Page 32

Trace

We always knew running with Zircon was going to be hard. The plan wasn’t flawless—no plan ever is—but ours was blinded by our love for her. Our entire world revolved around her happiness. The older Zircon got, the more we began to realise our connection to her. One none of us should have had, and the first indication that Mr Z was up to something.

Continuously moving in order to stay hidden is hard for a teenage girl, and I can see it in her eyes that she longs for friends. I see her watching kids her own age every time we leave the house. Guilt is not an emotion I have ever been familiar with, and it fucking sucks.

Brennan checks in with us once a month. We keep our interactions short and to the point. The others are still not happy that I got to leave with her, but out of all of us, I was the safest choice. My ability is facial recognition, and Mr Z would no doubt used me to find her. I would’ve had to scour endless footage, day in and day out, until she was home. With me gone, he has to rely on an actual computer, and they have numerous flaws. Brennan has all the computers in Olympia running the software set to alert him if we are recognised.

But now Brennan has a new plan. He has some connections within the foster care system which will give Zircon—or Jolie, as we now call her—the chance to have a childhood. To make real friends. It’s risky, but he says they have found a way to create a false trail on the dark web as to her whereabouts and mine, sending Mr Z’s search away from us. All we want is to make her happy.

After the “accident,” I managed to convince Jolie that someone was after me and it was safer for us to always be on the move. With her memories wiped, she has no recollection of Olympia or her team. She has also never wanted to know who she was. Her gifts have helped with that. She’s always been happy to change her hair colour and wear hats every time we’ve left the small drab places we’ve stayed in.

I’ve felt sick to my stomach all day. Every time I think about what’s going to happen, bile burns my throat. I know they’re coming to take her away. Brennan sent me some fake fingerprints that Chester had his scientist friend help him make. The prints connect to all the information that now belongs to Jolie Smith—IDs, certificates, anything that she might need. The technology is outstanding. He says all I need to do is place her fingertips over the outline on the plastic sheeting and it’ll adhere to her skin, hiding who she really is. I also have a letter for her I stashed in her backpack. I hope she finds happiness away from us. She has to, or all of this will have been for nothing.

Jolie walks out from the shower wrapped in a towel. I close my eyes for a second and take a deep, steadying breath. I’ve tried to not develop feelings for her. She’s too young for me and I’m supposed to be her protector.

“Hey, can you come here for a second?” I ask her.

She nods and bounces over to where I’m standing next to a dirty old table. “What’s wrong?” Her large blue-green eyes are filled with worry.

“Nothing. Do you trust me?”

“With my life,” she replies with no hesitation.

“I need you to put your hands on these sheets of paper, over the finger spaces.”

She thinks about it for a few seconds. “Like this?” she asks, hovering her hands over where they need to go.

“Just like that,” I say, giving her my best faux smile.

She doesn’t miss the fakeness behind it, but she places her hands down anyway. Chester assured me he has a way to remove them if we ever need to change her identity again, but I just hope we’re doing the right thing. We were stupid to believe that I could move around so much with her.

Looking down at my watch, I see it’s almost time. Ziyon, Mr Z’s twin brother, has helped us stage this interaction.

“Go get dressed and we can get some food.”

She does as I ask, walking to the lounge and grabbing her clothes from the clean washing pile before hurrying from the room.

Banging on the door has my heart jumping out of my chest. I wipe the sweat beading on my brow with the bottom of my T-shirt and glance in the direction Jolie walked. Why did Brennan think this was a good idea again? What if everything goes wrong? How will I be able to live with myself?

I fix my clothes and walk towards the door, and another swift bang has me walking faster. I grip the door handle and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

A lady in her late thirties stands beyond the entrance, her smile tight. The two police officers standing behind her give me a nod. I step aside and allow them entry to the small dingy place we have been staying in.

“What’s going on, Trace?” Jolie whispers from the bathroom door. Although I can barely hear her, my heart breaks at the dejection in her tone.

Turning towards her, I put on my best poker face. “I’m so sorry,” is all I can muster up.

The lady steps closer to Jolie, and I can see her walls go straight up. She may not remember who she is, but her gifts are still hidden deep inside her mind.

“Hi, Jolie. My name is Becca, and I’m from child safety.”

“Child safety? I’m safe, so why are you here?”

“I can see that you’re safe, but unfortunately, Trace isn’t equipped to look after himself, let alone a young girl.”

Jolie turns to me, her eyes watering. “Please don’t let them take me. I’ll be good, I promise.”

I close the distance between us and pull her into my arms, her head leaning on my chest. “Please go with them, Star. I need you to be safe, and I promise I will be back for you when it is.”

She pulls back and looks up at me. “It’s them, isn’t it? The ones that are after you.”

I nod because what else can I do? “I will always be watching over you.”

“I don’t want to go. It’s us against the world, remember? You saved me. I need you. I don’t have anyone else.”

I hold her at arm’s length. “You’ll be able to make friends and have a life. Be a regular teenager. I’ll get my life sorted out and then I will be back for you.”

“Jolie,” Becca interrupts. “We really need to get on the road.”

Jolie turns and cuts her with an icy glare. “No, I don’t care what you want.”

Damn, I wish Creed was here to calm her down. She is generally reasonable, and very few things make her lose it, but being touched when she doesn’t want to be or being forced to do something she doesn’t want are her biggest triggers. I find myself watching and waiting for her reaction to them in this painful situation.

I nod at the officers, or fake officers, as Brennan would have prepared them for this. One steps forward, and I can see the glint of the syringe in his hand, his partner moving forward as a distraction.

It all happens in slow motion.

His hand reaches out to grab her, but she turns and swiftly knees him in the balls. I grit my teeth as he falls to the floor. She looks down at him like he’s the scum on the bottom of her shoes. That split second is the opening they need, and the other guy jams the needle into Jolie’s neck. I run forward and catch her as she falls.

“Make sure she is well looked after or so help me god,” I exclaim sternly. “I’m not the type of enemy that you want.”

She nods, not saying anything, obviously regretting her decision to help Brennan out.

Cradling Jolie to my body, I hold her tighter than I should. I can now understand what the rest of my team went through saying goodbye. And our brothers... the pain they must have endured thinking she’s dead. Surely there must be a way to take down Mr Z and put everyone out of their misery.

“Grab her bag,” I demand as I bury my nose in Jolie’s hair and take a deep breath, memorising her scent of cherry blossoms and toffee apples. I slip my arm under her knees to carry her out bridal style as Becca does my bidding, then we walk out to her car. She will have a few hours until Jolie wakes up, so I hope she gets to where she needs to be before that happens.

Carefully lowering Jolie onto the back seat, her body sliding in easily to lie across it, I buckle her up the best I can and place a final kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be back for you even if I have to scour the earth to find you.” My whisper shakes with conviction. Taking a step back, I close the door and Becca gets in the driver’s seat.

“I’ll take care of her.”

“You better because there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Brennan trusts you so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but so help me, I will be your worst nightmare if you don’t.”

She quickly starts her car and slams the door, taking off like a bat out of hell, gravel flying on the road, getting away from me as fast as she can. I stand and watch until I can no longer see them, sniffling as tears roll down my face.

Not bothering to wipe away the wetness—Zircon deserves way more than tears—I stalk towards the cop car, as that’s the plan of how I’m leaving this place. I’m surprised Brennan could pull this off.

Once I’m seated, they drive, not asking any questions. I’m presuming they were given orders and know where to take me. We continue driving in silence until we pull into an underground parking garage.

We pull up beside an SUV with dark, tinted windows, identical to the ones we use at Olympia. If Mr Z has found me, I will happily take his punishment, but he’ll have to kill me before I give up Jolie’s location, not that I know it. All that information is safe with Brennan. He has a photographic memory, so that helps us to not leave a paper trail.

A twinge of uncertainty hits me as I step out of the car and wait. I glance around, pinpointing the exits in case I need to make a run for it. The driver’s side door opens, and I exhale a sigh of relief when I see Brennan.

“How did it go?”

“As good as we expected. At least this way she has a chance at a normal life. We can always go back for her when it’s safe.”

Brennan nods—he seems as convinced as I am. Mr Z is intelligent, but whoever takes over in the event of his death could be a hell of a lot worse. So we need to play it careful; we need to outsmart him.

“Come on, we need to move. There is only so long this car can be off the grid.”

Brennan gets back into the SUV, and I walk around to the passenger side. As we drive down the road, he fills me in on our team and he tells me how they have changed; they no longer live each day for her. Creed has been removed from duties and now works in the morgue, Chester has thrown himself into work, and Kai has lost his special vision. Her absence has impacted everyone and not for the better, but we have to remember why we removed her in the first place. We couldn’t protect her against her own damn father.

I recognise where we are headed as Brennan takes us towards the test zone. I don’t mind hiding out close to home, but this may be a little too close for comfort.

“Stop overthinking it, Trace,” he murmurs. “I found a small cottage deep within the bush. It’s been owned by the same family for over a hundred years, used as a weird spiritual retreat. I paid the owners double for the next five years. Not that I think it will take that long, but it covers all bases.”

“Fine, but I’ll need some things. I left everything behind,” I say with a sigh.

He nods, and we drive the rest of the way in silence. My eyes close as I lay my head against the window and will myself not to cry again. Hopefully, it doesn’t take five years to take him out, as I’m not sure I can go that long without seeing my Star.