Page 47 of Guarding Truth

Caleb stood. “Conversation over. I’m not letting you risk your life, Ivy. These men are dangerous.”

“But your life is on the line too.” Ivy’s eyes pooled with tears, and his heart melted into a puddle. “They blew up your office, thinking you’d be in it. I’ve lost my mom and dad. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, too.”

* * *

THURSDAY, 3:15 P.M.

Ivy sat on the bed in the guest room of the safe house, feeling anything but safe. These hackers needed to be stopped. They’d gone after her uncle again.

The FBI agent, even Juliette, seemed to understand that Ivy could help. Agent McGregor knew that Rushmore would make contact. And they had.

If her uncle wouldn’t let her help, she’d do it on her own.

Tears flowed down her face. Why wouldn’t he see that they needed to do something?

Willing herself to calm down, she rummaged through her backpack until her fingers touched the wooden beads. Why had she kept the friendship bracelet that Layna had given her when she knew Layna had lied to her?

Part of her wished for a friend. The logical part of her brain told her that Layna was part of Rushmore. The girl had only been interested in Ivy’s skills, not a friendship. But had everything the girl said been a lie?

What if there was some part of Layna that hadn’t wanted to betray Ivy? If she could get a signal, she’d send a message. Let Layna explain. Maybe she wasn’t all bad and would turn on the other members of Rushmore. They would work together and set up the meeting with Rushmore like the FBI guy wanted.

But this prison of a house had no Wi-Fi, and they’d gone to great lengths to jam all cell phone signals. Not to mention an FBI agent had confiscated all of her electronics.

Except one.

She grabbed her Kindle from the nightstand. It had a built-in web browser, and all she needed was access to her free email account. Uncle Caleb would be furious, but he wasn’t doing anything. Why did he always have to avoid taking a risk?

Now was her time to shine. Because if Ivy could discover more about Rushmore, she would have tangible evidence to hand over to the FBI. Uncle Caleb would be safe. They’d go back to their apartment and pretend none of this had happened.

Ivy tossed the Kindle onto the bed. If she did this, she’d have to disable the security alarm and sneak out the back door when the FBI wasn’t patrolling. Maybe she could reset the alarm to the factory setting and give it a new code. She’d watched a YouTube video once on how to do it.

On the way into the neighborhood, she’d spotted a playground next to a park a few houses down. She could walk all the way there or even just head near the neighbor’s house and use their Wi-Fi. Not everyone on the block was locked up like a prisoner.

But was it worth the risk? She could bargain with the hackers. She had information that would complete their program, and she could exchange this for Uncle Caleb’s life. If whoever was behind Rushmore got what he wanted, there’d be no reason to attack Uncle Caleb.

Ivy decided on a nap, especially since she’d be up all night with her escape attempt. Her uncle’s life depended on her staying focused and sharp and she wouldn’t let him down.

Juliette might be able to protect him, but it was up to Ivy to get information for the police to take these guys down.

ELEVEN

THURSDAY, 5:30 P.M.

If looks could kill, Ivy would have obliterated the entire room.

Juliette appreciated the girl’s fire and tenacity to protect her uncle, because she related. But that drive to help might put Ivy in even more danger. When she’d stormed out of the dining room, she’d scattered sparks of fury in her wake.

Not that Juliette needed the internet to entertain herself, but she needed something to keep herself busy. Being trapped in this house with Caleb brought back a slew of memories she’d rather not deal with right now.

The kitchen was way more stocked than the one at her house. Last night she’d made an embarrassing offer to Caleb and Ivy of canned soup and some saltines. But here…

Someone had gone shopping for them, and there were plenty of ingredients to make tacos. The spacious kitchen had modern appliances, so she made herself at home. She knew next to nothing about kids, but who would turn down tacos?

She was pulling items out to start prepping the food when a voice behind her said, “You’d let her do it, wouldn’t you?”

She turned.

Caleb had slid into a seat at the kitchen island. “You’d let her jump in there and try to make contact with these hackers.”