45. River
RIVER
M y fists are clenched at my sides as Oz sets up his laptop in the passenger seat of our SUV.
Allie’s sitting in back of the car, her fingers playing with the cuffs of Freya’s favorite leather jacket. I’m busy trying to convince myself I didn’t make the wrong choice by letting Freya pull her little con when Jude comes storming out of the apartment building, heading straight for me.
While we got ready to leave, Eli was upstairs, injecting Jude with the adrenaline that would counteract the drug Eva gave us to fake his death. Now, that adrenaline thunders through Jude. Eli hurries behind him, trying to slow him down as he charges towards me.
“Jude, take it easy man, you’ve just been drugged.”
Jude ignores Eli. To be honest, I’m not sure he even heard him over the rage burning across his face.
I don’t bother blocking his fist as he punches me in the jaw. My head cracks to the side, the impact radiating down my neck and shoulder.
“Why the fuck didn’t you stop her?” Jude yells. “You. Of all people! You’ve had her over your knee for far less than this and yet when she does what’s probably the most stupid, reckless, dangerous thing she’s ever done you just stand back and let her go. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I work my aching jaw and turn my head back to face him. “I had to trust her, Jude.”
“Like fuck you did!” His eyes squeeze shut and he sways on his feet.
I reach out to steady him, but he yanks away from my grip. I grit my teeth to stop from snapping at him.
I get why he’s mad but I’m too busy worrying about Freya right now to deal with Jude.
It took every ounce of control I have not to stop her from making the switch.
The temptation to handcuff her to me so she couldn’t leave my side was so fucking strong, but I respect her too much for that.
Freya’s smart and I’d have been an idiot not to see that her plan made our con better. Now, we have an agent on the inside.
Eli hooks an arm under Jude’s shoulders and guides him towards the back of the car. “Come on, you passing out isn’t going to help Freya.”
Jude struggles to climb into the back and slumps against the seat.
“She’ll be okay, Jude,” I tell him, not sure whether I’m trying to convince him or myself. Jude just turns his head away.
I sigh. “You ready to go, Oz?”
“Yep. Alpha team lost him for a second, but Beta picked the tail back up.”
“Right. Let’s go.” I slam the back door shut and round the car to the driver’s side.
My cheek throbs and adrenaline hums underneath my tactical gear. “You got Freya’s tracker bracelet up?” I ask Oz as I put the car in drive.
He hesitates.
“Oz,” I snap.
“It’s not connecting.”
In the back, Jude hits the side of his fist against the window.
“What do you mean?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“It’s probably just a signal error. Give me a second.”
The leather of the steering wheel creeks under my grip. The rumble of the tires on the road and the sound of Oz’s tapping fill the car as we all wait.
After a minute Oz curses. “Riv, put your comm on.”
My gaze flicks over to him, taking in the lines straining his face and I slip one hand off the wheel to hook the comm device back over my ear.
“Agent Park here, report.”
The rough voice of the Alpha team leader crackles into my ear. “We’ve lost him. Beta team too.”
“How?” My voice drops to a deadly hum.
“He knows how to lose a tail. Used every trick in the book.”
“License plates?”
“We’ve given them to Agent Reynolds but, sir, they were covered in mud. The cameras might not be able to pick them up.”
I battle down the flurry of curses that wants to rage from my chest. Mud on the fucking plates.
It’s simple and old school, and far too fucking effective.
We can use the cameras to search for make and model but we’re now relying on human eyes being able to manually pick out the right van. It could take hours.
“Oz, tell me you’ve got the signal from the tracker bracelet.”
Oz continues typing.
Jude leans forward from the back, his face still tinted gray from the drugs. “Ozzie?”
Oz shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Something’s blocking the signal.”
Allie looks up from her lap. “That’s bad right? What does it mean?”
I stare at the road ahead. The dread and nausea I’d been pushing back since I figured out Freya’s plan flood through me in full force.
Eli grips his neck.
“It means Freya’s on her own,” Jude answers, his stare drilling into the back of my head. “Until she can figure out how to get her tracker working, we have no way of knowing where she is. No fucking way.”
I meet his gaze in the rearview mirror. Jude glowers at me like he wants to kill me, but if Freya doesn’t make it out of this alive, he won’t have to.
I’ll drown in my own fucking guilt.
She told me last night to remember our rules and her words from that evening ring in my head.
I won’t promise not to run again because I know it won’t mean anything anymore, but I need you to know that whatever happens, I will always want you to find me.
She ran trusting that we would find her and I will be damned if I let her down.