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"For your own good."
"Naturally." I pulled into a wooded lane leading to a trail. "Just like with the Edison Group. You tried to keep me in the laboratory for my own good. How'd that work out?"
Silence. Then, her voice lowered. "I made a mistake."
Derek snorted. When she turned to him, I said, "Glaring at him isn't going to help your case. He's the friend who stuck by my side. Just like Simon and Tori. Yes, Tori. The girl who nearly got me killed at Lyle House turned out to be a better friend than the one who pretended she was my friend."
"I was." There was no anger in her tone, no defensiveness. Her voice was soft, almost inaudible. "I was your friend, Chloe. I made a mistake. I want to fix that."
"Yeah," Derek said. "By kidnapping
her again. Either you're a whole lot dumber than I thought--"
"I'm not stupid, Derek," she said, anger flaring. "I admit I made a mistake, and now I want to fix it by rescuing Chloe." She lifted a hand as I opened my mouth. "I know you think you don't need rescue, but you do."
I looked at Derek. He rolled his eyes.
"All right," I said. "Let's get out and talk."
Eight
"We have a problem," Maya whispered as we headed into the forest. The trail was closed at dusk, but there was no one to enforce that. It's Canada. They expect you'll understand that the rule is for your own good, and they leave the rest up to you.
The guys walked behind us with Rae between them. Maya had suggested she and I go on ahead to find a good spot to talk, but it seemed the person she wanted to talk to first was me. She passed over her phone, text messages displayed.
When I read them, I cursed under my breath.
"Uh-huh," she said.
9:47. Moreno: Hey, movie's over, Miss Maya.
9:52. Moreno: OK, I give up. Where r u? 5 sec to reply or I come hunting.
9:53. Moreno: Maya? Answer. Now.
9:54. Maya: Sry! Didn't u get txts? Had problem. Jerk talking in movie. Guys abt to cause scene. C&I got them out. Pizza.
9:55. Moreno: OK. Where r u?
She'd dragged out the conversation after that, taking longer to reply. She'd said we'd gone for pizza, and she had no idea where, because Daniel had seen a sign on the way in, but, when we went back, it was out of business, so we'd driven around and around...And all she knew was that we were having pizza somewhere in North Bay. Give us a half hour, and we'd swing back and meet them.
Moreno grumbled, but he trusted Maya. The problem was that we couldn't trust him.
"Someone knew we were at the movie," I said. "And the only people who knew are Moreno and Luke."
"I know. I really don't think..." She inhaled and put her phone away. "Moreno is a mercenary son of a bitch, so he should be at the top of my list..."
"But he's not."
She made a face, fidgeting with the zipper on her sweater. "Logically, I know there's no reason to suspect Luke any more than Moreno. Probably less, because Moreno is head of security. If he wanted to sell us out, he has everything he would need to do it, and the only thing stopping him would be..."
"Loyalty to your father."
"Loyalty from a guy who, I suspect, is only loyal as long as it's in his best interests. My gut says to trust him, but my head says, hell, no. I'll keep putting him off, and we'll see how it goes."
We found out why Rae and her mother hadn't come to Badger Lake. It seemed someone had gotten to her and convinced her that the Cabal was evil and Badger Lake didn't exist, at least not as Sean had sold it to her. I wasn't surprised. It's not like Cabals are known for altruism, especially this one.
The Nasts were the Cabal that had kidnapped Simon and Derek's dad, Kit and held him captive, interrogating him about the Edison Group while Derek and Simon ended up at Lyle House. Which should make it seem as if brainwashing really had been involved in our decision to trust Sean. The truth is that Kit had been remarkably unwilling to hold a grudge. The Nasts had treated him well enough and he had worked for the Edison Group, so it was perfectly reasonable that they would kidnap him to learn more. It was just business. I suppose that says a lot about the supernatural world. Yet Kit's experience also meant he hadn't been about to trust the Nasts without a whole lot of negotiations and background checks on Sean. Rae's mother wouldn't have gone that far. She'd been told "Nasts = bad," and they'd run.
