44. Freya
FREYA
P laying Angelica came easier than I thought it would. When Zach walked into the apartment, I wasn’t the girl he’d abused or the woman he’s been tormenting, I was Allie.
It’s only now, as I sit in the passenger seat of Zach’s van, that I have to remember not to let the act slip. I want to check our surroundings, look in the rearview mirror to see if I can spot the teams tailing us, but I force myself to keep my eyes on the dashboard. Allie isn’t an FBI agent.
I have to stay focused though, because if I don’t, I’ll think about how Jude’s body jolted when I fired the shot.
I’ll think about Oz and Eli and River in the other room.
They’ll have figured out by now it wasn’t real but just for a moment, they’ll have thought Jude was dead. That Allie had killed him.
I hate that I did that to them. But I knew there was a chance Zach wouldn’t believe Jude was dead and while we didn’t want to trust Allie with too complex a con, it was easy enough for me to switch out Jude’s bullets for blanks and plant the squib Reaper gave me to make it look like he’d been shot.
That was one of the many reasons I’d switched places with her.
Next to me, Zach’s grip on the steering wheel is tight, his knuckles pale. His gun is tucked into his waistband, out of my reach, and I try not to think about how fucking mad River is going to be that I’ve put myself in this position.
Zach made me leave my phone and gun behind, which means I have no weapon and no way to contact anyone. I am alone with a serial killer, and I can’t do anything to defend myself. Not yet. Not until Zach’s taken me back to where he’s keeping Harley.
The car jolts as Zach takes a sharp turn down a side street. I grip onto the door handle and bite the inside of my cheek. “What are you doing?” I ask, letting some of my fear seep into the question. Allie was never good at controlling her emotions.
“Did Maxwell teach you nothing?” Zach sneers, venom in his voice. “I’m making sure we don’t have a tail.”
My fingers curls around the seat belt and I brace myself as he takes another rough turn. It doesn’t matter if he loses the tail, River’s bracelet is locked around my wrist and as soon as the guys figure out Allie and I switched places they can track it.
That’s another reason I did what I did. The tracker Carmen built into the bracelet doesn’t show up on any bug scanners so even if Zach had checked me for tech, it wouldn’t have registered. I’m not sure why he didn’t to be honest.
River might kill me for switching places with Allie without telling them, but he made it clear after my meeting with Jeremiah that he wouldn’t let me put myself in danger again.
Maybe I should have talked to him, tried to reason with him, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let my sister be taken by Zach.
I let her down once before, I wasn’t about to do it again.
If anything goes wrong, I’ll be the one to take the fall, not her.
So, I did what I had to.
He’s going to think I ran again, but this isn’t me running. This is me trusting, with my entire being, that River and the guys will find me.
A few minutes pass before Zach’s driving evens out and his shoulders drop a little.
“Where are we going?” My question is met with silence, and I try to think of how Allie would respond. “Zach?” I say again.
“I swear to god, Angelica, shut the fuck up. You’ve caused enough problems for me today so unless you want a bullet between the eyes, you will sit there and stay quiet.”
Huh, I guess big brother’s not in the mood for a family reunion . I press my body against the door and use his order to my advantage, memorizing the route he takes.
We drive for almost two hours before Zach turns onto a secluded forest trail. There’s no sign of anyone following us, but they’d have to keep their distance at this point.
I scratch my fingernail against the seatbelt.
Just a little longer.
As soon as we arrive at Zach’s hideout, they can take him down and we can rescue Harley.
Everything will be fine.