“Uhm.” I hear the idiot chuckle on the other end. He’s lucky I’m not in the same room as him, or I’d punch him in the face. Repeatedly. “This isn’tMission Impossible. You can’t justhack—oh, wait.”
“Wait?” I growl.
“I’ll call you back in a sec.”
It takes a lot more than a ‘sec’ for Josh to call me back. When he does, I’m still on the highway, stuck in traffic, my eyes peeled for a mint green car. But it feels like searching for a needle in a haystack. Especially because I don’t even know if I’m driving in the right direction. She could be anywhere.
But it feels even more impossible to start searching for her in the web of tiny country roads branching out from the highway. I’m starting to feel really hopeless when the phone rings again.
“Yeah?” I answer, realizing just how hopeless the situation truly is now that Josh of all people is my last chance.
“Okay, so, my big brother’s sister’s cousin’s fiancee—”
“Cut to the chase.”
“Right, right. Well, an, uh—acquaintance—actually works for some Silicon Valley start-up that—”
“I said, cut to the fucking chase!”
I may be miles and miles away, but clearly my voice is enough to freak Josh out. He gulps nervously and says, “Well, she’s a hacker.”
“Who?”
“I told you. My big brother’s sister’s cousin’s—”
“Got it! So?”
“Well, it took me a minute to reach her. Another minute to convince her to do it. A third minute for her to actuallydoit.”
“Fucking hell.” I wish I could reach through the phone and strangle the idiot. “So?”
“She hacked into the highway cameras!”
“And?!”
“No sign of a mint green minivan yet.”
I let out a shuddering sigh. “Seriously? You called to tell me, excitedly, that youfailed?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” He sighs just as loudly as I did, apparently realizing that that’s just what happened. But suddenly, he says, “Oh! My acquaintance is calling! Call you right back!”
He hangs up the phone again, and by now, I’m feeling more dead than alive as my hands clutch the wheel so hard that my knuckles turn paper-white. I can’t deal with anymore of this. I need my cricket so bad. I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find her.
I always told her she was safe as long as she was with me. I alwaysbelievedit, too. But she was taken from me right from under my nose.
I failed her. I fucking failed her.
If only I hadn’t been so cruel to her yesterday. If only I’d found the right words to say. If only I hadn’t hurt her repeatedly.
If only I’d tried to figure it out. Asked even a single question. Tried to understand why her parents died. Why she was in danger. Why Logan inexplicably helped her. Why that paper with her name on it was on my dad’s desk.
How the hell can I protect her if I don’t even know what I’m protecting her from?
Just as I start to really spiral, Josh calls me back, and as before, I pick up, my voice cracking, every thread of my being holding onto him as my last hope.
Josh the fucking idiot.
“Tell me,” I grit out.