Chapter 7
LEE
It’s a four hour drive to Indianapolis. I could’ve waited until morning, considering I won’t be able to meet with Justus until tomorrow, but I had to get away.
The text is probably nothing. Some random person screwing around, at least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself.
It’d be easier to believe if I hadn’t changed my phone number years ago.
No one from that past should have my cell number.
Any other time, I would’ve ripped that costume off Silver, but it’s messing with my head, stirring up the dark memories and guilt that are always trying to pull me back down. Whoever sent that text better hope I don’t find them.
It’s nearly dawn by the time I reach the city and pull into a rest stop to grab a few hours of sleep in my truck. The first thing I do when I wake is check my phone. The mystery texter hasn’t sent anything else but there’s a message from Justus giving me his new address.
It isn’t far and a few minutes later I knock on the door of a little bungalow on the north side of the city. “Hey, come on in. Watch your step,” he warns, scooting a pair of shoes out of the way with his foot and moving a skateboard aside. “Damn kids are plotting my death.”
It looks like things have changed a lot for him. “You have a kid?”
He leads me down the hall to his office. “We’re fostering two teenagers. They’re animals.”
“No more than you are,” his wife Sadie snorts, stepping into the room. We greet each other and she turns to Justus. “Is something going on that I need to know about?” She’s aware of how we know each other and the work her husband does.
“Nope, he just needs my superior hacking abilities. Nothing to worry about.”
“So, you’re taking him to Landon?”
Justus gives her a sideways look, then breaks into a grin and nods. “Probably.” Sadie chuckles, drops a kiss on his lips and leaves.
Once we have the house to ourselves, he sits at his computer. “Did the text come from a private or restricted number?”
“Private.” He accepts the phone when I hand it over. “Do you want to bring Landon in on this?”
Justus taps on my phone screen. “Maybe. All of us have some skills in tracking people online, but he’s the best at it. I told him I might need his help with something today.”
I don’t like it. The last thing I want is to owe any favors, but my other option is to reach out to people who already resent me. I won’t be pulled back into that life.
“How’s Hannah doing?” I ask as he plugs the phone into his computer.
“She’s good. She’s a teacher now, has a wife, and a baby on the way.”
“Good for her. I’m glad to hear it.” Justus’s sister spent eight years being sold and used by human traffickers until Justus and his group of hacker vigilantes helped rescue her. We met soon after that when he wanted some help dealing with one of the men involved.
Justus spends an hour or so working before reaching out to Landon. “He says he can help. We have to go to him though. It’s too sunny today. You can follow me.”
“I completely forgot he can’t be in the sun.” Landon has a genetic disorder where even the smallest amount of UV light severely burns him, so he stays inside during the day. “How’s he been?”
“He has some scars now, but he’s fine. He had his windows coated with a protective layer at home, and you know he has that jumpsuit he wears if he has to be outside.”
“What a nightmare.”
“It sucks for sure,” Justus says, handing my phone back to me and picking up his car keys. “But he deals with it.”
Landon’s house is on the more affluent side of town and much larger.
I’m not sure what I expect him to look like after that warning.
I’ve seen burn scars before, how they can twist and melt the skin and features, but Landon isn’t like that.
His face, arms, and hands have a rougher look about them and some discolored spots, but nothing outright disfiguring.
He leads us back to a large room with computers and servers lining the perimeter. It looks like something out of a movie. “Do you have anyone you suspect? Someone you know has your number?”
“No, that’s what concerns me. I changed my number. No one from my past has it.”
Landon takes a seat in front of one of the large monitors. “It isn’t hard to get your new number. Anyone who knows your name can search for your address and any numbers associated with it. Unlisted doesn’t mean anything anymore. The information is still out there if you know where to look.”
There’s some relief in that. Someone could’ve recognized me or just saw my name in one of the old news articles about Isla and searched to find my number. Or even someone who knew her and wants to be a dick.
Landon accepts my phone and opens the text. “People tend to think their call can’t be traced if they block their number. It may hide it from the recipient, but the phone company or provider still has a record of the number.”
“Will the company share that information?”
Landon and Justus share a brief amused glance before Landon replies, “Not voluntarily. Not without a court order.”
“So, you’re hacking the provider to get the number?”
“I’ll have to get into multiple providers since we don’t know which one it came from, but yes, that’s the idea.” He glances at me. “Get comfortable. This may take a while.”
He isn’t kidding. Landon still hasn’t managed to figure out where the call came from by evening. “I’m afraid we’re dealing with someone who knows how to cover their tracks. Do you plan to stay in town for a while?”
“I can’t. I have to get back to work.” I told Silver it could be a couple of days just in case, but I don’t intend to stay that long. Hopefully, I can head back soon.
“I’ll keep working on it. If you’re willing, I can put some software on your phone that will let me remote in. If you get another text, I’ll be able to see it.”
“Alright.”
He tilts his head to look me in the eye. “It’ll technically give me full access to everything on your phone. I’ll only be looking at your texts and data associated with them, but you should know that. It’s not something you let just anyone have access to.”
“It’s fine. If you screw me over, I know where you live.”
“I’d kick his ass before you had the chance,” Justus jokes.
Landon scoffs, typing on my phone. “Stripper threats aren’t intimidating.”
I can’t help my grin at the look of offense on Justus’s face. “Big talk for a man who can be taken down by a fluorescent light. Besides, I gave up exotic dancing years ago and you know it.”
Their group is an interesting one. Vigilantes who call themselves In Safe Hands, or ISH, includes a man who can’t be in sunlight, an ex-con, a male stripper, and a former soldier.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” I ask Landon, once he hands my phone back to me.
“No, I’ll be in touch if I find something.”
During the drive back home, I keep turning it over in my mind.
Who could’ve gotten my number and why would they send that text?
What are they getting out of it? It’s been more than twenty-four hours without any other contact.
As much as I want to brush it aside as a prank, the fact that they know how to hide their number from one of the best hackers around won’t let me believe that.
It feels like something is just starting.
It’s after midnight when I get home, and my sister’s car is parked in the driveway.
Voices and music filter through the door, growing louder when I enter.
Lacey lies on my living room floor, clutching a throw pillow while Silver lounges on the couch, both of them laughing like hyenas.
They’re having so much fun they don’t even notice me for a second.
Looks like I missed a party. Standing over them, I cross my arms and try to appear disapproving. “What the hell?”
Silver looks up and points at me with her empty glass. “Hey, don’t be mean to me. I’m del—del—delicate.”
Lacey howls with laughter and Silver clutches her side, gasping for breath. I have no idea what she’s talking about, but they’re clearly amused by it.
“I’m going to pee myself!” Lacey announces. She scrambles to her feet and rushes through Silver’s room to the guest bathroom. She never could hold her liquor.
Silver sits up, still chuckling every now and then while I dump my keys on the table and pull my boots off. “It smells like tequila in here.”
“It should!” Lacey shouts. “We drank a lot of it!” She snorts out a laugh which sets them both off again.
They’re going to hate life tomorrow but it’s good to see Silver having fun. She doesn’t complain but I know how hard things are for her right now. “What are you doing in there?” I call to Lacey when she doesn’t return from Silver’s room.
“Someone started spinning the room around!”
Silver follows me to check on her. Lacey is stretched across the foot of her bed. “Are you okay?” Silver asks.
“I’m great. This was so much fun. But I can’t move yet. The bedroom floor is unstable.”
“The living room floor was moving too. Whole damn house must be tilted,” Silver says with a giggle, laying her hand on the edge of the dresser to steady herself.
For fuck’s sake. “Crawl up there to the pillows and pass out. Silver can take my bed,” I order, pulling the covers back.
“On my way,” Lacey says, not budging.
“If you throw up on me, you’re sleeping in the tub,” I warn, picking her up and moving her to the pillows. She’s already snoring by the time I turn off the light.
Silver sprawls on the couch with a sigh. “Ah, that’s better. I’ll just sleep here.”
“No, you won’t. You’re going to my bed.” I’m not going to worry about her out here fumbling around drunk in the dark.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re too big for the couch. You’d have to fold yourself up.”
I make sure the front door is locked and start turning out lights. “Which is why I’m also sleeping in my bed.”
“Nope! Sorry, you had your chance last night. Now I’m purging the unborn.” She grins up at me. “That means I’m on my period.”
Drunk Silver is hilarious and just as stubborn as ever. “I’m not trying to fuck you and if I was that wouldn’t stop me.” I look her in the eye. “You know how this is going to go.”
She can’t hide her pleased expression as she shrugs. “Go ahead. I know you want to.”
I’m not disappointed by the opportunity.
Instead of throwing her over my shoulder like last time, I scoop her up and carry her against my chest. She relaxes in my arms, laying her head on my shoulder and closing her eyes.
It reminds me of the last time I carried her like this, and it must trigger that memory for her too.
Her words are starting to slur when she murmurs, “You saved me.”
“From tequila?”
“From the fire. There was so much smoke. I didn’t even know where I was.”
It’s not something I want to think about and not the best thing for her to focus on while she’s drunk. “You need to get some sleep.” I put her in my bed, then get changed and crawl in beside her.
It’s quiet long enough for me to think she’s passed out until she scoots over and cuddles close to me.
“It was so hot my skin hurt. I couldn’t get a breath.
It was terrifying, and then you were there, carrying me through thick smoke and flames.
I was so scared.” Her sigh is deep. “I’m still scared. ”
Of course she is. Her house is gone, and how she recovers from that financially is up in the air right now.
She doesn’t have her mother to turn to, and I know she was the person she would’ve gone to before.
She never talks like this, never really shows much vulnerability.
It’s something we have in common. I wrap my arms around her.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of now. Everything will work out. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You’ve got me,” she murmurs.
“That’s right.”
After another moment of silence she adds, “All that’s left is ashes. I should be dead.”
It’s terrifying to hear because it’s true. It was so close. “Don’t say that.”
I hold her tighter and she hums. “You saved my life.”
I’m not sure what to say but it doesn’t matter. Her breathing evens out as she drifts off, leaving me awake to fight a riot of emotions. She feels so right in my arms. I haven’t wanted a woman in my bed since Isla. Not for more than a few hours, anyway.
Is the fire the reason I feel so protective? It must be.
I’ve always liked Silver. The first time we met was because Calli needed a ride to pick her up from jail.
I’d expected her to be upset, but she climbed in my truck and happily told me she’d kicked her cheating ex-boyfriend’s ass when I asked what she was arrested for.
She’s a stubborn smart ass but I respect the way she takes no shit.
It also turns me on. The one night we spent together, fuck. Just the thought has my cock hardening.
My phone rattles and lights up on the nightstand, showing a text notification.
Private Number
I know where she is.
Anger surges through me. Whoever this is, they’re going to be sorry for fucking with me.