Cryostorm (15 page)

Content.

If only we could stay like this forever.

Chapter 21

“O
kay, we’re at decision time.” Nate pointed forward.

A massive green sign appeared showing the exit for the interstate we needed to get to Arizona. “Arizona or Colorado?” I said.

We’d never gotten a call back from Dustin and nearly twelve hours had gone by. Most of which we’d spent resting in the hotel, but the last five had been on the road. No sign of anyone watching us, either.

This Dustin guy lived in Wynot, Arizona but GEM was near Aspen, Colorado. We didn’t have a specific address for either place, but hopefully going to either one would bring us closer to some form of help.

Last night with Nate, us getting promised, made me want something closer to normal more than anything.

“I vote Colorado,” Georgia said. “Easier to find a mansion or building in a small mountain town. Locals might know about it.”

“I agree,” Lois said.

I looked to the front seat where Tim and Nate sat. Tim nodded and Nate said, “It’s unanimous.”

He stayed on the interstate and relief washed over me at the prospect of getting some help. I was sick to death of driving in the car, but soon it’d be okay.
Hopefully
.

Georgia snatched my hand again and ran her finger over my new ring. She leaned in close and whispered, “It’s so beautiful. Diamonds in the shape of a snowflake.”

“I know, right?” I rested my shoulder against hers. I could still barely believe it happened. I was promised to someone. Officially. It wasn’t quite
engaged
, but that was okay with me. Slow was okay with me.

A few hours later, Tim’s cell phone rang, and I pulled out my earplugs. Georgia and Lois were zonked out, shoulder-to-shoulder, heads resting on one another beside me. They hadn’t even flinched at the obnoxious ring.

“Yeah,” Tim said.

Nate glanced at him, then back to the road.

“Who is it?” I whispered.

“Martin,” Tim said. “Yeah, buddy. What’d you say?”

Tim sat straight. “Shit. When?”

My heart hammered.

“Jasmine?”

Now tears welled. Oh, God, had something happened to Scott?

“Tell her to stay on it. Not much we can do from here. You got it? You working with Jess, too?”

“What?” I said, not so much in a whisper that time. Tim held up his hand, shushing me.

I hated being shushed, even more than I hated Agents.

“Keep us up to date. Okay?” Tim pulled the phone from his ear. He glanced at Nate, then back to me. “I’m sorry, Mandy, but Zach’s gone.”

“Gone? As in—um—what do you mean gone?” My heart fell into my stomach and sent a ripple of fear cracking my ribs. “Dead?”

“Jasmine’s alarms triggered at his place in the middle of the night. She sped over there, but he was gone. House a bit of a mess.

“Bit of a mess?” Nate asked.

“Not ransacked, but gone through. Drawers open. Couple lamps tipped over.”

“Blood? Any signs of a struggle?” Nate asked.

“No blood, just the fallen lamps, but the drawers open, that could mean robbery.”

“Or packing. Leaving in a hurry,” Nate countered. “Zach or his dad leaving quickly could have triggered the alarms. No bullet holes or residue?”

“None that Jasmine saw.”

“Zach,” I whispered. “Would Bev take her own nephew and use him as bait? Leverage?”

“Wouldn’t put it past her.” Tim shook his head. “She’s sick in the head, you know?”

“I’ll pull over at the next stop. Let’s check a few things online. Martin’s working with Jasmine and Jess? What’d they say?” Nate asked.

“Nothing, really. Not much to go on. Searching cell phone calls, emails, Internet history, nothing yet.”

My heart skidded to a stop when they mentioned Internet history. Would they see I was online with him? In that private chat room? Had that been enough to send Zach out looking for me? He wouldn’t would he?

Shit.

The car veered to the right, Georgia murmured and bright, but sleepy, blue eyes revealed themselves as her lids opened. “Where are we?” She said with a yawn.

“Making a pit stop,” I said. “Um, Georgia, Martin called in. Something’s wrong with Zach. He’s missing.”

She zipped up straight in her seat. “Zach?” I told her everything she’d missed, then leaned in super close. “You been online to check his status?”

“No. You?”

“Just once. Was the same as when you did.”

Okay, as soon as we stopped, I was logging in again. Chat room, too. I had to risk it. Maybe he’d left a message there. Or on Facebook.

Something.

Somewhere.

I had to make sure he was okay.

Within twenty minutes, we’d found a café with free wi-fi. Nate and Tim huddled over their laptop. Across from them, I flipped open mine and with Georgia next to me, we logged into Facebook. Lois sat in the chair perpendicular to Georgia, sipping her frozen drink while flipping through the papers we’d retrieved the other day.

Considering it was about two in the afternoon, the café was pretty quiet. We’d secured soft chairs off to the side, next to a brick wall, near the exits. It was like that everywhere we went now: scope the outside of the building first and get a route of escape.

I was so ready for that to be over.

First thing first was Zach.

Anyway, that Dustin guy hadn’t contacted us yet, either. Maybe it was wrong to get my hopes up, considering I’d done that before and was burned. Okay, done that like five times and was burned.

I guess I never learned.

We logged in and went to Zach’s page.

His status read:
I’m on my way.

“Shit, what’s that mean?” Georgia whispered.

No other status updates since I’d checked the other day.
I’m on my way
. What did that mean? Way to where? His Aunt’s?

“Wait, look, it was updated via iPhone. Check his places.” Georgia pointed at the screen.

“How?”

“It’s a feature that lists where this person has been recently. But if nothing else, he’s on his phone, so we know he’s mobile. And if he’s doing updates, he can’t be held captive,” Georgia said.

“Or someone’s updating his page for him, using his phone because he’s freaking dead and can’t do it himself.” My heart hammered.

I glanced at Nate. He and Tim were still hunched over their computer, Nate pointing at the screen. I leaned to the side and slid out the card that had the private chat room site address on it.

“What’s that?”

“Wait,” I said as I pulled it out and inputted the address in the browser.

Georgia watched as the dialogue box pulled up and I logged in as Rambo.

“Rambo. Nice,” she said. She snatched the card up and read it. “When did he give you this?”

“Birthday.”

“You’ve had it all this time?”

“Opened the other day. I talked to him, G.”

“What?” Her whisper was loud enough to draw Nate’s attention.

His piercing brown eyes stabbed a dagger of guilt through me. I needed to tell him what I’d done. Maybe by logging in and talking with Zach before I’d triggered something in the computer. Or whatever.
Shit.

I smiled, or at least I hoped it was a smile, and he winked then went back to his work.

Georgia silently pointed to the screen. Zach was in there. Or at least his computer was on and logged into the room.

So how could he be gone?

“Type something,” Georgia said.

I leaned forward, shaking fingers hovering above the keyboard when an instant message popped up.

Mandy?

I looked at Georgia. “Shit.”

“Go on.”

Who’s Mandy?
I typed.

It’s okay. This is a secure site. I’m on my way to you.

My heart hammered.
On your way? I’m sorry, this is Rambo. Where are you going?

Jess found you. I can’t believe you’re alive. I’ve been so lost without you.

“Shit,” Georgia said. “He knows.”

“Where could he be going?”

“I just lit up a building, killing, like, five Agents, that had to make news, if anything they had to mention something about the fire. Jess must think it’s us.”

“So Jess, Scott, and Jasmine must know we didn’t really die.” I shook my head. “Only Zach didn’t know, maybe?” I scrubbed my face with my hand then leaned in and started typing.

I’m not sure who Mandy is, but where are you headed? I could meet you.

Minnesota. I’m halfway there.

Driving? Where are you now?

Just entered Wyoming.

Stop. I live in Wyoming. I can meet you. Maybe I can help you find this Mandy person.

“He took a North route out of Arizona. Through Colorado, going east on the interstate,” Georgia said. “We’ve driven that before for a family vacation to Yellowstone.”

Where are you?

Stutton’s Gas –n- Rest, Prusing, Wyoming.

Stay put. I’ll find you.

How far are you?

Few hours. Stay put, I really want to meet you. You seem so nice.

See you soon. I love you, Mandy.

I clicked the X and closed the box without responding. My heart cracked. What had I just done?

Chapter 22

“Y
ou have to tell him,” Georgia said, pacing the bathroom. “Seriously. You can’t go off on your own and get Zach. It’s too dangerous.”

“Duh.” I tunneled my hands through my hair. “But we need to keep going toward Colorado. We can’t let this stop us. I should go, then the rest of you can keep moving forward.”

Georgia’s lips thinned into no more than a line across her pale face. “No separating. You said so yourself.”

I whirled around. “Georgia, Zach’s in trouble. I screwed up, okay? I went to his site and he figured out I was alive. Now he’s out there, unprotected.”

“Bait.”

“What?” I glanced at my phone. I was losing precious minutes arguing.

“He’s bait. It’s not even him. Agents got him, they figured out you’d contacted him somehow. They’re using him as bait to flush you out.”

Damn, she could be right. Hadn’t thought of that. “No.” That meant I needed to get to him fast. I was strong enough to get him on my own.

“We all go. Me, you, Tim, and Nate. Maybe Lois can go to Dustin alone?”

“No.”

“You’re right. Lois needs one of us.” She nailed me with a stare. “You can’t go alone, though.”

“Sure I can. I’ll grab a car with a GPS. It’s only a few hours. If I leave now, I’ll get there before dark. Well, maybe.”

“No. I don’t like this sneaking around. We have to tell Nate and Tim. They’ll know what to do. Maybe Martin and Jasmine can go get him. Yeah. Have them get there. Tell Nate and they’ll tell Martin.”

“That’s an idea.” But I didn’t trust they’d get to him fast enough. “It’ll take them too long.”

“We’ve been making unanimous decisions, bring it to everyone and see what they think.”

“Shit.”

“What’s going on, Mandy?” She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. “Seriously. Why are you wigging about Zach?”

“He typed that he loved me, G.”

“You love him?”

“No. He was my first love, though, you know?” I faced the mirror, and it reflected my rosy cheeks.

“You love Nate?”

“Totally.”

“So, you love them both?”

“No. I love Nate and want to be with Nate. But Zach. He—well—like I said, was my first.” I leaned on the countertop and studied the tile floor. “It’s my fault his life is jacked.”

“No it isn’t.”

“How can you say that? I stormed into Trifle and disrupted everything. He had a full ride to State and turned it down for me. We had a few awesome weeks together, then Samantha came in and ruined that. Then Andrey took him. Then his mother died. I—”

“It’s The Center’s fault. Not yours.”

“And now he’s dropped out of school. Vanished. Sad. Depressed. All because he thought we were dead. Now that he knows, he’s darted off across the country? I could even hear the pep in his voice reading what he typed.”

“True.”

“It’s not fair. I feel so bad. I want to help him, but I don’t want to hurt Nate.”

“He saved Zach before, remember? When Andrey had him. He’ll go with you. Maybe—well, maybe me, Tim, and Lois could go to Colorado. You and Nate go get Zach.” Georgia’s warm hand rested on my shoulder. “But I don’t like separating from you. You and I are the most powerful.”

“What about me, you, and Nate going? Tim and Lois to Colorado.” I shook my head. “That leaves them vulnerable. Tim doesn’t have any active powers.”

“You’re right.”

“And you’re dead set against me going alone.” I nailed her with a stare. “I could run there, get him, and bring him to Colorado.”

“Yeah, right, when has anything been that easy in our freaked out lives?

“But to ask Nate to run and get my ex-boyfriend, who I’ve been talking to behind his back when I’m supposed to be dead is too much to ask. Even for super boyfriend, Nate.” I shook my head. “He has to have a limit to his tolerance.”

“Not if he loves you, which he does.” Georgia grabbed my hand again. “He gave you a promise ring.”

I glanced at the jewel on my finger. “He does love me, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. He was absolutely beside himself when you were hurt. I’ve never seen him so out of sorts like that before.”

“He’s never once been jealous of Zach. Never once threatened by him.”

“He won’t be this time, either. He’ll understand.”

I let out the breath I’d held captive in my lungs. “You know what he said to me last night when I asked him why he didn’t want to have sex?”

“What?” She reached out and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

“He’s such a bookworm,” I said, laughing. “He’d read that statistically, those who don’t have premarital sex are more likely to have stronger marriages. Less likely to end in divorce.”

“Really? He said that?”

“I know, right? Leave it to him to make stats all sexy and appealing.” Or it might have had something to do with the fact that he was in his underwear when he’d said it.