Frostbite (Touch of Frost) (16 page)

EIGHTEEN

“T
here. All fixed.” Scott clanked his screwdriver on the counter next to the mixer.

I tossed the washcloth at him. “Hey, this stuff’s only a few months old, why’s it breaking already?”

He flicked the rag at my leg, and it stung my bare skin. “What are you so grumpy about?”

“Hey. That hurt.” I rubbed my thigh, then glanced around. I pointed my finger and squirted a stream of slush at him.

Scott stumbled back. “Where’d you learn that?”

“Georgia.” I threw him a quick grin. “And I’m not grumpy.” I hoisted myself up on the counter and dangled my feet.

Scott wiped his face with the weapon he used to snap me. “Nervous about taking the disc to this guy, Jess?”

I nodded. “The more people we let in Scott…”

“Not much choice.” He swiped a glass from the counter and wiped it down.

“We might still be leaving at any given moment, right? Day-by-day?”

“Things kind of changed with Georgia.” He turned and leaned against the counter. “No signs of the
Coats
either.”

“Just a matter of time.” I pulled some of my blue hair forward and twirled it around my finger. It was always just a matter of time. If they came, Georgia, Zach and now Jess might get hurt. I was being so selfish by staying. My friends could end up paying the price.

“Keep your guard up, Mandy. Only a few more days until graduation, then we’ll look at things again.”

I slid off the counter. Waiting for Zach to get here was the worst. My mind ran with scenarios. Other than the one of us kissing, they all involved him getting hurt because of me.

The door dinged, and I whirled around. Zach strode in, wearing his trademark smile. He gave Scott a nod, then focused on me. “Are you ready?”

No.
“You bet.” I snagged my bag from the end of the counter and rounded the corner.

Zach held open the door and waved me through. “Ever ridden on a motorcycle before?”

“No. Wait. You drove here on a cycle?” I hustled us through the door to the tiny parking lot behind the store. Off to the side of the two cars in the lot sat a shiny black Ninja. “Oh, my gosh, this is so great.” I darted to the bike, then snatched up the smaller of the two helmets sitting on the seat and slid it over my head.

I’d never been on a motorcycle, but they looked like more fun than should be legal.

“I was hoping for that kind of reaction. Most girls would freak because they’d get helmet hair or a bug in their tooth.”

“Like you said, I’m not like most girls, right?”

“That’s for sure.”

If he only knew.

He climbed on and clicked the massive machine to life. I swung my leg around the back and eased onto the tiny black leather seat behind Zach. I scooted as close as I could to him.

The bike’s idle tickled my stomach exactly how I thought it would. Or was that because I sat so intimately close to Zach?

“Hold on.” He slapped his helmet on.

“Gladly.” I wove my arms around his waist and clasped my fingers against his stomach. My mind whirled.

The world blurred by as we sped down Main Street. I clutched him hard, keeping my strength in check. Even though he wore a leather jacket, I felt his hard stomach flex on the turns. The muscles had to be pretty significant if I was feeling them through the leather.

Kind of made me want to see them…

The warm wind brushed over my arms, and the hair sticking out from my helmet whipped my back. I glanced over Zach’s shoulder. The speedometer read sixty-miles an hour.

My thoughts wandered into oblivion as I clung to him. Man, I was falling hard for this guy. Not sure it was such a bright thing to do, but I’d never been known to make the best decisions.

I had to think of Georgia and Scott, too. What if I blew it here? Exposed us? That would mean another move.

I felt like I was in one of those spinning teacups at the fair.

I hated those things.

The roar of the engine slowed, and I opened my eyes. The road he turned onto wasn’t dirt, but it might as well have been. The tar was so broken up. In the distance, a single story house, crackled white paint, and faded green shutters came into view.

The sun peeked up from the trees behind us, sending long shadows over the fields surrounding the property. Two massive trees hung close to the roof. Bet it sounded eerie in the house if a wind kicked up.

“Where the heck are we?”

“Jess lives outside of town. Creepy, isn’t it?”

Creepy wasn’t enough of a word to describe it. Lots of dark spots for people to hide. Far away from civilization. Not good. My heartbeat hitched up a notch as I scanned my surroundings. Trees hemmed in the house, and there wasn’t another structure in sight.

“I should warn you, Jess is a little odd.”

“No he’s not. I’ve seen him at school.”

“He’s normal enough there, because that’s his job. He
has
to be professional. But he’s kind of a recluse. Keeps to himself. Quirky. You know what I mean?”

“I get it.” As long as he figured out my disc, I wouldn’t care if he had three heads.

We veered into the driveway, and a porch light clicked on.

“That was awesome.” I hopped off the cycle. I’d always wanted to cruise around on one of these things. I pulled off the helmet. Scents of dust and flowers floated across the air.

Zach kicked his leg around the seat and dismounted. He yanked his helmet off, and his soft, chestnut curls bounced free. “You put your helmet on so fast back at your place I didn’t get a kiss.”

I smiled, still giddy from the bike ride, and stepped to him. He rewarded me with the sweetest, most gentle kiss.

“Mmm.” I literally purred. Oh, yeah, I was a goner.

“Break it up, lovebirds,” a voice called out as a door banged shut.

Zach turned.

“Hey, Z-man, what’s goin’ on?” Jess stomped down the steps. “So, this is your girl?” He nodded at me.

“Hi.” I nestled under Zach’s wing.

“She’s the one you got busted with in my office, huh?”

My cheeks burned. I could only imagine how red my face was.

Jess, in his wrinkled shorts and t-shirt, looked barely older than me. And he worked at the school?

I glanced at Zach. He smiled and held out his hand to Jess. “Yeah, yeah. Behave, Jess.”

“I’m just givin’ ya crap. Come on, let’s see what you have for me.” His eyes bulged. Brown, shaggy hair that somehow defied gravity shot out in all directions. Dark stubble dusted the tip of his chin. Or was he trying to grow a beard?

Tattoos of naked ladies, a couple of crosses, and a mural of crazy symbols covered his arms. No wonder he wore long sleeves at the school. Jess clapped his hands together, then whirled around and headed to the front door.

“I told you. He’s a little different. It’ll be fine.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it.

We walked into the tiny house through the front door. It led into a small, dark living room with a kitchen to the left.

Straight ahead was a hallway, probably leading to a bedroom. To the right, a dim room with a huge desk, housing four monitors. Each one scrolled something different. It looked like chicken scratches to me, but the flickering screens provided most of the light in the room. Scraps of paper littered the floor, and empty plates cluttered the desktop.

Wires criss-crossed, hooked to various contraptions. I recognized a scanner and a couple of CPUs. No clue what the other junk was.

“So, where’s our little gem?” Jess’s fingers wiggled.

Could we say caffeine overload?

“In my backpack.” I dropped it to the floor and unzipped it. My eyes suddenly burned, and my nose tickled. I sneezed the mother of all sneezes.

“Careful, this old house isn’t that sturdy.” Jess laughed. Air swooshed from his black leather chair as he plopped onto it.

This place probably hadn’t been dusted in a hundred years. And I didn’t even have allergies. “So, how’d you get into all this computer stuff?” I asked while digging around in my bag.

“Oh, here and there. Took some classes, found a few hacker friends.”

I grabbed the disc and pulled it from the bag. Clutching it to my chest, I looked at the skinny guy. As if staring at him would tell me if I could trust him. A knot tightened in my stomach. What if he saw something incriminating? Turned us in.

“What?” He looked at me with his beady little green eyes. “What’s the matter?”

“I—ah—well—I’m not sure what’s on here. It could be—”

“Jess. It’s got something to do with her mom. She died four years ago.” Zach smiled. “So she might not want us to see it.”

“How am I gonna hack it if I can’t see it?” The naked-lady tattoo on Jess’s bicep bulged as he crossed his arms over his impressively wimpy chest.

“Is there any way you can break into it without actually watching all the contents?”

“Don’t know yet. You haven’t given me the disc to see what I can figure out.”

“Jess.” Zach shook his head.

“I’ll do what I can. You have any idea what’s on this? Data? Images? Video?” He reached for a can of Mountain Dew I hadn’t even seen amongst the clutter.

“None.” I gave him the disc and fisted my hands to hide the shaking.

“You can trust me.”

That didn’t work real well for me. Did that once, the
Coats
found us. Several needle pokes later I was whisked away to a hotel on my way to some research facility.

Not so big into the trust-thing, but I had to know what was on that stupid disc. Scott and Georgia agreed it was worth the risk, too. It wasn’t like I got a bad vibe off this Jess character. I was just scared.
Coats
had found me here. Georgia had powers. I was falling for Zach. The idea of risking all that clobbered me in the gut like a baseball bat.

Jess swiveled his chair to face the computer screens, then cracked open the CD case.

“Breathe,” Zach whispered in my ear.

I didn’t take my gaze from Jess’s fingers tapping a dance over the keyboard.

Two of his screens flashed. Random words and letters scrolled from the top to the bottom.

“Wow, someone really put a hex on this one.” He turned around. “Where did you say you got this?”

“From some of my mom’s things.” My breath left me. Even though Zach stood right next to me in the middle of the room, I felt so alone. Maybe Georgia should have come along.

“Can you hack it?” Zach asked.

“There isn’t much I can’t get through, but this is pretty tight stuff. Haven’t seen anything this good in a while.” He faced the screens again.

“You love a challenge.”

I could tell he grinned by the way his cheek bulged. “This is gonna be fun.”

Jess’s fingers flew over the keyboard so fast they almost blurred, but I couldn’t move. I wasn’t sure how long had passed when he said, “I think I’m getting through.”

I clutched my cheeks.

“Just a bit more.”

Zach pulled a chair in from the kitchen and motioned for me to sit. No need to fall over. I’d probably crack my head on a desk corner, then freeze the room and destroy the disc. Not to mention freeze the guy I was totally falling for.

Zach stood behind me, as I watched over Jess’s shoulder. He glanced back with an arched eyebrow. My chair inched away from the desk, then Zach’s breath feathered against my neck. “He’s not so much into letting people hover too close while he works.”

“Oh. Got it.”

Twenty minutes later, we got another, “Just a bit more.”

My stomach rumbled. Or was it nerves doing a jumping bean impression? I shot up and paced. Eventually, I made my way to the living room, still within range of hearing the clack of the computer keys.

A picture hanging on the wall of two kids playing catch with a baseball caught my attention. Both wore caps three sizes too big.

“That’s me and Jess,” Zach said from behind me. The floor creaked as he approached.

“Cute.”

“We’ve known each other forever. It was pretty cool to have him come work at the school.”

“How old is he anyway?”

“He just turned twenty-one.”

“Wait, what?”

“He did high school in two years. College in three. Then came back here. Now he’s a janitor.”

“Wow. Brainiac, then.”

“Yeah.”

Zach’s voice sounded distant. I couldn’t place the emotion. He obviously cared for the guy.

“Why isn’t he in some high tech job somewhere making a killing with the computer stuff he knows?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you sometime. But for now, he didn’t fit into the corporate world very well.” Zach’s arms wove around my waist, and he pulled me close. “I’m curious. Why would your mom have such a protected disc? Seems strange. Didn’t you tell me she was a schoolteacher?”