Erased by Jennifer Rush Read Free Book Online

sister whom I couldn’t remember, who’d supposedly been dead.
    How had she survived? Why hadn’t she found me before now?
    I cringed, recalling the beating she’d suffered at the hands of Riley in the alley behind the grocery store. I could imagine the pain and the fear that’d gone along with it. And if that’s what they were willing to do out in public, what they would do to her in private would be so much worse.
    “Sam?” I looked over at him. “Weigh in, please?”
    He slowed for a stoplight and merged into the left-turn lane, the blinker clicking in the silence of the car. He took a breath. “Nick is right.”
    “Thank you,” Nick said.
    “But…” He flicked his attention to me. “She’s your sister. If you say you’re willing to die to find her, I wouldn’t blame you.”
    Was I?
    I wanted to know my family and, in a way, know myself better through them. But the simple fact that Dani was alive when she shouldn’t be raised a dozen red flags. Just what was the Branch planning to do with her? Where had she been all this time? And more important, did she know I was with Sam? If she didn’t, what would she think about it?
    “I guess the first step is finding out where they took her,” I said.
    Sam made a left turn. Snow and salt thudded against the wheel wells as the car picked up speed.
    “Sure, let’s do that.” Nick cracked a knuckle. “Why don’t we just call up Riley and ask where he’s storing her?”
    “Just say the word,” Cas added. “Riley’s my bro. I got him on speed dial.”
    “You’re such a dumbass,” Nick said.
    “Or,” Cas said, “we could call Trev. He left us that emergency number on the flash drive. Might as well use it.”
    Nick snorted. “Further illustrates my point that you’re a dumbass.”
    Sam glanced at me briefly. “You want to go down that road?”
    I looked out the passenger-side window. Snow melted on the glass, droplets sliding down. “Trev would probably help us,” I said quietly, afraid that if I spoke too loudly, it would somehow not be true. What was he like now, months later? I was afraid to find out. But more than that, I was afraid of him turning us down. If he did, there was no greater proof: He was gone from me for good. The thought left me feeling hollow.
    “He’ll just set us up again,” Nick said.
    There was that, too. That was worse than turning us down.
    “You don’t have to be a part of this,” I replied.
    I wanted our group to stick together. Strength in numbers and all that. But this was my family we were talking about. If I couldn’t save Dani, then I was no better than the Branch. Maybe I wouldn’t be the one causing her pain, but was leaving her in their hands when I couldsave her somehow worse? I couldn’t imagine all the things they would do to her in order to find out what she knew.
    And, more than anything, I wanted to see her with my own eyes, to see that she was real.
    I had a sister out there somewhere. Blood was blood.
    I couldn’t turn my back on her.

8
    I HELD THE PREPAID CELL PHONE IN my hand, staring at the blank screen. Sam sat next to me, Cas across from both of us. We were in a little diner called Elkhorn Original, at a table in the back. All the booths near the windows were open and booths generally gave a person more privacy, but they were also hard to get out of when you were in a hurry. Another Sam lesson.
    Nick sat outside on a bench across the street, on point. I couldn’t see him, but I trusted he was there. Even though he’d been against this, he was still with the group on most things. Majority vote. We won.
    Three mugs of coffee sat on the table between Sam, Cas, and me, but none of us was feeling particularly thirsty. Sam bit into the mint candy he’d been sucking on.
    “When he picks up,
if
he picks up,” Sam said, “you have two minutes, tops. We don’t want to risk being traced. Ask him what you need to ask him, and if he doesn’t give you the answer you need, hang up. No