41. Freya
FREYA
A llie looks so at home here that I’m already questioning our plan. She’s sitting on the couch in a pair of patterned pajamas and I suddenly feel like the shittiest sister in the world for dragging her back into this.
If it weren’t for the tracker on her ankle, she’d look like any other girl in her early twenties, maybe at home on break from college.
Oz squeezes my knee, and I glance up at him where he’s sitting next to me on the coffee table in front of Allie. He gives me an encouraging nod.
“So you want me to call Zach and ask to meet?” Allie’s gaze darts between me and Oz and River by the door. Jude and Eli are in the kitchen with my mom and grandmother, making some coffee.
I remind myself that Allie told me she wanted to help. She knows a little girl is missing and if our plan works, we could save her. “Yes,” I say. “Then, when he arrives, if everything goes to plan, he’ll take you with him and we’ll follow you both back to wherever he’s holding Harley.”
“Won’t he think it’s a trap?”
“Most likely, yes.”
“Which is why we have to give him a good enough reason to show,” River adds.
“And how do we do that?”
“You’re going to kill Jude,” I tell Allie.
Her eyes widen before she leans forward and says in a low voice, “I thought you told me I wasn’t supposed to do the whole murdering thing?”
Oz puts a hand between us. “Whoa, you’re not actually going to kill him. We’re just going to make it look like you have.”
“Oh.” Allie nods. “Got it.” She screws up her face. “I still don’t understand though. Why would me killing Jude make Zach show? And how can we be sure he’ll take me with him?”
I wring my hands together and look back at River. This is the part of the plan that could mean everything falls apart. We’re working on an assumption, that if we’re wrong, will ruin everything.
But my gut tells me we’re right.
Zach’s known I’ve broken my end of our deal for over two weeks now and he’s not come after any of the guys. The fact that he made the deal in the first place when what he wants to do is hurt me is strange enough, and something Jeremiah said when I met with him stuck in my head.
“Zach’s dad told me that he had him under control and my team and I had nothing to fear from him. I think he’s forbid Zach from harming any of us.”
“Why would he do that?” Allie asks.
“I don’t know exactly.” It’s not a lie, I don’t know for sure, but having spoken with Carmen, I suspect it’s got a lot to do with her and whatever she means to Jeremiah.
Allie’s face remains blank as she works it out. “So, I’m going to kill Jude and essentially threaten to frame Zach for it.”
I nod. “He’ll show up to try and do damage control and you’ll be a liability, so he’ll take you with him.”
Allie tilts her head to the side. “Either that or he’ll kill me.”
My stomach sinks.
“We won’t let that happen,” Oz says. “We’ll be nearby, and we’ll be watching. If it looks like he’s going to hurt you, we’ll arrest him, but this is our best shot at getting him to reveal where he’s keeping Harley.”
Allie nods. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
Air rushes out of me. “Are you sure?”
She nods again. “He hurt you. He deserves to die.”
I don’t tell her that killing him isn’t the plan. And I do my best to ignore the voice in my head telling me she’s right. That I should kill him.
Eli and Jude come in with coffee and cookies and we go through the whole plan three times over till we all know our parts by heart. We’re double checking anything that could go wrong when Eva turns up with the drugs we need.
She shows Oz how to extract the liquid and inject it into Jude. The right amount should lower his heart rate enough to make it undetectable for a limited period of time.
I’m reluctant to use Jude when he’s still recovering from his injury but him being injured makes it more plausible that Allie could have gotten the jump on him. And Eva assures us that as long as we get the antidote in him soon enough, he’ll be perfectly fine.
The plan is insane but it’s solid, and I never would have been able to hatch a con like this without River.
An hour later, we’re all getting ready to leave. Allie’s gone upstairs to pack a bag and Hannah—my mom—I still don’t know what to call her, catches me as I come out of the restroom.
She hugs her arms around her torso, the sleeves of her gray cardigan tugged over her palms. “You’re taking her with you?”
“For now. We need her help.”
“To stop Zach.” It’s not a question but I nod anyway.
Her nails dig into her arms, and she stares at a spot past my shoulder. “I’m sorry for what he did to you. For what he’s still doing.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I can’t tell her it’s okay because it’s not. When the silence stretches for too long, I settle on telling her, “We’ll stop him.”
Hannah nods, a wisp of blonde hair brushing her cheek. She looks healthier than when we first found her. Her face has filled out a bit and she’s got some color to her cheeks, but the damage is still there in her pale eyes.
I brace myself for how it feels when she directs her haunted gaze my way.
“Bring her back to me, Freya. She’s just a child.”
“I know.” Allie’s not the same as me. She broke in a way I didn’t and while I’m glad our mother is looking out for her, jealousy hisses at the edges of my mind. I feel so little connection to this woman and yet I wish she was as protective of me as she is Allie.
I swallow, my throat thick. “I’ll bring her back,” I say but Hannah’s words play in my mind.
Allie is just a child really. The riskiest part of the whole thing is that we’re relying on her to help keep Harley safe until we get there.
We’ll have people tailing Zach when he leaves but if they lose him, then Allie will be alone with Harley and Zach until we find them.
My sister may be saying and doing all the right things at the moment, but she’s a wild card at best and at worst, she’s our father’s daughter.