Payback, page 8
“Look around the back! He couldn’t have gotten far!”
A male’s voice makes me stumble and crash into Caleb’s shoulder. I’ve righted myself in an instant, and we fly into the barn’s open breezeway, then slam to a halt beside a sliding wooden stall door.
“Shh.” Caleb’s finger touches his lips as the sound of footsteps reaches us. We flatten against the door as they grow closer. I hold my breath. There’s at least two people heading our way, and it doesn’t take a genius to realize they’re after whoever started that fire.
“Looks like someone went this way,” says another male voice, this one older, deeper.
“Can’t believe they torched Bull’s bike.”
“Probably some kind of initiation. No patched Outsider would pull a stunt like that and run.”
My gaze finds Caleb’s. He gives a one-shouldered shrug—enough to tell me he’s behind the fire—then pulls the phone I gave him out of his pocket. His fingers hover over the screen.
I cover his hand with mine and shake my head. If we send a message to Charlotte and Henry now, they’ll come here, and if they come here, the Wolves will turn on them.
I tilt my head toward the barn’s exit, thirty feet away.
“We run, they’ll follow,” he breathes.
The Wolves will chase us down. I don’t want to find out what happens if they catch us.
We’re going to have to hide. I glance through the rusted metal rungs of the stall door, but the inside is packed with old rolls of barbwire and moldy hay. We can’t fit in there, and if we chance crossing the breezeway to the opposite side of the barn, the Wolves outside will see us.
“Coat,” Caleb says suddenly, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “Take it off.”
Confused, I watch him toe off one of his shoes and toss it a few feet away. He yanks the knit cap out of his hoodie pocket and stuffs it onto my head, then starts to remove his sweatshirt.
“They’re looking for me,” he says. “Alone.”
I get it then. If they’re looking for one guy, they won’t expect to find two of us, together.
The footsteps are coming closer. The voices have silenced now. Maybe they’ve heard us inside. They’re probably trying to sneak up on us.
I shuck my jacket like it’s on fire and toss it in the dirt. It’s freezing out, and the thin fabric of my long-sleeved shirt feels like tissue paper.
We listen. The footsteps have stopped.
The Wolves are right outside.
I fist Caleb’s thermal and pull him close. He hesitates only a moment, then smashes into me, sandwiching my body between his warmth and the cold, wooden door. I cup the back of his neck, pulling his head down to my throat. His jaw skims mine. I hike my leg up his hip and his hand grips my thigh. His breath on my neck sends shivers over my skin.
My body turns to fire.
Something scuffs against the barn door, just beyond us, in the shadows.
They’re here.
I force a hard breath, and giggle.
Then sigh. Loudly. Like we’re doing a lot more than just posing.
Caleb goes stone still.
I grip his hair, feeling the silky strands slide between my fingers, and when my shirt comes up a little, his cold belt buckle skims my stomach. I don’t fake the gasp that slips from my lips.
Caleb’s breath catches.
“Malcolm, get a load of this.”
Caleb jerks back, as if in surprise, and throws a hand in front of his face to block the flashlight beaming our way. Like a gentleman, he quickly blocks any view of me.
“Kind of busy here,” he calls. “How about a little privacy?”
“My bad,” says one of the guys. “Come on, they need a little privacy.”
The older voice—Malcolm—chuckles. “Nothing like a patching in to get the blood flowing.”
Their footsteps fade as they jog away.
Caleb doesn’t move. I don’t either. For one frozen moment, we hold on to each other, my fists in his shirt, his knee pressed between my legs. His ragged breath warms my lips. His palm, now on my ribs, slides down my waist like he’s moving through water.
His eyes lower to my mouth.
My fingers spread on his chest. His heart pounds against my hand.
The air feels electric. Every part of me sizzles like I’m a live wire.
“You’re shivering.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “I’ll get your coat.”
He doesn’t back away.
My chest rises with each breath.
He’s close enough to kiss.
“Caleb?”
Gravity’s changed course. It’s not pushing me down, it’s pulling us closer. We fit like this. We belong like this.
Another motorcycle engine growls in the night, breaking the spell. Caleb blinks, and slowly pulls away. My back arches toward him, my body unwilling to let air fill the space between us.
“We should go.” My voice sounds far away, like I’m whispering down a tunnel.
My muscles are slow, but find momentum as I snatch my jacket off the ground. He pulls his shoe back on and rights his sweatshirt. His idea worked. It looks like we were doing a lot more than pretending.
“We should stick to the fields,” I say. “Stay off the road.”
“Agreed.”
We move at a brisk walk, keeping far away from the street as we follow the hill toward the bright fast-food signs. He keeps close enough that our arms keep brushing, but doesn’t look at me.
I know he’s thinking, and I know when Caleb’s got something on his mind it’s best to give him space to work it out, but I can’t stand the silence when my thoughts are so loud.
“Did we get him?” Caleb asks.
I blink, and see the tip of Charlie’s knife, pressing into his forearm.
“No.” My steps slow. “He’s too far gone. He said two of the others—Sonya and Jack—are dead. Dr. O killed them. He thought I was there to kill him, I think.”
Caleb’s hand winds behind his neck.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No.”
He must hear the drop in my voice, because he glances over. The moonlight puts a glare on his glasses, hiding the emotion in his eyes.
“No,” I say more assertively, and on my next breath, my tense conversation with Charlie returns, and disappointment spirals through me. “He could have destroyed Dr. O with what he knows. If he’d joined us—if we’d have even hinted of taking his story to the press—we could have ended this.”
When a cloud of steam rises from Caleb’s lips, I pass his hat back to him, but he waves it off and pulls up his hood.
“It’s not your fault,” he says. “If you couldn’t turn him, no one could.”
I twist the hat in my hands. Maybe I really was our best bet, or maybe Margot could have done better, worked him like she worked me. We’ll never know now.
“I couldn’t see you,” Caleb says, voice tight. “I couldn’t get past the guy at the door.”
I imagine Caleb trying to smooth-talk his way in, then pushing by when he wasn’t allowed through. If he caused a fight, he would have been outnumbered.
“So you lit a bike on fire?” I laugh. I can’t help it.
Soon, he’s laughing too.
“I almost burned the whole place down,” he admits.
It isn’t a declaration of love or anything, but it hits me hard. I put on his hat and pull it low over my ears, catching the clean scent of his shampoo.
“I shouldn’t have let myself get shut in that office,” I say.
“I’d love it if you tried to avoid that in the future.”
I smirk.
We’ve reached the fast-food restaurants now, and are skirting around the shadowed lot that surrounds them. I’m about to suggest calling Charlotte and Henry for a pickup when I see the two black motorcycles parked in front of one of the restaurant’s doors. Their owners must be inside somewhere.
We’ve made it out; we can’t get caught now.
Hurrying through the shadows, we slide down into a storm ditch, then climb up the other side. The faraway rumble from the freeway reaches my ears, but I can’t make out the roar of any motorcycle engines.
Heaviness descends. Charlie’s lost. If his story about Sonya and Jack is true, Dr. O is even more dangerous than I thought.
Charlie could have changed the game. If we’d threatened to take what he knew public, Dr. O would have been gone by morning.
Or he might have lashed out against us, like a dog backed into a corner.
Jimmy Balder is dead. Sonya and Jack, too. According to Charlie, his mark’s dad and Sonya’s dad went with them.
We are fighting a losing battle against a power-hungry sociopath. Against a senator.
Caleb and I walk faster, finally reaching the edge of the mall’s parking lot. The Jeep comes into view, another black car pulling in beside it. White flecks of salt shine on its gleaming base, and though it could be any one of a thousand black cars in this city, my stomach bottoms out at the sight of it.
The car’s engine goes quiet. The driver’s side door opens.
Min Belk steps out.
I grab Caleb’s sleeve and pull him behind a hedge, strung up with twinkling lights.
“What’s he doing here?” Caleb asks as we crouch in the shadows.
“I don’t know.” My stomach ties in knots. Did something happen back at Vale Hall? Why would Belk drive over an hour to find us?
As we watch, Belk circles the Jeep, peering in the tinted back windows. He pulls his cell out of his pocket, then raises it to his ear.
There’s nothing in the Jeep. It’s a shared car so no one keeps anything in it. What did he see that caused him to make the call?
And who is he trying to reach? Dr. O? Someone worse?
I think of Charlie’s story—how Belk gave him ten seconds to run.
Caleb mutters a curse under his breath then rips the burner phone out of his back pocket. He dials Charlotte’s number, but it rings twice and goes to voicemail.
“She’s talking to someone,” he says.
Maybe Belk.
Maybe he’s trying to lure her outside. The parking lot’s practically deserted. He could hurt her, or throw her in the back of his car, and no one would see.
Caleb starts to dial Henry’s number, but stops.
At the mall, two people appear between the fake Christmas trees marking a side entrance. Henry hurries toward the car, adjusting the paper shopping bags over his arms. Charlotte’s beside him, her phone pressed to her ear.
One guess who she’s talking to.
“They’re walking into a trap.” I rise, unable to hold still any longer. “We have to warn them!”
Caleb grabs my hand as I reach for my phone, his expression torn. “They’re in Belk’s line of sight. If he sees them take a call, then run, he’ll know something’s up.”
I hate that he’s right. I hate that we can’t do anything.
It doesn’t matter. Across the lot, Henry’s stopped. He and Charlotte are both staring at the car. At Belk, leaning casually against the Jeep.
Henry and Charlotte glance at each other, then continue forward, tentatively.
Panic explodes in my chest. Charlie’s story is still ringing in my ears. “I’m going over there,” I say.
Caleb stops me. “I’ll go.”
But Caleb’s not supposed to be here, and if there is a chance that Belk’s followed us for some other reason, his presence will be trouble for all of us.
Caleb knows this. He hates it—I can see the frustration in every taut line of his face.
“It’ll be fine.” I force a breath. I’m strung too tight. I let Charlie get to me. Belk’s had a ton of chances to hurt us, and he hasn’t. Why wait until now?
Because Dr. O is going to be a senator now.
Because Dr. O’s tying up his loose ends.
Because someone found out what we’ve been doing.
It doesn’t matter. Charlotte and Henry aren’t facing him alone.
“Got my back?” I ask.
“Always.”
I look at Caleb one more time, and the resolve in his eyes gives me a burst of strength. I shove the fear down, and put on my game face.
Hands in the pockets of my coat, I stride toward the car. There isn’t time to go through the mall and exit from one of the shops, letting me act as if I were browsing the whole time. I don’t want to let Charlotte and Henry out of my sight, and this way Caleb will be able to watch me.
I feel his gaze on my back and square my shoulders.
Henry sees me first. With frantic eyes, he tilts his chin toward Belk, as if I don’t notice the broad, ponytailed man in the long black coat just in front of him. Belk must pick up on Henry’s not-so-subtle warning, because he turns quickly.
“Oh, there you are!” Charlotte says. “We were just going to call you.” When Belk turns she purposefully smooths her hair, which makes me touch my own, and realize I’m still wearing Caleb’s hat.
I fight the urge to take it off. Maybe Belk will think it’s mine.
Hopefully.
“Where were you?” he asks, eyes narrowing.
“I told you—she was at one of the jewelry stores doing her Vocational Development assignment. We split up so we wouldn’t run out of time.” Henry circles around Belk, shopping bags jostling as he stands beside me.
Belk juts a thumb behind him. “Mall is that way.”
Henry links his arm in mine. The flex of his biceps against my hand tells me I’m not alone, but his siding with me at all makes us look suspicious.
It’s Belk, I tell myself. My PE teacher. The security guard I see every day at Vale Hall.
I know this, but I can’t shake Charlie’s words, and I can’t help feeling like Belk wants me to be afraid.
“I got hungry.” I mirror Belk’s move, jabbing a thumb behind me in the direction of the fast-food restaurants—in the direction of Caleb, hidden behind the bushes. “Grabbed a taco.”
Belk lowers his arm. “You forgot your phone.”
Which he knows, because he’s been tracking us.
Wariness coils in my muscles.
“I know,” I say, layering annoyance into my tone. “I realized once I got down there I put it in Charlotte’s purse when we were trying on clothes earlier.”
In the distance, I can hear the growl of motorcycles, and my hands clench into fists.
Charlotte, brows lifted in surprise, opens her purse and searches inside. “I forgot about that! Sorry! Oh, here it is.” She gives the phone a little shake and passes it to me.
Belk exhales with a flare of his nostrils.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, glancing around to make sure no one’s followed us from the Greasy Spoon. “Did something happen?”
“Should something have?”
“That’s cryptic,” says Charlotte. “Clearly you didn’t drive all this way just to say hi.”
Belk gives a half smile.
“Things are changing. The director was concerned when he’d heard you drove all this way alone.”
“Why?” asks Henry. “We’ve come here before.”
“Because he’s a senator,” I say, and look to Belk. “At least, he will be on New Year’s when he’s sworn in. Is that what you mean?”
The white parking lot lights bring out the shadows beneath Belk’s eyes. “Security’s going to be a little tighter from now on. No more excursions without adult supervision.”
He’s right—things are changing, quickly. If we can’t even supposedly leave alone for homework he assigns, how are we supposed to meet Caleb and the others at HQ?
“What about work?” Charlotte asks. “Are you going to be holding our hands on a job?”
“If that’s what it takes to keep everyone safe.” Belk smiles as he adds, “It would be very bad for the director if anyone was doing things they shouldn’t be.”
The threat hangs among us in the icy air.
Henry lifts the bags. “Well, I was just doing my homework.”
“You were successful by the looks of it.” Belk looks directly at me. “How did you fare?”
I swallow.
“You did complete the homework, didn’t you?” He takes a step closer, and I automatically move back, like the wrong end of a magnet. “I know I wouldn’t grab a taco after driving all this way unless I’d finished what I came to do.”
“Well, obviously,” says Henry.
My jaw clenches.
The motorcycles are coming closer. I can hear them on the road just beyond the parking lot. We need to find Caleb and get inside the car, or head back to the mall.
“You got those earrings, right?” Henry asks me.
I hope he gets the hint to shut up by the look on my face, because I can’t exactly say it out loud.
His eyes dip to my waist. To my pockets.
I slide my hand into my coat pocket and find a small, velvety box inside. He must have stashed it there when he came to stand beside me.
“Yeah,” I say. “Of course I finished my homework first. Picked up something for my mom.” I open the box, and find two gold tear drops with red stones nestled inside. They aren’t Mom’s style at all, but that doesn’t matter. “She’s going to die when she sees them.”
“That would be a real shame.” Belk laughs, like this is some kind of joke.
My blood turns to ice water. My hand, holding the earrings, lowers.
The threat is clear. He might as well have just come out and said it: If you step out of line, your mom’s going to suffer.
I need to get her away from here—from that job she took at Wednesday Pharmaceuticals, and the apartment the staff there so nicely found for her. She needs to run far away from Dr. O and everyone who works for him, including me.
But if she does, Dr. O will know I’ve told her the truth about what we do at Vale Hall. About what some of us are doing outside it.
He’ll make her disappear too.
“Well, everything looks all right here to me,” says Belk. “If you’re ready to head home, I’ll follow. Otherwise, I could do some holiday shopping myself.”
“We’re done,” says Charlotte.
Silently, we head toward the Jeep, parked in front of Belk’s car. He waits for us to get in before sliding into his own front seat. Only once I’m sure he’s inside and the door is shut do I glance back for Caleb.
