Page 11 of Deserving Ryleigh
“No.” Her tone was flat. Matter-of-fact.
He took a deep breath, and his anger faded into sorrow. He felt bad for Ryleigh. She’d obviously never had anyone care about her. Not as a daughter, a friend, or anything else. His heart hurt for her…doubly so after the way he’d treated her.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter how unsafe it was, because if there was even the slightest chance he had Jasna, I had to find out. The cabin looked pretty deserted, and it was in the middle of nowhere. There weren’t any neighbors to come running if I screamed for help or anything. There was a car parked outside, and the license plate matched the numbers I saw in Christian’s files, so I knew he was there. And there was only one reason he would be at a place like that…and it wasn’t good. I didn’t know what to do,” Ryleigh said in a shaky tone that made Tiny once again want to burst into the room and comfort her.
“I’m not a commando. I’m a computer nerd; good with my fingers on a keyboard, not so good when it comes to fighting.”
“You don’t like conflict,” Henley said.
Tiny blinked out in the hall. It was such a simple statement, but now that he thought about it, Henley was absolutely right.
“I hate it,” Ry agreed. “I couldn’t ever do anything right growing up. I got yelled at…a lot. Told I was stupid for the tiniest mistakes. And every time I made one of those mistakes, I was punished by having food withheld, my electronics taken away, wasn’t allowed to go to school. I had to redo whatever I’d messed up until it was done correctly.”
“Like what?” Henley asked.
There was a brief pause. “Once, after I’d hacked into the state’s treasury database to change tax information for my dad—and I messed up—the cops came to the house. My dad threw me under the bus, ranted and raved about ‘kids these days,’ and he let the police take me to the station. I truly thought I was going to be put in jail, and I was terrified. When they finally took me home, after spending hours telling me about all the awful things that could happen to me if I ever did anything like that again, I was a complete mess.”
“How old were you?” Henley asked gently.
“Eleven.”
Tiny’s jaw dropped in a silent gasp. Eleven? She’d hacked into a state database—on her father’s orders, from the sounds of it—when she waseleven? What the hell?
“That’s really young.” Henley’s tone was even, and Tiny couldn’t help but be in awe of her skills. She was a talented psychologist, and it was obvious why she was so popular at The Refuge with the guests.
Ryleigh didn’t respond, but Tiny could imagine she’d probably shrugged off Henley’s comment before she continued. “Anyway, as I was standing in the trees, staring at the cabin, wondering if I should call Tonka, or maybe Tiny, Christian came out of the house. By himself.”
Tiny couldn’t help but feel good deep down that she’d wanted to call him for help. Ryleigh seemed so self-assured. So confident. But to know when push came to shove, she’d thought about reaching out tohimfor help, made satisfaction bloom deep in his chest.
“I watched him leave and was itching to find out where he was going, but I needed to know if your hunch that he’d taken Jasna was correct. I waited until he was gone, then carefully approached the house and looked in a window. Jas was there, asleep on the floor. I mean, I figured she probably wasn’tactuallyasleep. She wasn’t moving. I didn’t see any blood or anything, so I hoped that was a good sign. I took a moment to go online and check to see where Christian was—I’d sent a link to myself before I left my apartment, with his cell phone trace. I saw he was still headed toward town, and I figured I had enough time to get Jas out of that cabin.
“I went inside and was able to rouse her enough to get her off the floor. I got her to my car and drove away from that cabin like a bat out of hell. I was on my way to The Refuge, but I pulled over before I got there. I checked where Christian was again, and saw he was at that fast food place. The bastard had kidnapped a young girl and was getting aburger? It disgusted me. I called the cops through their tip-finder line and told them where they could find him. I knew the police were looking for him; I’d heard them talking on an emergency scanner app I have…which is completely legal, by the way. Anyone can download it and listen.”
“I’m not judging you, Ry. Not even a little. How could you even think that after all you’ve done for me and my family?” Henley asked.
“I just…I know what I do isn’t legal. But it’s been a long time since I’ve done anything that would hurt someone else,” Ryleigh admitted quietly.
Tiny thought about that for a moment, and while he didn’t know exactly what it was she did on her computer, since she’d admitted that she wasn’t who everyone thought she was, the things she’d done had been nothing but helpful. Yes, she’d hacked into places she shouldn’t have, but she’d done so because she was trying to find Lara. Then Stone.
“We’re lucky to have you on our side,” Henley said gently.
He heard a sniff, then Ryleigh was speaking again. “Anyway, I told the cops where Christian was, and where the house in the woods was located, just in case they didn’t act on my intel soon enough to get him while he was still in Los Alamos. I got back on the road to bring Jas to The Refuge, but I realized how many questions there’d be for me if I did that. IloveThe Refuge. Actually liked my job. I knew if I just waltzed into the lodge with Jasna, everyone would have questions and I’d have to leave. And I know it was really selfish of me, but…I decided to leave her in one of the bunkers, then anonymously text Tonka where she was, so he could go get her.”
“Ah yes…the bunkers,” Henley said.
Tiny pressed his lips together. He was aware Tonka had told his wife about their hidden bunkers on The Refuge property. He’d even brought her to the one Jasna had been put in for safekeeping, so she could see it for herself. For closure. Alaska also knew about them, because Brick had stashed her in one before going hunting for the asshole who’d been trying to kidnap her again. They weren’t quite the secret they used to be, that was for sure.
“You know about them?” Ryleigh asked. “They’re not common knowledge.”
“I know about them,” Henley confirmed. “But not where they’re all located. Can you tell me more about them?”
“No, I can’t,” Ryleigh said somewhat firmly. “It’s not my secret to tell. I’m sorry.”
Ryleigh had managed to surprise Tiny once more. The woman obviously knew a lot of information about many different things, including The Refuge, and probably the men who owned the place. But the fact that she wasn’t going about disclosing that information willy-nilly impressed him. He still wasn’t comfortable with the level of knowledge she possessed, and he wondered what else she was keeping a secret, but he had to admit that she’d surprised him by not telling Henley everything she knew about the bunkers.
“It’s okay. So you brought Jasna back to The Refuge?”
“Yeah. She didn’t seem to be having any trouble breathing, and I couldn’t find any injuries on her. I didn’t think it would take Tonka long to get to her, so I figured it would be okay to leave her alone for a little while. I made sure she was safe where I left her and went back to my car. On my way back to Los Alamos, I listened to what was happening at the cabin on the scanner, then sent Tonka the text letting him know where he could find Jasna.”
