Page 19 of Ramshackle
There’s silence on the other end.
“Why can’t I reach her?” he asks slowly, and I can practically hear the cogs in his head turning. “What happened?”
My immediate reaction is to lie to him. This is family business. But I remember the way Raegan defended him and how Elias seems to care about her. While he isn’t my favorite person in the world, he’s also not a terrible ally to have around.
“GE has her.”
Silence.
Again, it’s Elias processing this information. “…Are you trying to get her back?”
I tighten my grip on the phone. “Of course we are.”
He sighs in relief. As if he actually thought—no,assumed—that we would let them have her. We, the ones who are actively fighting against GE rather than him, would let them take Raegan, whom we’ve known most of our childhoods. Yes, we’ve been back and forth since seeing her again, but it’s onlybecausewe all care about her so much that we fight.
“I’ve found Portia, but…things are complicated. I’m not able to make it back for a while still.” There’s a darkness to his tone that’s not usually present, even with me, that I file for later. Most likely it’s related to Portia’s returned memories that prompted her to run away a few months ago.
“I wasn’t expecting you to. This is our problem, and we’re handling it.”
“Well, if you need anything; money, planes, boats…anything, let me know, and you’ll have it.”
Now it’s my turn to pause. I’ve always wondered but pushed it aside. “What’s your interest in her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Raegan. Why do you care so much about her? You barely know her.”
He’s quiet, and then there’s beeping in my ear. I check the screen to see Jackson’s name. The call I’ve been waiting all night for.
“Never mind,” I say tersely. “I’ve got to take this call. I’ll give Raegan your message about Portia once we have her back safely.”
I hang up on him before I hear his response so I can answer Jack. “What’ve you got?”
“A list of coordinates,” his scratchy voice comes through the speaker. I can tell he hasn’t slept. I doubt he’s eaten much, either. But we’ve already gone weeks chasing down leads that dry up faster than rain in a desert.
We’re getting desperate, and this lead is the closest we’ve come to any answers.
“How many?” Hope swells in my chest, but I anchor it down before it can take off.
“Three.”
Three. Three possible locations where she could be. Or where she might not be and we’ll be back at square one. But the guy Jackson justinterviewedhas a science background where he disappeared for a stretch of years before he suddenly returned with a lot of money and a higher position in the GE ranks.
“Let me get the others.”
Striding to the living room, I knock Kellan’s foot down and pat his face to make him wake quietly. Normally, I’d just push himoff the couch, but the last thing I need is to make a loud enough noise to bring Vera out of her room.
Hopefully, she’s so embarrassed from being caught that she won’t poke her head out for anything else tonight.
Kell groans, and I slap my hand over his mouth.
“Quiet,” I warn, leaning forward so he can clearly see me. He licks my hand, and I huff my irritation before wiping it on my pants. Disgusting.
He grins and sits up.
“Come on,” I snap, then head to Dane’s room. At last, it clicks with him that something’s up, and he follows as we sneak inside. “Wake him up.”
I flick on the light and then switch my phone on speaker so that Jack can hear us better, but I lower the volume so he’s not too loud after Kell’s gotten Dane up. He sits up against the headboard, rubbing his eyes.
