Chapter Ten: High Road

Gia

HIGH ROAD

Performed by Kelly Clarkson

I paced the length of themint room, ignoring the simplistic beauty of it while I listened to the update from Rory. She’d had no hits yet from the facial recognition software on the modified picture of Ravyn. It didn’t seem possible. There should have been something by now, and yet we were no closer to unwinding her identity than we’d been when we’d known her as Anna Smith. Even putting in the name Ravyn Clark had yielded little. She’d appeared out of nowhere ten years ago and disappeared not even three years later. She was as much of an enigma as Anna.

“She had to have hired someone to make her IDs,” I said.

“Or she made them herself. She was a tech genius. Hell, the bank in the Caymans didn’t even know the Lovatos had the account she’d assembled there.”

“Still, she’d need the right equipment, and that can be expensive. No. She hired someone to print them even if she created the backstop herself.”

“I’ll see what I can dig up from our list of known forgers. Has Addy said anything else?” Rory asked.

“I haven’t wanted to ask her about what happened again. Not after she shut down on me. She’s been through so much in the last twenty-four hours.”

“How’d Ryder take the news?”

“Like he’d been shot in the chest.” We were both silent for a moment. “Check in with the Denver PD for me. See if they have any new information.”

“While waiting for a facial recognition hit, I examined the camera footage from stores and streetlights near the motel. I might have identified the vehicle the suspect was driving,” Rory said.

I inhaled sharply, a chill washing over me. “Really?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything yet, as I’m not a hundred-percent sure, but I’m tracking it down.”

A prick of hope surged. “I feel like we’re close. Closer than we were even in D.C. in November.”

Rory was quiet, and I wished I hadn’t brought it up. She’d come out of the situation alive, but we’d lost the best lead we’d ever had when the woman working with Anna and the Lovatos had been killed before we could interrogate her. For months, we’d followed that lead, watching as she’d run some of the cartel’s offshore accounts, funneling money to gangs, assassins, and more, all while pretending to work for Rory’s dad’s private security business.

“Chanel was good, but the more I unraveled her work from her iPad and the computer in Dad’s office, it was clear she was just using someone else’s code,” Rory explained. “She didn’t always get it right and left behind a trail I don’t think Anna would have. Which got me thinking… Have you ever heard of the Houdini box?”

“Like the famous magician?”

“Amongst technophiles, there’s a myth about a box or a code that can be created to break into any system, run any program, and leave no trace behind. Like magic. Can you imagine one set of code being able to communicate with and get into and out of any system in the world?”

“I can imagine how dangerous that would be. There have been many books and movies written about it because it’s scary enough to cause mass panic,” I said. “You think Anna was working on something like this?”

“I think Anna and the cartel have been using something like it for a while. Perfecting it. Tweaking it. Not only because of the way they got into the bank in the Caymans but also the way they seem one step ahead of every agency that comes at them. They could be in the U.S. Customs system, which would allow them to approve shipments in and out of the country without a hiccup. And the identity theft scheme they ran? They broke into records all over the place.”

Even though I’d hinted at the idea of them having a worm in our computer systems to Maddox and Ryder, I’d hoped it wasn’t true. What Rory was suggesting was even worse. Scary as fuck to think of a cartel being able to get into any system in the world. “You think it’s why they killed Anna now? She was done with the code? She completed it?”

“I don’t know. But if she did finish it, killing her was a mistake. She would have had some crazy-ass encryption on it. They wouldn’t be able to use it without knowing the key, some kind of cipher she would have developed to keep it out of the wrong hands.”

“She was working for the wrong hands.”

“But she controlled it.”

“You’re trying to make her into some Robin Hood sitting in the middle of an evil cartel.”

“That’s because I think she was,” Rory said. “I’ve been poking into some of the leads the task force got last year and her coding that was dropped here and there that we thought we lucked into. I’m almost certain she gave it up on purpose. If she had an actual working Houdini box, G, they could have already dismantled the entire world’s infrastructure. Military systems. Banking. Internet. Primary services. Emergency services. But they haven’t.”

“Because she wouldn’t let them?”

“Or she hadn’t told them she’d created the final piece. Maybe the cartel got suspicious or simply got tired of waiting. Maybe they thought they could find someone else to finish it for them. I don’t have an answer to those questions.”

“In Ravyn’s letter, she talks about an insurance policy she left with Addy.” Goosebumps popped up along my skin.

“I know.”

Damn. If that was the case, and if the Lovatos got even a hint at Addy being alive, they’d send everything they had after her. Suddenly, coming to Willow Creek and handing her over to Ryder felt like a huge mistake. It put everyone here at risk in addition to the little girl. I’d wanted Addy to feel safe so she’d tell us what she knew, but maybe I’d done the opposite.

“I shouldn’t have come here,” I said on a long exhale.

“We have no reason to suspect they know about Addy. And all of this is just wild conjecture on my part. We need to find proof before we leap off the deep end.”

“You need to present your idea to the task force.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. It’s your theory. They’ll have questions I won’t be able to answer.” Noise from down the hall in the kitchen brought me back to where I was. My hand went to my Glock tucked beneath my shirt at the back, and then I heard the deep timbre of Ryder’s voice. “I gotta go. I have to make sure a certain growly rancher truly understands how quiet we need to keep this.”

Rory made a noise that sounded like she was trying to hold back a laugh. “Good luck with that.”

We hung up, and I stared at the tangle of limbs and leaves outside the window. Exhaustion wound through me. With sleep out of the question at the moment, I needed food and a gallon of caffeine to tide me over.

I went into the bathroom and cringed at the image in the mirror. This was what running for almost two days straight looked like. The walk-in shower with cream tile flecked with gold called to me, but even if I washed off the sweat and dust of the last forty-eight hours, I had no clean clothes in my go bag. I needed to do laundry or get some new things. So, instead of stepping into the luxurious shower, I splashed water on my face, straightened my ponytail, and added another layer of deodorant to the pile I’d already applied.

I’d gone longer than this without showering or changing clothes. Venezuela had been the worst. I’d been stuck for almost a week in the middle of guerilla territory with Gary, who had been pretending to be my cameraman, and a SEAL team. The lack of a shower and clean clothes hadn’t seemed important when we were in the middle of the jungle, following a tracker I’d placed on a stolen rifle. But here, in the middle of the spotless elegance of Ryder’s home, with his neatness and control on display, my days-old clothes and unwashed body made me feel like I stood out like an ant on vanilla ice cream. But I had bigger things to worry about than what Ryder Hatley thought of my run-down appearance.

I made my way out of the bedroom and into the main living area to see Ryder leaning up against the counter with his phone to his ear. My pulse spiked, worry cresting that he was already telling people about Addy. I wanted to strangle him, even if I understood his reasoning. He’d just had his world turned upside down, and he would rely on his family to help him through it. I just wasn’t sure his daughter could afford it.

His voice cracked as I heard him say, “I don’t know anything about raising a child. I don’t know how…”

My body froze, knowing he’d hate me hearing his torn admission. He’d hate me seeing his moment of weakness, and yet, I wished he hadn’t trailed off. I wished he’d finished the sentence so I could see beneath the grumpy veneer once again to the tantalizing truth of the man under it.

I snapped myself out of that chain of thought as quickly as I entered it. What I didn’t have time for was to be tantalized and tempted. I had a little girl to protect and a cartel to take down. The only thing that was important was making sure everyone he told was on board with the seriousness of the situation.

I made my way through the living area on quiet feet as he finished up his discussion and flipped what looked like grilled cheese sandwiches onto three waiting plates.

“I really wish you hadn’t done that,” I said.

He startled, whirling around, spatula in hand. His eyes narrowed on me. “Done what?”

“Told your mom.”

Instead of replying, he slid the plates onto the island across from the tall barstools. “Do you want to get Addy? She seems to react better to you right now.”

“You’re not going to respond?”

“I don’t believe in repeating arguments, especially when they won’t end any different. I won’t lie to my family. That’s all there is to say.”

“You’re putting her at risk to soothe your conscience. What I just learned…” I shook my head, trailing off. I couldn’t talk to him about the case.

“What you just learned?” he asked, crossing his arms over his enormous chest, the flannel working double-time to contain the muscles beneath it. Muscles I knew were rock solid from the one time I’d been pressed up tight against them. I swallowed hard and looked away.

“That little insurance policy Ravyn left behind? If it’s what we think it is, it won’t just be the Lovatos who come looking. It’ll be every criminal organization and government in the world.”

His jaw worked, hands digging into his arms. “What is it?”

I shook my head. “Not going there. But I think this was a bad idea. I think I should take Addy somewhere we can have a full team protecting her.”

“Unless we can figure out what she has and hand it off to you and your pals at the NSA. Then she won’t be in any danger, right?”

“They might not know we found it and still come looking.”

“I’m sure you and your cronies can find a way to leak it so they know you have it instead of her.”

If Rory was right, and Ravyn had been working on a Houdini box, and Addy had the key, we could absolutely drop hints that we’d found it. But it meant figuring out whether Addy really had it before they came looking. I wasn’t sure how to do that when all I’d gotten from the little girl was a handful of words.

“We need to get her to trust us,” I said softly.

He gave a curt nod, gaze drifting over to the entryway and the stairs that led down into the game room before they came back to lock on me.

The air shifted between us—the same enticing spark I’d felt last year and in every touch today. It was laced with danger and mistrust but also a passion I’d never experienced except in that singular angry kiss we’d shared. My eyes fell to his mouth, and when I jerked them back up, I swore his lips twitched.

I whirled around, heading for the stairs, saying, “I’ll go get her.”

I slid quietly into the basement, immediately searching the far corner where the video game machines were. My heart skittered around in my chest when she wasn’t there. I scoured the room. “Addy?” I called. “Dónde estás?”

Nothing.

I tried not to panic. There were no outside doors in the basement. No windows were open.

I called her name again.

Ryder’s booted feet hit the stairs, and I met his gaze.

“Where is she?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. I started for the hall and the unfinished rooms he’d mentioned. We both called her name only to get nothing in response. The three rooms along the hallway were hung with sheetrock but no tape or texture. Empty spaces that felt sad now I knew why they’d been left this way. As I came out of one room, Ryder came out of the last.

His eyes reflected the same panic I felt welling inside me.

We raced back down the hall where he pulled open the closet he’d gotten the step stool from, but she wasn’t there. Where the hell was she? The image of how I’d found her, hidden under the bed in the motel room, hit me. She’d been taught to squeeze into small spaces. I ran to the entertainment center, opening cabinet doors as Ryder went behind the bar.

“Gia,” his voice was barely a whisper, and I slowly closed the cupboard and turned to him. He closed his eyes, as if in pain, before opening them and meeting mine across the distance. He nodded down at something. I jogged over to see she’d tucked herself onto an open shelf. I didn’t know if it had been empty before or if she’d moved everything, but she’d curled herself into the space, knees to her chest, just like I’d found her under the bed. Her chest was moving in a slow rhythm, dark lashes standing out against pale skin.

Tears pricked my eyes, and when I met Ryder’s, I could tell he was fighting back his own.

It was all so wrong. So horribly wrong for her to have to hide like this to feel safe.

Ryder’s face turned dark with an anger I’d seen when he’d caught me in the ranch office. Except, this time, the fury wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at the woman who’d promised him everything before ripping it away.

While I couldn’t put myself in his shoes enough to empathize with him, I could sympathize. I’d had my blind love ripped away once by someone. No matter how much I’d insisted earlier that moving around could build resilience and independence, it had been cruel of Ravyn to do this. To make her daughter live this kind of life and to deny Ryder a child he would have showered with even more love than I’d seen him shower on his niece.

I lived in a world of grays, where black and white didn’t have a place, but even if Ravyn had lived, there would have been nothing she could have told me that would have justified this. It was just wrong.