Erased by Jennifer Rush Read Free Book Online Page B

we reached our destination. The blades rose above the bare, gray treetops. There had to be four dozen of them, total, dotted here and there across the skyline.
    When we pulled into the field, the turbines towered over us. It was hard not to feel small and insignificant next to them. The dirt road curved through the field. We could see straight back to the line of pine trees, so we were easily able to spot Trev’s car. It was parked on the access road to the sixth turbine. It was a brand-new luxury sedan with tinted windows and chrome wheels and a shiny jaguar hood ornament.
    Trev was leaning against the passenger side.
    The moment we were close enough to recognize him, my stomach turned itself into knots. I was ridiculously happy to see him, but that feeling was mixed with the sudden overwhelming need to double-check that my gun was in place.
    My mind didn’t want to trust him. My heart did.
    When we pulled in, Sam whipped a quick U-turn so that the car faced the exit.
    I got out before Sam could tell me all the things I should or shouldn’t do.
    The snow and gravel crunched beneath my boots. Trev took a step away from the car, a manila envelope tucked beneath his arm.
    The boys were out of the vehicle in a matter of seconds, guns at their sides.
    “Stop it, you guys,” I said.
    I looked over the fifteen feet that separated me from Trev. He looked good. Black dress pants matched a black suit jacket partially hidden beneath a black trench. A gray scarf was tied around his neck, and his hands were covered in black leather gloves. His shoes were leather, too, narrow, almost pointed, at the toes.
    I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. I expected him to be in jeans. I expected him to look sad. I expected him not to be dressed in expensive clothes, driving an expensive car, with his black hair slicked back.
    I expected him to still look like Trev.
    “Hey,” I said.
    “Hey.”
    There was a long, awkward pause.
    Trev was the first one to break the silence, and he jumped right into business mode. “I was able to dig up some locations that might be useful. I found no mention of Dani’s intake. I couldn’t verify that she was at any Branch location, but if she was, I’d guess it’d be a lab.” He tapped the edge of the manila envelope against the palm of his glove and looked away, his breath punctuating the air around him. “It’s good to see you, Anna.”
    I took three steps closer. Slow, deliberate steps, like I was approaching an old family pet that may or may not have contracted rabies. “You look different.”
    He pointed the envelope my way. “So do you.”
    “Not as different as you.”
    He glanced down. “Yeah, well… I don’t have any good response to that.”
    I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t get one of your memorized literary quotes? Nothing to put me at ease?”
    He licked his lips. “Would it help?”
    “Probably not.”
    He nodded. A ghost of a smile touched the corners of his mouth, but then he glanced over my shoulder, and the smile faded.
    Nick marched forward. “We’ve already been here too long. Give me the damn envelope so we can be on our way.” Nick stopped two feet from Trev, hand extended.
    Trev narrowed his eyes. “Anna asked for the info. Anna is the one I give it to.”
    I didn’t have to see Nick’s face to know there was a snarl on his lips. “Give me the goddamn envelope.”
    “I see you’re still as much a dickhead as you were two months ago,” Trev answered.
    Nick struck first, but Trev was already ducking out of the way. He grabbed Nick’s wrist as he twisted around and flipped Nick over his shoulders. Nick landed with a heavy
thud
on the snow-covered, frozen dirt.
    Trev didn’t waste a second. He scrambled on top of Nick, jammed a knee in Nick’s chest, and pulled a gun from a hidden shoulder holster.
    He pointed the gun at Nick’s head.
    “Put it down,” Sam said. He edged around me, his gun aimed at Trev. Cas came from the other side.