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“And where is Zane?” He attempts nonchalance but comes up short. We really need this information.
“I don’t know that.” She speaks confidently. When Logan turns to look at her, she sighs. “Look, you said it yourself: I was kept out of the loop. I can tell you what I know, but I don’t know who he is, or where he is. I don’t know if Jessa really knows either. But I’m not sure I would tell you if I did. We owe our lives to Zane.” She cuts her answer short, biting her lip. Logan notices her misstep, but he doesn’t push it yet. I know he’ll tuck it away and use it to his advantage when the time is right.
“How long have you both known Zane?”
“Jessa has known Zane since high school. I’ve only known him through Jessa. She and her twin brother were really smart at computers, and they both belonged to groups outside of school. Jessa told me she met Zane in some chat forum. They would work out problems together.”
Logan steals a glance in my direction. I know what he’s thinking because I’m thinking the same thing:If Jessa knew Zane in high school, why didn’t I know Zane in high school?
I guess I wasn’t the only one with secrets back then.
“How did Zane save your lives?” Logan asks.
“It was Zane who helped Jessa gather the evidence that finally put my dad away.” She looks down, and her strong offense disappears as she recounts the past she’s probably tried hard to put behind her. “My—dadwasn’t a good man. He used to hit my mom. I told Jessa about it one day, and she jumped to my rescue. We came up with a plan to stop it, but we weren’t fast enough. He got drunk, hit my mom, and I tried to get in his way. Then he turned his anger on me.
“When I showed up for school the next day with a busted lip, Jessa told me she would fix it. She said she knew someone who could help her. A few days later, our home computer was hacked. Jessa said she was trying to access our built-in camera to record the abuse, but she found something else. He—killed a guy. We decided to send it to the cops anonymously. I just wanted it to stop.” She lowers her gaze to her hands, unable to look Logan in the eye. I don’t blame her. We already know this part of Dana’s story. Clearing her throat, she raises her head and straightens her shoulders. “I didn’t know at the time that the man he killed was a cop.” Pausing again to collect herself, she leans forward and crosses her arms on the table. Then, to make her point, she finishes, “I owe everything to Zane—and Jessa.”
I read between the lines. She’s telling Logan that she’ll do anything for the friend who’s done anything for her, and he gets her message loud and clear.
But he doesn’t allow her emotions to lead his questioning. He continues in an indifferent tone, “And Jessa? How does sheowe her lifeto him?”
Dana glances toward the mirror she doesn’t know I’m standing behind, and my attention sharpens. She thins her lips and wraps her arms around her midsection.
My heart pounds into my chest as Logan follows her gaze to the mirror. Then he shoots his own warning stare in my general direction.
He’s telling me to stay put, and Dana picks up on it. She knows I’m here now.
“Her parents’ car crash,” she starts slowly.
“The accident,” Logan clarifies.
“That was no accident,” she huffs. “Mr. Sparr had her parents and her brother killed, and they were looking for her. Jessa told me her parents called her that night in a panic. They told her they needed to leave town immediately, and something was wrong at her dad’s work. They weren’t making any sense, so she asked Zane to hack into the Sparr systems. He found all of their dirty secrets, along with all of the orders to kill, but it was too late to save them. She told me he warned her though. He told her to trust no one, and it looked like even the cops were on Matteo’s payroll. He helped her leave town the morning after.”
“That seems unlikely. Reports show that people on both sides of the law were looking for her,” he challenges.
Dana does a double take at Logan. “What part of ‘hacker’ do you not understand? Zane is top level, but Jessa is right up there too. If you can manipulate computers, you can do almost anything. Buy a ticket out of town under a different name. Hack into security cameras to show a different day’s feed, transfer money that no one will miss into any account. She was on her own for about a year before she sent me a letter asking how I was. My mother was remarried to another loser, but I was old enough to move out. There was nothing left for me, and I asked if I could visit her, wherever she was. When she told me everything, I told her I wanted in. She’s my only real family.” Dana’s loyalty to Jessa is clear, and I’m thankful they had each other all of this time.
Then, as if a thought has just hit him, Logan straightens and asks another question. “How do you know her brother was killed? Only her parents’ bodies were found.”
“Jessa said Zane told her he was killed in the crash along with them, but maybe he tried to escape and got pulled under. They never found his body.”
Still not letting any emotion show, Logan continues, “What do you do for Maxwell?”
Her expression twists into disgust. “We do nothing for that piece of shit.”
“Our intel says you are both connected to him through Zane.” He stops pacing and leans against the wall to study her response.
This is the information he’s most interested in now.
“Zane is not working with Maxwell. Neither is Jessa. It’s—hard to explain.” She breaks eye contact and looks down at her hands.
Logan picks up on it. “No. It probably isn’t. You and Jessa work with Zane out of some crazy misguided loyalty, but you don’t really know why Zane works with Maxwell, do you?” He pushes himself off the wall, grabs a chair, slides it across from her, then sits down. She shifts into a defensive position, crossing her arms over her chest and lifting one leg over the other. Logan eases off for now and tries a different question. “What are your roles under Zane?”
“Mine is nothing. I’m there for Jessa. I support her. I’m the only real friend she has.” Her gaze wanders back to me, still hidden behind the mirror. “Jessa works a lot of his code for him and handles his operations. She told me once that they work together because the level of necessary code is insane. His whereabouts are unknown to us. He moves around as constantly as we do, and we are never in the same place. Ever. Maxwell would kill to get his hands on Zane. To have his knowledge completely under his control. Could you imagine? It’s the only reason Maxwell gave Jessa back to us alive seven years ago.” The gasp that leaves her mouth at her last sentence shudders the room into silence as the blood drains out of my limbs.
Now she has all of my attention.
Dana’s eyes go wide, pleading with Logan to let it go. But he doesn’t listen.
