Page 35 of Darkness of Mine

“Listen to me, those men out there love you with their whole hearts. Talk to them, Freya. And give it time.” She tilts her head to the side. “Having said that, I’m fully on board with a prison break because River needs to get his controlling head out of his ass.”

I snort but any sense of calm I’ve found with Eva is shattered as the door flings open and Oz paces inside.

“Eva, I need your computer. Now.” He makes a beeline for the desktop on the raised counter beside Boney and Eva joins him, typing in her password.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

The other guys come back inside, River on his phone, ordering a SWAT team.

Eli looks my way. “We may have a location on Harley.”

Hope surges fast and furious. “How?”

Oz answers, his fingers moving rapidly across the keys. “I set up a program searching for key words in various chat rooms on the dark web. Some of the search terms just got flagged.”

I go to join him, staring over his shoulder at the black square open on the screen. It’s a chat window between two users. My stomach roils as I read the most recent messages.

Ridethesun08:Got a new model in last week. Nine years old but never driven before.

Whatsunderthehood:*low whistle* what make?

Ridethesun08: She’s a beaut. Golden hood, cream leather.

Whatsunderthehood:You broken her in yet?

Ridethesun08:Not yet. Engine’s giving me some trouble but I’ll do some work on her this weekend.

Whatsunderthehood:Any chance you’ll let me take her for a spin? I can make it worth your while…

I swallow, nausea swimming in my head. “They’re not talking about a car, are they?”

Oz catches my gaze, devastation in his eyes. “No. They’re not.”

Eva shakes her head. “Sick fuckers. They should all rot in hell.”

“Oz, talk to me,” River orders.

The computer pings. “Got it. 48 Marsh Street, Warrenton.”

“Alright let’s go.”

Oz snatches his phone off the counter, the five of us running on adrenaline as we leg it out of the morgue.

We’re coming Harley.

16

OZ

The messages in that chat room swim in my head as we pull up outside a one-story house. I spend far too much of my time on the dark web, in chat rooms like that, and the things I’ve seen haunt my nights. And lately my days too.

I used to be better at keeping everything compartmentalized but ever since Zach took my sister it’s like the evil I see on my screen is seeping into real life. The fear and dread for the people we’re searching for is that much worse because I know what it feels like now. I felt that fear, how it paralyzed my body, how it sank deep in my gut till I wasn’t sure I could keep breathing. How helpless I was.

I swallow, my throat thick. Then I grit my teeth and focus on the SWAT teams streaming out of their vehicles. I’m not helpless this time. I was able to track the location and with a little luck, in a few minutes we’ll have found Harley and taken Zach down.

Jude nods my way and we climb out of the car. River talks briefly with the SWAT team leader before they move, fast and silent, towards the front door. The battering ram slams into the wood, breaking the quiet as agents flood the house, shoutingorders. It’s organized chaos and neighbors open their doors, peering out to see what’s happening.

None of us have vests on so we wait till SWAT’s cleared the house before going inside. Freya stays by my side as we walk down the hall. In the living room, five agents stand over a man lying face down on the floor, the red dots from their guns dancing on his white wifebeater.