The Reckoning (16 page)

T
ORI KEPT SEARCHING
. T
HERE
wasn’t much more—just enough to confirm what we’d already figured out. Andrew had been part of the plot to turn Derek over to the Pack. And he hadn’t been anyone’s hostage.

“So Andrew is part of the Edison Group?” Tori said. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I pushed the laptop back and sat on the desk. “You were with me at the laboratory. Between the two of us, we saw a lot of staff members. Did you recognize any of them that night at Andrew’s?”

“That was a security team. We never got a chance to see them before.”

“Sure we did. Simon, Derek, and I did on the night we escaped Lyle House. You and I did after we escaped the Edison Group. What we saw, both times, was mainly staff with
only a couple of guards. If they had some high-powered security team, wouldn’t they have called them in for that?”

“Maybe it
was
the staff and the guards. How would we know? They were wearing…” She looked at me. “They were wearing things on their hats, covering their faces. They didn’t do that at the warehouse when they were chasing us.”

“Or the night Derek and I escaped Lyle House. Why hide their faces when we’d already seen them?” I thought back to that night. “You weren’t the only one who got away too easily.”

“Andrew, you mean.”

“Not just him. I was hiding up in a tree. One of the women found me. I dropped on top of her. Stupid thing to do, but it worked—she was knocked out cold. Or so I thought.”

“See, we’re both just that good.”

“Apparently not.”

We tried to exchange a smile.

“The Edison Group didn’t track us to Andrew’s,” I said. “That’s what my mom was trying to tell me.”

“If you guys are going to talk about that, you might want to go up on the roof,” Derek rumbled from the doorway. “Or be a little quieter. I could hear you from down the hall.”

“Because you’ve got bionic hearing,” Tori said.

I started to say something, but Derek beat me to it.

“Simon had to go talk to Andrew. I thought maybe you…” He glanced at Tori, annoyed, like she was eavesdropping. “I thought there might be old files in the attic. You want to come
up and see? Maybe get some more info on Dr. Banks?”

I had to stifle the urge to say “Sure!” So what if we’d just discovered that the people giving us refuge were the same ones who tried to kill us three nights ago? Finding out whether Derek liked me was
so
much more important.

“I can’t,” I said. “We—”

“That’s okay,” he cut in, starting to retreat.

I stepped forward to stop him. “I would. But—”

“But Chloe can’t come out to play right now,” Tori said. “She’s in the middle of helping me unravel a conspiracy, a matter of life or death.
Our
life or death.”

“The Edison Group didn’t attack us at Andrew’s place,” I said. “He did. Andrew and the others.”

I told Derek what we’d found. For once, I hoped he’d say I was wrong, that my logic was flawed and there was a perfectly reasonable alternate explanation.

But when I finished, he swore. Then he paced, swearing some more, until he stopped and shoved his hair back.

“We’re wrong, aren’t we?” I said. “We misinterpreted the data.”

“No, you didn’t.”

It was my turn to swear then, making Tori arch her brows.

“I’m just mad at myself,” Derek said. “I saw the possibility. I wondered whether we all got away too easily that night at Andrew’s. I wondered why they shot at us when they used darts before. I wondered why they covered their faces. I just
never thought it could have anything to do with Andrew. I
did
think he might be behind the kidnapping attempt last night, though.”

“But you said—”

“That I trusted Andrew. I did. But he thinks I’d be better off with my own kind, so I wanted to see his reaction. That told me he wasn’t involved. Or so I thought.”

“He seemed genuinely surprised,” I said. “Furious, even.”

“Guess he’s a good actor,” Tori said. “Okay, so am I the only one who’s wondering why they went through the trouble of that fake Edison Group attack when we were already going to Andrew’s place?”

“Going doesn’t mean staying,” Derek said.

“Huh?”

“We might not stay with Andrew,” I said. “If things didn’t quite go our way. We’ve already run away twice.”

“So if they convinced us the Edison Group had tracked us down and was lurking out there, prepared to shoot to kill…”

“That would trap us better than guard dogs and barbed wire.”

I quickly looked at the door. “You said Simon was with—”

Derek swore. “Right. He’s with Andrew. I’m sure whatever’s going on here, hurting Simon isn’t part of the plan, but I’ll go get him. I’ll remind him it’s past his snack time. He
needs to have morning and afternoon snacks for his blood sugar, so that won’t sound suspicious.”

I nodded. “We need to be careful.”

“Screw caution,” Tori said. “I’m outta here.”

We looked at her.

“Well, I am. As long as someone comes with me.”

We kept looking at her.

She sighed. “Fine, but when everything goes to hell, just remember, I get to blame you guys, because I wanted to leave right away.”

“We are leaving right away,” Derek said, “just as soon as we know as much as possible about their plans. You said that was Margaret’s laptop, not Andrew’s, right?”

I nodded. “But I know a way to get Andrew’s, if you want Tori to search it.”

“Good. Do that. I want to know exactly what they have in mind.”

“A
NDREW
?” I
PEEKED INTO
the kitchen, where he was getting a snack with the guys.

“Hmm?”

“That book you were going to let me read…”

“Oh, right. My laptop is in the office. Should be all powered up.”

“Is there a password?”

He smiled. “Nope. As valuable as I think unpublished manuscripts are, there’s not really a black market for them. There’s a link to the book right on the desktop for you.”

He gave me the title.

“Tori wanted to take a look, too, if that’s okay?”

“Absolutely. The more feedback I can get from the target audience, the better. If anything sticks out—problems with the characters, the plot, the language—let me know.”

“

Tori rolled her eyes at the lack of security on Andrew’s laptop. Like most people who weren’t tech-savvy, he presumed if he deleted stuff, it was gone. Or maybe he knew traces remained, but figured we wouldn’t know how to find them. And he’d have been right…if we didn’t have Tori.

We started with an email search and found the ones he’d exchanged with Margaret, removing any doubt it’d been him. There were also a few between him and Tomas, where Andrew seemed determined to ensure a safe transfer of Derek to the Pack. Had he really been that concerned for Derek’s safety? Liam clearly had orders to kill if necessary. Was that decision made behind Andrew’s back? That would explain why he’d seemed so genuinely shocked when he’d found out what had happened to Derek and me.

Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to see Andrew as one of the bad guys yet. I’d liked him. I really had. Yet it only took one more email for those feelings to evaporate, one that had nothing to do with Liam and Russell or the Edison Group. When Tori found it, we both read it and read it again, neither of us saying a word until I managed a shaky, “I-I’d better get the guys.”

“I’ll see if there’s more,” she said as I raced off.

I finally tracked down Derek. He was alone in the library, thumbing through a book.

“Found you,” I said on a sigh of relief.

He turned. His lips curved in a quarter smile, gaze softening in a way that did something to my insides, made me pull up short, momentarily forgetting why I was there.

“I-Is Simon around?”

He blinked, then turned back to the shelf.

“He’s upstairs. He’s really pissed about Andrew so that’s probably the safest place for him until we’re ready to go, or he’ll say something to him we don’t want said. You need him?”

“Actually, m-maybe I should show you first.”

He glanced over his shoulder, frowning.

“We found something.”

“Oh.” He paused, like he was mentally shifting gears, then nodded and followed me out.

Tori swiveled in her seat as we came in.

“There are more,” she said. “He sent one every couple of weeks. The last one was only a few days ago.”

“Good,” I said. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Andrew?”

“Sure.” She took off.

“Wait.” I grabbed Derek’s sleeve as he headed for the chair Tori had vacated. I wanted to say something. I didn’t know what. But there was no way to tell him that wouldn’t be just as much of a shock, so I ended up stupidly murmuring, “Never mind.”

When he read what was on the screen, he went absolutely
still, like he wasn’t even breathing. After a few seconds, he yanked the laptop closer, leaning in to read it again. And again. Finally, he pushed back the chair and exhaled.

“He’s alive,” I said. “Your dad’s alive.”

He looked up at me and, I couldn’t help it—I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him. Then I realized what I was doing. I let go, backing away, tripping over my feet, stammering, “I-I’m sorry. I’m just—I’m happy for you.”

“I know.”

Still sitting, he reached out and pulled me toward him. We stayed there, looking at each other, his hand still wrapped in my shirt hem, my heart hammering so hard I was sure he could hear it.

“There’s more,” I said after a few seconds. “More emails, Tori said.”

He nodded and swiveled back to the computer, making room for me. When I inched closer, not wanting to intrude, he tugged me in front of him and I stumbled, half falling onto his lap. I tried to scramble up, cheeks burning, but he pulled me down onto his knee, one arm going around my waist, tentative, as if to say
Is this okay?
It was, even if my blood pounded in my ears so hard I couldn’t think. Thankfully, I had my back to him because I was sure my cheeks were scarlet.

I hadn’t misunderstood his look earlier. This was something. Or it would become something, I hoped. God, I
hoped
. Right now, though, there was too much else going on. I hated
that, but I was kind of glad of it, too, giving my brain time to stop spinning.

After a second—still perched on Derek’s knee—I forced my attention back to the screen.

I read the first email again. Dated two months ago, it was a chain of three messages, the first, short and to the point.

He signed off giving a phone number and saying both it and the email address were temporary, but he’d be in touch again in a couple of weeks.

I flipped to the next email as Derek read over my
shoulder. There were three more of the same—Mr. Bae begging for news, Andrew saying he was looking for Simon and Derek, but his Edison Group contacts swore the boys weren’t there.

The last one from Mr. Bae was dated three days ago, when Andrew had supposedly been held hostage by the Edison Group. That meant he’d gotten this
after
he knew where Simon and Derek were.

“There’s one more on the list,” Derek said. “It must be a reply.”

It was, sent the night when Andrew and the others had been staking out his cottage, waiting to make their fake SWAT team swoop and gather us up.

“Cortezes?” I said.

“A Cabal, like the Nasts. Corporations run by sorcerers. Rich and powerful. More Mafia than Wall Street, though.”

“So Andrew was lying.”

“Not just lying. Trying to send Dad on a wild-goose chase when he knew exactly where we were.”

“This changes everything.”

He nodded.

“We need to get out of here.”

He nodded again, but didn’t move. I leaned forward to grab a pen and paper from Andrew’s desk, then jotted down the latest email address and phone number. When I handed it to Derek, he took a second to even notice my outstretched hand.

“You okay?” I said, twisting to face him.

“Yeah, just…Andrew. Getting rid of me, I could see. But keeping Dad away…Dad trusted him.”

“And now we can’t,” I said. “Which sucks, but the main thing is that your dad’s alive.”

He smiled, hesitant at first, then a blazing grin broke through that made my heart stop. I recovered and grinned back and went to throw my arms around his neck, then stopped, blushing. Before I could pull back, he caught my elbows and put my arms around his neck and pulled me into a hug.

Then he jumped, chair swiveling so fast I nearly went flying. I heard footsteps in the hall and I scrambled off his lap just as Simon swung in, breathing heavily, like he’d come running.

“Tori said you wanted to see me? Something about Dad.”

I moved aside so Derek could show him the emails, then stepped into the hall to watch for Andrew and to leave them alone. This was the news they’d been waiting for and they’d gone through hell thinking it might never come, so I tried not to eavesdrop.

“Chloe?”

Derek stood in the doorway. He motioned me back in. Simon was at the keyboard, control panel open.

“There’s no Internet connection,” I said, “if that’s what you’re looking for. No phone either.”

“Andrew has a cell,” Simon said.

“Too risky,” Derek said. “There was a pay phone at the service station. We’ll call on our way out, set up a place to meet him.”

Simon’s eyes lit up at the thought of finally talking to his dad. Then they clouded with anger, the thrill of seeing news from his dad warring with the pain of Andrew’s betrayal.

“So we’re going now, right?” I said.

“Yeah,” Derek said. “We’re going.”