Chapter 53

 

THE SOUND OF sirens faded in the distance and Renee pulled us out of the parking lot. I’d read off Renee that the kittens had been less than impressed at the wash but they’d accepted it when Renee had told them they’d stop stinking that way.

Go figure that she’d talked to them. Maybe she was starting to believe she could make a difference.

The kittens were all stowed in a fancy cat house in the back and were snoozing with full stomachs. Renee tapped the wheel, a lot, as we headed toward the bit I’d marked on the map.

Then something beeped. I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from but it wouldn’t quit.

“It’s in my jacket,” Renee said, pointing to my makeshift pillow. Explained the tinnitus.

“I don’t think I should touch it.”

Renee nodded so Aunt Bess extracted it from behind me and handed the phone over.

“You know, it kinda helps if you look where you’re driving,” I mumbled as she clicked through her cell.

“Clear street, one pickup parked to the left, a dent on its bumper. Seven people. One in the fishing shop, two at the diner, one trying to find something in the grocery store, three women huddled on the corner. You want their height and builds?”

I smiled at her. I couldn’t even see the dent in the truck. “You’re so cool sometimes.”

Renee smiled, then her smile vanished.

“What?”

“Abby knows.” She let out a long shuddering breath. “The idiot at the gas station reported us.”

I folded my arms. “We ain’t in that state no more so what’s it matter.”

“Abby has a worse temper than me.”

I tensed, which just made Renee purse her lips. “I’m not that bad.”

I raised my eyebrows.

Aunt Bess squeezed my shoulder in support.

Renee looked at us both and sighed. “Point taken. It means that those sirens were for us.” She rubbed her forehead. “We’re officially in trouble.”

“As in . . . ?”

“On the run.” She put her cell on the dash. “Cats just stopped us getting caught.”

That made me smile. I knew they’d pull their weight. “See, helping is always good.”

Renee nodded. “Which is why I trusted you. It means we need to call your father when we’ve been to the river.”

It did? “He’s police y’know.”

“The hat and badge gave it away, Lorelei.” She shot me a cutting look. “He will be able to find us someone to keep us off the radar . . . I hope.”

“How so?”

“This guy.” Renee tapped the list she had on the console. “He’s in organized crime. We can send him in to check a few places out before we get there.”

“He’s in D.C. Sure, it’s less than fifty miles away, but how’s he gonna help in Baltimore?” Aunt Bess leaned forward, reading the list. If I didn’t know better, it looked like she’d memorized it at a glance.

“His file says he lives in Baltimore and commutes. It’s as close as we can get.” She tapped the wheel a few more times then sighed. “Worth a shot. I don’t know Baltimore; we don’t have the resources. I can’t call in CIG.”

“You don’t think it’s Huber who’s got her?” Aunt Bess had been listening. She sounded like a cop, or an agent, and not a lot like an artist.

“I don’t know but it’ll only take Aeron a few seconds to figure out if he has.” She smiled at me.

She pulled off the blacktop road onto a dirt track and stopped. I turned to look at Aunt Bess and the kittens.

“We’re getting out here. Aunt Bess is staying with you. I promise we ain’t stickin’ you nowhere near the river.”

The wriggler poked his head up from their tangle and met my eyes. “Can you keep it down out there.”

I sighed. He reminded me of Tiddles.

We left them and Aunt Bess to their snooze and headed to the bank. It shimmered as Frei’s memories coated the place. A wave of sadness crashed over me. I blurted out tears. I tried to hold it in but I’d relived it with Frei. Tears broke free, pulsed down my cheeks. She was stuck someplace, going through it all again.

Renee hurried to my side as I bent double trying to calm myself. “Frei . . . her feelings.”

I heard Renee sobbing and saw her in the same state I was in. I sighed. Her hand was in mine. “Sorry . . . didn’t mean to share.”

She shook her head, clutching at her chest. “I felt it too. What happened to her here?”

I saw a lone figure standing on the bank. Frei. “Over there.”

 

The gunfire had long since faded. The wound prickled. A fever coated her brow. A mound of dirt but it was better than just leaving her there.

 

Renee took my hand as we walked to a smooth patch of grass beside the river. There was no mound now. The dirt had settled. Both of us cried as hard as Frei.

Her long blonde hair flowed around her face. She was stunning to look at . . . and heartbreaking. The mound at her feet had a makeshift cross on it. The jacket, the jacket she never took off, hung on a shovel sticking out of the dirt.

“I can see it.” Renee burrowed into me, turning from the scene. “I can’t bear it.”

“It’s okay,” I managed through dribbling tears. “You go back to the car . . .”

Renee shook her head. “No, I need to know.”

 

Strange how much the tears made her hands shake. Stupid that she was crying at all. Suz never cried. She was strong. She’d have laughed at her for being so weak.

“They took her,” she whispered. “Fahrer tried to get to her but they were quicker.”

Her hands shook as she took off the necklace she’d hung the ring on, ready for her sister. The wooden cross her father had given her hung like a reminder that she’d been a child once. She’d had a home.

There was no need to keep the ring for her sister now. They had her now. Suz had done everything to keep her safe.

She’d pulled it off for over a year.

Frei closed her eyes, shuddering tears dripping from her. What did it matter? They’d taken her sister; she’d be on her way to whoever owned her now.

She breathed in. No, she couldn’t help her now. She had no way, no means now. She was a kid; she was a slave.

She was sick of being a slave.

She opened her eyes: the sharpness of the cross in the dirt; sound of the river; sticky feel of mud, of congealed blood on her hands.

No, now she needed to work on getting those means.

Doctor Stosur, Huber were her allies. Huber was . . . he needed her.

He needed her skill.

She needed means to get her sister back.

She pulled out the phone from her pocket, dialed the number for Doctor Stosur.

“I heard. I’m so sorry.” It sounded like Doctor Stosur was crying too.

It jarred at her senses. “I was stupid. I messed up. I led them in—”

“You weren’t the one pulling the trigger. Don’t let them win anymore. They did this, not you.” Doctor Stosur’s voice was curt, cracked. “You’ll only beat them if you stop being their victim.”

She wasn’t being a victim anymore.

She stared at the cross. “I’m done being a slave.”

“Good. Ring Huber. I’ll find you.” Doctor Stosur cut the call.

Frei pulled a razor from the duffel bag. The buzz of it cut through the silence.

Strand upon strand fell at her feet, fell on the mound of dirt, fell like her tears.

Sides short, shaved.

She changed the head on the razor.

No more conforming.

Strands dropped all around her.

She wasn’t going to be beaten.

Pulled the clumps away.

She was going to be better.

She put the razor away.

The cold prickled at her ears. She ran a hand over the top of her head.

She’d done it for Suz when she ran, cut the binds of slavery.

Suz was different.

Frei wasn’t going to run. She was going to stand her ground.

She took the jacket, the jacket Suz had always worn, the jacket that had been discarded on the floor. She ran her fingers over it. No bullet holes, no blood. No doubt she’d given it to Frei’s sister to keep her warm.

Suz had been like a sister, a friend, a mentor.

She slid into the jacket. It was too big but she would fill it. She’d make sure she did.

Huber wanted to get one over on his cronies. She’d help him. She flicked out her cell phone.

He answered on the first ring. “You’re worth too much to shoot. Where are you?” His voice angry, worried. No doubt half of Caprock was looking for her.

“Buy me out. I’m done with school.” Her tone sharp, curt. Not the little girl too scared to meet his eyes. She was gone.

“You don’t make those—”

“Buy me out or I leave.”

Huber stopped. His silence enough to show he’d taken in the shift in her demeanor. “They found her.”

A statement more than a question. “You didn’t protect her. The only person who had the guts to is in the ground.”

“She wasn’t mine to protect, girl.” Still trying to intimidate.

“No, you sold her.” Fist clenched, anger, icy cold anger.

“Megan sold her. I’d have found far more useful things for her to do.” He slammed something. For the first time, she didn’t jump. She was done being scared. “I have made my feelings known.”

“Buy me out, Huber.”

He sucked in a breath. “Watch your manners.”

“Do it.” Sharper, clipped. Shoulders back, spine straight.

No more victim.

“Done.”

The car was an average one. It hadn’t been fast enough to catch up. She’d make sure her cars, her transport were the best from now on.

“Good. They’ll be sending you my expulsion.” She cut the call. She pulled the collar up and dialed the receiver.

She’d never settle for second best again.

 

Renee clung to me, her tears like mine. I didn’t know how Frei had found that strength. I didn’t know how she’d left the pain behind.

“She’s so strong,” Renee whispered.

I nodded, feeling a surge of adrenaline hit me. I let go of Renee and spotted two huge rocks on the side. She didn’t ask what I was doing as I guess she knew. I hoisted them so one leaned against the other in my best attempt at a cross. Renee walked over with some flowers she’d rustled up from around.

“I don’t know what he did to her,” Renee said, wincing. “But the pain was enough to make me cry by itself.”

I had a good idea. “It just makes it all that more important that we get to her.”

Renee met my eyes. “And Jessie.”

I nodded as we left Suz to rest. She weren’t around so I knew she’d gone where she needed to be. She was safe where she was now.

“At least I get the jacket now,” I whispered. She wore it like armor. She wore her haircut like armor.

“Is it me or do the more you learn about her, the more you love her?” Renee said between sniffles.

I nodded.

Renee started the car and glanced a smile at Aunt Bess and the kittens. Aunt Bess seemed to get what had happened and offered a nod, giving us our space.

“I want her back, Lorelei. I am not letting some creep take her away.”

“So let’s go rustle up Huber and get her.” I offered a smile, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “I miss her too.”