Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
J
What was that? I whip my head around, searching for the source of the strange sound.
The pop-pop-pop erupts again, and I instinctively duck for cover. There’s a workstation next to the teacher’s desk, and I hunker behind it, hoping the thick wood will stop any flying bullets.
My heart gallops like a startled horse, and I place a hand over my chest, trying to coach my heartbeat back to a calmer pace.
Gunshots? Why would there be gunshots around Redwood Prep?
The noise ends as quickly as it started.
The world goes eerily quiet.
My first instinct is to crawl to the window so I can look around, but I stop myself before doing something stupid. Instead, I pull out my phone to access Redwood Prep’s surveillance system.
My pulse is still hammering, and my watch face turns yellow.
Breathe, J.
I’m starting to regret my life choices. When I woke up this morning, I never thought I’d be this close to a shooting. If I’d stayed put, I’d be safe. Warm. Tucked into my computer chair, happily doing my own thing.
The hospital might have been boring and predictable, but at least I didn’t have to run from gunmen.
Are they still out there?
It’s so quiet.
Too quiet.
Maybe they’re gone. Or maybe they’re prowling the school searching for target practice?
I take deep breaths. Right now, there’s no way to know what I’m up against. I need visuals.
My fingers tremble as I log into the school’s camera app.
Just before the system boots up, a call from an unknown number fills my screen.
I swipe away the notification and check the surveillance footage. The cameras pointed at the front lawn reveal security officers with their flashlights. One of the security guards has a walkie talkie to his lips. He must be informing the police.
I swipe to the cameras at the back of the school property, and my eyes widen. Two trucks are parked haphazardly in the middle of the street. All the doors have been flung open, and there’s smoke pouring out of the mufflers, which means the trucks are still on.
A flurry of movement in the corner of the screen catches my eye. What is that? I look for the camera controls so I can shift the camera lens to the left, but the surveillance system won’t let me in.
Stupid Redwood and their stupid security firewalls.
It’ll take too long to break the code, so I keep monitoring with the cameras as is.
Every so often, the men come into view. It looks like they’re… fighting.
Thugs in loose T-shirts and sagging pants kick, punch, and scratch at each other. Are those the gunmen? Then why are they fighting with their fists?
One of the thugs lands hard on the ground. I wince on his behalf. That had to hurt. A hand darts out and drags the guy with the sagging pants off-screen.
Wait… that hand had a tattoo on it.
I stop breathing as I concentrate on the corner of my screen where there are shadows converging and then separating like a light show. Based on the shadows, the men aren’t fighting each other. There’s someone else in the huddle.
The tattooed hand comes into focus again. I pinch my phone screen to see better. Unfortunately, Redwood Prep’s cameras do not have a zoom feature, but I can make out some kind of circle shape on his wrist.
The hand disappears in a flash as it drags someone else out of the camera’s line of sight.
“This is so frustrating,” I mutter, pulling my phone closer as if that’ll turn the picture quality HD. The most I can make out are the distinct blobs of human heads bobbing around.
Paying more attention to the shadows, I determine that there are two clusters of fighting men, and there seems to be a man in the center of each cluster. The two fighters move fast. I can’t tell exactly what they’re doing, but every time they get close to the thugs, they knock them out.
After a few minutes, the Sagging Pants guys are groaning and writhing on the street, and only the two tall, thin shadows remain upright.
“There you are,” a dark voice growls.
I yelp and jump around. The cell phone clatters to the ground, and I reach to pick it up.
Finn storms into the chemistry lab and yanks me upright before I can touch the phone.
I shudder when I look at him. It’s like one of the tall, thin shadows jumped out of my phone screen to haunt me. He looks especially lethal, his pure-black eyes blending into the dark as if he were made from the night. As if he were made from secrets and evil and death.
A startled cry freezes on my lips. Even my body knows that I can’t scream without his permission.
Finn’s narrowed gaze slides over my body in disdain. “You’re not bleeding.”
“You sound mildly disappointed.”
His eyes collapse into annoyed slits, and it feels like I’m a child about to get a spanking. “I called.”
Ah, yes.
I’m suddenly reminded about his growled instruction to answer whenever he rings my phone.
“I was busy.”
“Doing what?” He bears down on me, infringing on my personal space. Breathing my air. Making my watch chirp.
The air of danger swirling around his body makes the hair on the back of my neck stand to attention. I would not at all be surprised if Finn suddenly twisted my neck to the side and bit me, turning me into a creature as dark and twisted as he is.
“Trying not to get shot.” I try to push him off. “Ever heard of breathing room?”
His nostrils flare, and he keeps a tight grip on me. “Did you see the shooters?”
“Personally? No. But a bullet doesn’t exactly need to be close up to make an impact.” I know I should be nicer, but the fight outside is still going on, and now I can’t see a thing because the Dark Lord of Redwood Prep here has an iron-fisted grip on me.
At last, Finn releases me, and I scoop my phone back up. The screen isn’t broken, but sadly, the fight is over. The street is completely clear, and the trucks drove off.
It’s like they weren’t even there.
Finn plucks my phone out of my hand and stares at the footage. He recognizes what I’ve done instantly. “You hacked Redwood’s surveillance system.”
“Hack is a strong word. It’s more like they left the door open and I walked in.”
Honestly, if people don’t want their privacy infringed on, they should take greater steps to protect it. I don’t make the rules.
He studies me, his eyes piercing me like a samurai sword slicing through my flesh. Has no one told him that staring is impolite? Especially when he does it with that magnificently beautiful face?
“You’re a hacker.”
“I prefer the term ‘ghost in the system.’”
“Ghost?”
My eyes widen. Did I give myself away?
“What other rooms have you haunted in Redwood Prep?” Finn demands, his voice so low and penetrating that I know he’s talking about more than just classrooms.
“Nothing that interesting,” I mutter, glancing away. “I saw the chemistry lab. Obviously.” I nod to the room we’re standing in. “The auditorium. The music hall—”
“Our practice room?”
Finn has a really good lock on his emotions, but his energy shifts can’t be disguised. I’m starting to learn when he’s showing his happy expressionless face or his angry expressionless face.
This time, it’s his “I know you’re Jinx, you little liar” face. I’ve caught him staring at me like this before. It’s still unnerving.
“Whaaaat?” I say in a high-pitched voice. “You have your own practice room? Can I see?”
Of course I know what room that is, and of course I know I’m not allowed in there.
After following Finn into the school, the first place I went was his private practice room.
Unfortunately, the room was a fortress.
And I’m not saying that because it can only be accessed via a private entry card.
Finn made the space totally un-hackable. There was not a single opening in the system.
Not one.
So I did my next best and tried to get into their phones.
I hit another wall.
Finn must have taken extra precautions to keep people like me out. The jerk.
Not that it’s enough to stop me.
Finn has done a great job of keeping his secrets under lock and key. But I’m here now, closer than his next breath. And I’m going to get my hands on everything this royal pain has been trying to hide.