Page 50 of One Cry Too Loud
“Great,” Kat muttered. “So, where does that leave us?”
“The same place it left us before,” I said. “Chasing the cyber breadcrumb trail. Tag traced the point of origin to Holly’s family house.”
“Which is ridiculous,” Joe replied. “Those people wouldn’t know how to turn a computer on without help, let alone, do a fraction of the things Nefarious has been accused of doing.”
“None of you have seen those people in years. A lot can change in that time,” Kat said.
“Not that, and not that much,” Holly answered. “Joe is right. This can’t be my parents.”
“But it is,” Tag said. “The point of origin, the only piece of true data we’ve got from Nefarious since all of this started, points directly to your parents and their house.”
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Holly said.
“It doesn’t have to make sense,” I replied. “We’re on the ropes here. We don’t have a choice. We have one piece of information. We have one lead. We have to follow it.”
“So, we’re going to go accuse my parents of being cyber terrorists?” Holly asked.
“Among other things,” I said.
“I suppose that means I’m on the sidelines again?” Tag asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Kat replied. “You’re too valuable here.”
“Who could argue with that?” He asked. “Does that mean I’ll have company?” He motioned to Joe.
“I’d like to go,” Joe said, looking around.
“I don’t know that it’s a good idea,” I said. “It’s dangerous.”
“It’s my daughter,” he replied. “I know that hasn’t mattered before, but I want it to matter now. Besides, isn’t it a smart move to take me?”
“Smart?” Kat asked.
“You seem to believe I’m not Nefarious, and that’s a good conclusion to make, because I’m not. What if you're wrong, though? What if you leave me on this jet with a boy who-no offense, I could snap like a twig and a computer system that’s strong enough to at least break into Nefarious’ system for a few seconds? What kind of havoc do you think the worst cyber hacker the world has ever seen could wreak with that? With all of that being said, wouldn’t it just be smarter to keep me close, to keep eyes on me?”
“Damnit,” I muttered, realizing he was right. “Get your coat.”
CHAPTER 33
We found ourselves standing in front of a quaint little home on the outskirts of Dorset much quicker than I’d imagined. Somehow, I’d thought of this place as one of the most sprawling areas in the world. Maybe it was the way Holly had always described it; as an endless thing that was impossible to escape from. In reality, the area was cozy. It was the sort of place I could have seen myself raising a family, if that wasn’t the sort of thing that was behind me.
Looking over at the eccentric woman, I watched much of the pretense she had been carrying melt away. In doing so, I realized that, while justified, much of the anger she had been showcasing was something of a shield. If she was upset, she didn’t have to focus on how afraid she was. And from the look of her, she was scared to death.
“You don’t have to come inside if you don’t want to,” I said. I was on one side of Holly. Kat was on the other, and Joe was on the other side of me. While it was pretty clear that we were wrong about him being Nefarious, he had hurt Holly deeply, and I thought it was in everyone’s best interest to keep him at a little more than arm’s distance.
“I do,” she said, nodding firmly with her eyes, as teary as I’d ever seen them, locked onto the house.
“You don’t,” Kat said, agreeing with me. “We’ve done this before, Holly. Whatever information your parents have to give us, we can get on our own. There’s a little cafe just down the street. You can wait there. Joe can come with us.”
“I don’t mind,” Joe said, a half whisper.
“You’ve been through a lot the last few days,” I added. “A lot of old wounds have been reopened. You shouldn’t have to put yourself through-”
“I am going through it, though, Jack,” she said. “And I have been going through it for years. Honestly, I’ve never known a moment of true peace since the second I gave that little girl up.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t regret it. I meant to give her a life I couldn’t provide for her, and up until recently, I did just that, but I also ran. I ran away from the problems I created and my responsibility in them.” She looked over at Joe. “I blame Joe for a lot of what happened, but the truth is that I’m not blameless either. I may have been young, but so was he. He might have made some terrible choices and pushed me to do some risky things, but I made similar choices, and I’m not stupid. I knew the risks of what I was doing and I did it anyway.” She nodded again. “Yes. I did it to impress a boy who I thought was cool, who I thought loved me, but I also did it because I never had any other kind of love in my life. Ever since my sister died, even since my parents emotionally cut me off, I think I’ve been looking for love and acceptance. That search got me thrown in prison, but it also brought me to the only family I’ve known since my sister’s death.”
She looked at Kat and I.
“That’s why you don’t have to do this,” Kat answered. “We can do it for you,becausewe’re family.”
