Page 23 of Clean Hack
A loud knock on my door cut off what I was going to say. It was more like a bang than a pleasant tap. My heart jumped in my throat and I prayed that I could suddenly turn invisible.
“Come on, Lucy.” That voice…I knew that voice. But I’d never heard it in person. “I’m a little exposed out here, doll,” he finished and I had never been so torn in my life.
“I gotta…shit,” I said to Nadya as I jumped up, phone still glued to my ear. “Uh, can you handle this?”
I hated to brush her off, but I had no choice. I kind of knew that she’d had enough training to be able to take the group of men out all by herself. But the thing was, would she go in there with a level head? There was only one of me and I knew I was going to have to leave it up to the universe.
“Yeah, no worries,” she said and I could hear her cool mask settling into place. The worry eased slightly. “I got this.”
I disconnected the call and opened the door just enough for Burke to slip his big body through. Then I closed us in, locking every single lock that I had.
“What the fuck, Burke?!” I seethed.
As much as I wanted to slap him out of anger, I held back. Then I freaked out. There was someone in my space. Sure, I kind of knew him. I’d been talking to him for years. But I didn’t reallyknowhim. I’d only really helped him out and brought him cases. The kind of conversations we had were more work related then theget to know youkind.
“Lucy, you know how these things can go,” he said calmly obviously unaffected by my sharp tongue and red-hot rage.
He walked to the middle of the main room and did a slow turn, taking everything in. I never gave him or anyone that worked at Ashburn Security my address, and it wasn’t like I had it listed anywhere. But it didn’t surprise me at all that he knew right where to find me.
It hit me hard that he was in my space. Black spots sprinkled the outer rim of my vision. As I closed my eyes, I felt my body start to sway. And that horrible wheezing-panting sound, yeah, that was coming from me. Fuck! I didn’t have time for this right now.
“Hear my voice?” I heard Burke say through the pounding in my ears. I was pretty sure I nodded. “It’s just me. I won’t touch anything. I won’t hurt you. You know that right?” I knew for sure this time I nodded but I couldn’t open my eyes just yet. “Slow breath in. Then out.”
I felt him near but he didn’t touch me. I knew what he was doing and I did my best to follow his instructions. It took a few minutes, but I was able to get myself calmed down.
“Sorry,” I said blinking my vision clear then giving him my attention.
“Don’t be. That happen a lot?” he asked.
“Um, not really. But then again, I don’t often have people invading my space.” I answered honestly.
My skin felt hot with embarrassment. I couldn’t believe that I’d just had a panic attack. And I honestly, couldn’t really pinpoint as to why. I had an idea, but maybe I wasn’t really ready to admit it to myself. I wanted to live in the beautiful world of denial and believe that I hadn’t done this too myself. That all this time I spent cutting myself off from the outside world hadn’t really affected me.
“Please tell me something good,” I said. “Tell me that you’ve found her.”
Burke did a slow nod as he brought his hand up to rub his jawline. I could still see the blatant worry and concern for what had just happened clouding his eyes.
“I found her. I’m working on getting her out but it’s been hard. I haven’t had much contact with anyone since I went under. I’m sorry I haven’t gotten in touch but I couldn’t risk it. He’s a very controlling and paranoid man.”
I could have told him that. In fact, I was pretty sure I already had. But now wasn’t the time to say that.
“You found her?” I could hear the hope blossoming in my tone.
“Yeah,” he said and a sad frown marked his rugged face. “She’s had it pretty rough the last seven years. I’m honestly surprised that she survived it all. I don’t know everything, but I know enough to know that I have to get her out of there soon. I have a plan, but I won’t share it with you. I have to keep it as quiet as possible and I can’t have Savage thinking I had anything to do with it. There are still things…”
His voice trailed off as did his eyes. He was lost to me for a moment as he thought about things I was oblivious to. I waited because I understood how it was.
“He’s into a lot of things,” Burke finally said as he turned and walked over to the small couch I had tucked into the corner of the room. I felt the heaviness weighing him down as he lowered his body onto the cushion. “I have to stay under a while longer. There are kids…I have to find out where they are.”
“You mean who they were sold to?” I asked because I wasn’t stupid.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Only Savage knows that information. He keeps things very close to the vest. Doesn’t trust anyone. Even though he promoted me, he still doesn’t let me in. I found out about Allison a few months ago. Lucy, I have to tell you something. I probably shouldn’t, because I don’t want you to go all chick-emotional on me and run out of here and try to save the day. But I think you should know. She has a kid. A little boy, he’s not quite two yet.”
I sucked in a sharp lungful of air. I didn’t have to ask to know who the father was. I hated it for her, and for the little innocent boy. But part of me was happy that she wasn’t so alone.
“You have to get her out of there,” I said shaking out my hands because I felt antsy and restless at the fact that I was just standing there free as could be.
If I wanted to walk out of my apartment, I could. If I wanted to go get a burger, I could. Hell, if I wanted to sit around and do nothing without the worry of someone getting pissed at that, I fucking could. She didn’t have that. She’d lived that last seven years looking over her shoulder, afraid to make the wrong move. I hadn’t been there to witness it, but I knew. I could only imagine all the other things that had happened to her.
