores you. I’m Alice. Alice Sinclair. I run this place, though my husband Cooper would disagree.”
“Not a chance,” said the tall, dark-haired man who came up behind her. His eyes were ice-blue but warm as they looked down at Alice. He slid an arm around her shoulders and held out a hand. “Cooper Sinclair. It’s good to meet you both.” He shook my hand and then Forrest’s. “We miss your brother and Hawk around here.”
“I know they miss all of you,” I said. “Though I’m glad we have them at Heartstone.”
“I’m glad you do, too,” Cooper said. “It seems like you need them more than we do, at least for now. I knew I wasn’t getting Griffen back, but I had hopes for Hawk.”
I grinned up at Cooper. “I’m pretty sure my sister Quinn isn’t giving him back.”
Cooper let out a sharp laugh. “She’s a smart woman. It was good to see Hawk so happy. For that, I can live with losing him to the wilds of North Carolina.”
Alice looked up at her husband. “You have a call in five minutes.”
“I know,” he said, “but I didn’t want to miss meeting Sterling and Forrest. I’ll walk them back to Lucas’s department.”
Alice nodded, then looked to me. “We have one of the safe house apartments free if you need to stay overnight.” I drew in a breath, ready to say we could get a hotel, and Alice shook her head. “Hawk specifically ordered me to tell you that if you’re staying in town overnight, you’re staying here. He also added that if you have an issue with that, I should direct you to call him.”
I let out a huff of breath. I definitely had an overdose of big brothers in my life. On the other hand, being offered a Sinclair Security safe house was a pretty good deal.
“Thank you,” I said. “We’ll take it.”
“We don’t really know what our plans are,” Forrest added. “But we’ll let you know.”
Alice’s eyes popped from my face to Forrest’s, and she gave me a sunny grin. “You look like Griffen,” she said. “It’s in the eyes. Not the color, but the way you look at me reminds me of your brother.”
I held that close to my heart, beating back all my insecurities as we followed Cooper down one long, gray-carpeted hallway and then another. My brother had belonged here. Maybe I could, too. Or somewhere like it. We came around a corner into a sea of small offices and open desks, computers everywhere. I saw people with headsets, multiple screens around them, laptops open here and there, wires, circuit boards, soldering guns. Excitement fizzed through my veins. I didn’t know what most of this stuff was for, but I wanted to. I wanted to know everything about what they were doing.
A thousand questions tumbled in my brain. Every single one evaporated as a man stepped into view—a man or a mountain? He had to be six and a half feet tall, and wide, his biceps stretching the sleeves of his olive-green T-shirt. Shaggy dark hair over sharp cheekbones almost hidden by a black beard. Surprisingly bright apple green eyes framed by thick lashes that reminded me of Forrest’s—long and dark and thick. Lashes to die for. Why did men always get the best lashes? He was handsome in a terrifying way.
Marshaling all my courage, I stuck out a hand. “Sterling Sawyer,” I said.
“Lucas Jackson,” he answered, giving me a firm shake and confirming his identity.
I’d seen Lucas from a distance when he’d come to Heartstone, but that was nothing like seeing him up close. He turned to Forrest and held out a hand.
Forrest took it and shook firmly. “Forrest Powell. Good to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too. I’m curious about this cipher you’ve got.”
Cooper squeezed my shoulder. “I have a meeting. It was great to meet you both.” To Lucas, he said, “Let me know if there’s anything I need to know.”
“Got it, boss,” Lucas said.
Another man joined the group, and I backed up a step in surprise. “The last time I saw you,” I said to the newcomer, “you had blue eyes, kind of like Cooper’s, and your name was Jay. And then you kidnapped my sister.”
“Emmett Blake.” The man I’d known as Jay held out his hand. He had the grace to look a little sheepish, an expression that didn’t sit comfortably on his serious face. Emmett Blake’s real eyes were a warm brown, his dark hair brutally short. He was tall, as tall as Forrest, though not as tall as Lucas, and lean.
I remembered his wiry build, the feeling of barely contained energy. I wasn’t exactly clear on why Emmett Blake wasn’t in prison for kidnapping. In fact, he’d bypassed all authority in Sawyers Bend, and Hawk had ushered him straight here to Sinclair Security. Where, from what I could see, he’d fit right in.
I’d asked Quinn what had happened to him a few days after the kidnapping. She’d been oddly tight-lipped about her mysterious kidnapper, only saying that not everything was what it seemed, and things worked out the way they were supposed to. Bullshit answers. When my sister didn’t want to talk, she was a vault. And if she was fine, I was fine, so I hadn’t pressed.
“I’m sorry for all of that,” Emmett said. “I had some things to work out.” He looked to Forrest, studying him for a long moment before his eyes drifted back to me. “Hawk filled me in on what you two have been up to. I shared it with Lucas. I think we might be able to help you.” His eyes flicked back to Forrest. “In a few different ways. Tell me about the ciphers.”
Lucas led us to a conference room at the side of the big open room filled with desks. We sat around the table. “Do you have any pictures?” Lucas asked as I started to explain about the statue of Vitellius.
I looked to Forrest. He gave a nod, and I pulled out my laptop and opened the file where I’d kept my notes. I walked Lucas and Emmett through our progress, sharing the few pictures and notes we had, finally, sliding the peppermint tin onto the table between them.
“And then we found this one,” I finished. “But unlike the others, it doesn’t have a key. We thought we found a key.” I filled them in on the debacle of the root cellar and Callum Leary’s rescuing us.
“And you don’t know who at Heartstone Manor created the decoy clue?” Emmett asked.
“I have my suspicions,” I said, “but I can’t prove it.”
Lucas and Emmett shared a long look but didn’t say anything.
Lucas looked to me. “Show me what you’ve got for us.” His eyes narrowed and landed on me, and I felt my cheeks flush. I thought I knew what he meant, but?—
“Show you…?” I asked, stalling.
“Show me what you’ve done to try to solve this one,” he pressed, his gentle tone encouraging as my stomach flipped with nerves.
“Well, I, um, I…” The heat on my cheeks grew, and I looked at Forrest, the fear from a few hours ago roaring back. I was embarrassed and terrified I was going to be laughed at. These people were some of the most elite hackers on the planet. Lucas Jackson ran the whole IT division for Sinclair Security. I didn’t know about Emmett, but Hawk had said this was what he specialized in. I couldn’t show them my amateurish fumbling, the code that hadn’t worked.
Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “Are you going to sit here and tell me you didn’t write something to try to crack it?”
I shook my head, swallowed, and heard Hawk’s voice: Don’t be afraid to be yourself. I closed my eyes, lines of code flashing in my mind, and knew there’d never be a better time or place to take the leap and show them what I’d been working on.