AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dane, what's going on?”
“I don’t know, Mum, just get them to call, okay? Love you.” I hang up and pace before heading out with Hades. “Come on, boy, let's take a little look around her office to see if we can’t find anything.”
As I get to the bottom of the stairs, Dice is coming towards me with his head hanging and shoulders low. “Hey, I’m gonna take the dog out. How did it go?”
“Dane, everything’s fucked. What the fuck has she done?”
“Wait? Hang on. You don’t believe this? Ray wouldn’t. Dice, fucking hell, she’s your best friend!”
“Dane, I just don’t know what to think. I mean, come on, it looks real fucking bad. What am I supposed to think?”
“Dice, I can’t right now. Seriously? What are you meant to think? Who the fuck are you? You’re her best friend. She stood by you when no one else knew the real you. She came to get you when you got kidnapped, fucking hell, man. She loves you! She loves them all, and you’ve all fucking convicted her already!” I shake my head. “I’m gonna head to the office. When I get back I think I’ll go to my mum's. I'm clearly not trusted or wanted here.”
“Dane, wait… it’s just… come on, it looks bad.”
“It looks impossible is what it looks like, Dice, but when it’s all over, and she’s back, she’ll be glad to know who her true family were.” I turn and head away as fuck him and fuck them all! I may love them too, but seriously, to condemn her without even seeing her, talking to her… “Fuck!” I shout at no one in particular.
The office is dead, and so I head up to Bran's place. It’s empty, so I leave a note in the kitchen. Why does no fucker lock their doors? I call at Tank’s to see Skye. It turns out no one told her anything, and now I’ve just opened my mouth. “I’m sorry, Tank. I didn’t know she didn’t know.”
“I don't believe it!” Skye crosses her arms across her chest and leans against the counter. “After everything she’s done for me, I won’t speak for anyone else, but she wouldn’t do this to me. She wouldn’t leave me or the baby. She promised me she would look after us before I got married, and when I did, she told me I would always be her family. That’s what I believe! Until she tells me herself differently, then I’m not listening to anything else.” She hugs me as I leave.
“I’m going back to Mum’s, they”—I point in the direction of the club—“don’t want me here. Whatever’s going on, Ares thinks I’m in on it, and Dice already thinks she’s guilty.” I head back to the apartment.
I grab my backpack and pack up the stuff for Hades as I load him in the truck. Dice shouts me from the top of the stairs. “Dane, wait… don’t go.”
I turn to look at him. “Do you honestly think she did all this? Do you think she had an affair, killed the guy, framed Steel, set the FBI on you all, and went into witness protection?”
“When you put it like that, it seems a little far-fetched, but you can’t argue with the evidence, Dane.”
“Evidence? What fucking evidence? Have you seen any? Because I certainly haven’t.” I shake my head, “Try and clear Steel. If you find anything useful, please send it to me. I’m going to try and find my sister. People seem to be forgetting she’s missing!”
I climb in the truck, and me and Hades head to Mum’s.
Dad and Pa come through the door, shoving and pushing each other, laughing, and me and Mum give them a look. I've told her everything, and she’s as confused and gutted as I am.
“What are you doing here, kiddo?” Dad pulls me in for a hug.
“We’ve all been trying to get hold of you. What's wrong with your phones?”
“I didn’t know anything was.” They both pull them out of their pockets, and I grab mine and dial Dad’s. Nothing. Then Pa’s. Nothing. Holding my hands out, I take the phones off them and head to the kitchen table. I’ve got my laptop set up. Pulling out the sim and taking the back off the phone, I strip them all down.
“Fuck! Look at this.” I show them all. There’s an extra chip in them. “Mum, pass me yours.”
Taking hers apart, I see hers hasn’t got one. I remove them all and plug the phones in. Checking them over, I find some military-grade software embedded into an app and a tracker, among other spyware, these aren't even their proper phones they've obviously been cloned.
“I think we should all get new phones, whoever’s done this is as good as me, and that’s fucking scary!”
I call Tank from the landline and tell him the situation. “Tank is gonna tell Dice and Ares about the phones, and they’ll sort them out on their end, and Skye is gonna send Demi and Bran straight here when they get back tomorrow morning. You might wanna sit down for this next bit!” I say to my dad and Pa. After I’ve done telling them everything and the twenty minutes of what can only be described as an adult tantrum they both have, they flop down.
“Fuck, what do we do now?” Pa asks.
“We wait for Bran, then we go to the base, and we do our own investigation like we would if it was a paying customer! We work together and don't let anyone know, and we find Ray. Only she can tell us what’s really going on. Also, one of us needs to go see Steel. It’s his arraignment tomorrow.”
Bran and Demi turn up, and I check their phones. Demi's is clean, but Bran’s has got the same crap on it as ours do. Dad and Pa head out and grab new phones while we start dinner. Hades looks out of place. He doesn’t know what’s happening and why he’s not at home.
“Hey, buddy.” I sit beside his bed, and he whines, putting his head on my leg. “You’re gonna stay here for a bit. Mum’s gonna look after you while we’re away. I promise we will find her and bring them both home, okay?” He licks my hand and closes his eyes as he whines again. I sit with him till they’re back and dinner is ready. Then we head to bed. It's gonna be a while before we sleep properly after tonight.
Steel
