Leaving Derik's in a hurry gave me no time to run upstairs and let Anna know where we were going. Then again, it's not like I would've told her where we were really going, so leaving unannounced seemed to be for the best. We would be back in a few hours anyway, so she probably wouldn't even notice my absence.

Melissa and I had taken the backseat of Derik's car while Willi rode shotgun. To pass the time Willi was doing what he did best. Filling the silence with a story.

"I remember the post man used to drop off Melissa's parent's mail at my house all the time, so I would have to bring it over. Anyways, I went over one day and Melissa was outside on her brand new bike she had gotten for her birthday. She had her knee pads and helmet on, and she had even taken the training wheels off herself."

The story had come up because Willi had asked about Melissa's mom, who was roaming the country with her new boyfriend according to Melissa. She seemed to have a funny reaction to the word "boyfriend" and a sad expression when she thought back to her mom. I couldn't help but assume it had been a while since the last time she had seen her.

"Oh don't tell this story," Melissa protested, "It's so embarrassing."

"But it's hilarious," Willi continued, laughing. "So I'm walking over, right? And our road is a downhill slope. So when she started gaining speed she started losing control of the bike."

I allowed my eyes to linger on Melissa who was staring out the window with what seemed to be an obscure gaze. Maybe she was remembering the simpler times when we were too ignorant to worry about reality. Now we obsessed over how the bills were going to get paid and where our next meal would come from.

"Luckily she had steered the bike off of the road and into the grass, but it had rained the night before and she flew into the ditch. She was drenched in mud from head to toe, her bike and everything covered in it."

I couldn't help but smirk at the image of small Melissa flying downhill and biting it. A pink helmet and knee pads covered in mud as she climbed up off of the ground. Melissa even seemed to find the memory funny now.

"I ran down there to help her and she tried to act strong. Turns out she actually had a sprained wrist," Willi concluded. "But she refused to show it until we were inside the house. She's always been pretty tough."

"Something I must've inherited from dad," Melissa almost whispered. I believed I was the only one to catch it.

I remembered Willi telling me her dad had been killed overseas, which then resulted in the growth of their relationship. In a sense Melissa and I were similar considering both of us had lost our fathers. Of course, I wasn't sure if mine was dead or not, but he had been completely absent for ten years. Who's to say he wasn't rotting six feet in the ground? At least Melissa knew her dad was at peace.

My own father was as good as dead to me when I witnessed the aftermath of his disappearance on my mother. I remembered vividly the last time I had seen him. It was the night of the house fire that had finalized our move from Arizona to California. Dad had apparently been gone on a business trip. I remember my mother running to my room where Anna and I were playing, picking up my sister and ordering me to follow her. The smoke had blinded me as my mom crawled with Anna in her arms, me following her while my lungs were suffocated with smoke. The fearful memory of not being able to breathe had haunted me for nights after, me waking up in the middle of the night choking for air.

We had made it out before the two-story house collapsed in flames, my mom holding Anna and I close. Mom had been so strong, so solid, and thinking about how she was now only made my eyes burn with tears.

That night of the fire my dad, who had been gone for what seemed like forever, showed back up. We went to this weird place to stay the night. Thinking about it now it must have been a shelter. Then dad was gone the next morning and I haven't seen him since. Dad's leaving marked the beginning of mom's descent into what now seemed to be an ongoing cycle of self-destruction with the help of drugs and alcohol. Guess we all have our ways of coping.

The car stopped, pulling me out of my memory as we arrived at the tow yard. I followed Willi, Derik and Melissa towards the only other vehicle that was running in the parking lot.

A single street light illuminated the smooth face of Agent Monroe, who seemed pleased to see us. The usual passive expression held a more grateful demeanor. I just hoped whatever he had up his sleeve wouldn't be as drastic as Chapman's job.

"Long time no see," I joked, earning me a smile.

"I'm surprised you showed," Monroe admitted, leaning his back against the car. "After this weekend I figured you all would've ditched town."

"We can't just leave," Derik informed him. "We have families here."

Monroe's brown eyes softened, but it only lasted a minute because he knew there was no time to waste. Letting us know why we were here held the priority, and staying longer than necessary wasn't a good idea.

"Then I won't waste any more time," he said. "Tomorrow night there's a bus of prisoners being transported to a prison not far from here, and on that bus is a man named Antonio Silva. I need your help intercepting the bus to get him out of there."

We allowed the information to register but all I could think was another stealing job? The only difference was that this time we weren't stealing money or a file case, we were stealing a criminal.

I rolled my eyes at the irony.

"Why the hell do you need to steal a prisoner?" Willi asked.

Monroe agreed to explain. "For the case Chapman's working on... Welsh's death led us to another dead end, but Silva can help us find another way to the answers. I need your help breaking him out because he took the fall for someone higher than him, and if I can get any information it might just reopen the case."

"And?" I asked, knowing Monroe had to have more motive besides the want to help Chapman.

"And what?"

"This can't all be for Chapman. What's in it for you?"

He just gave me a slick smile, "Everyone can use a promotion."

The job didn't sound hard, it actually sounded quite simple. Hold up the bus, get in and release the prisoner, and get him and Monroe away to safety. Whether or not the prisoner gave up any information wasn't our concern. All we had to do was free the guy."

"And if we do it?"

"Ten thousand each," Monroe nodded, "Just like I told Derik."

"Prove it," Melissa countered.

We had no reason to trust him but I had a feeling that he wasn't lying about this. Hell, if we did this not only would we be getting ten thousand each but possibly a chance to find out more about what was going on with the mess the NIA seemed to be dealing with. I was pretty curious.

Monroe opened the passenger door and revealed a bag, pulling down the zipper and showing us exactly what Melissa had asked to see. There were stacks of hundreds, which looked really good after the big loss we had taken at the bank.

"Forty thousand even," he confirmed, "So what is it?"

"I'm in," I claimed, not seeing any disapproval. We all needed a job that paid after what we had just gone through.

With that Monroe nodded. "Good. Let's run over the plan and call it a night."

We all agreed, knowing that this time there would be a tangible reward if we succeeded. I just hoped nothing went wrong like the last two times. I couldn't handle one more thing going bad.

"I've mapped out the route the bus will take and figured out which road would be the most secluded and beneficial to initiate attack. The police station isn't located far from here either, so when they call for back-up we won't have a lot of time. I want to try and take away any possibility of that happening before our job is done, so Willi and Derik will follow me into the bus armed."

Okay, so Derik and Willi got the fun part, I thought.

"What about me and Alexa?" Melissa asked.

"You two will be in the getaway vehicle," Monroe advised. "You'll park the van and activate the hazard lights to make it seem as if you've broken down. The road will be a one-way so it'll be too narrow for the bus to pass. There won't be much traffic either so it's one less thing to worry about. Which one of you is the better driver?"

I was taken aback because I didn't consider myself a bad driver but I sure as hell wasn't trained for high speed chases. Melissa didn't seem to confident anymore either.

"I'll drive," I said, pushing away my fears. Hopefully all would go well when this went down because if I was expected to outrun police I might kill us all. "What about the rest of you? Where will you be during the wait?"

"Derik, Willi and I will be waiting in the alley," Monroe continued. "We'll wait for the bus to stop, Derik and Willi will confiscate the guard's guns while I free our guy."

"Easy enough," Derik concluded.

"Okay, and what if they have a chance to call for backup before we get out?"

"We haul ass."

I swallowed, feeling nervous bile rise in my gut.

"One more thing..." he said. "We'll need a getaway vehicle."

"As in you want us to steal one," Melissa stated.

Monroe nodded, "One spacious enough for us but agile enough in case we do end up in a chase."

Well, it seemed easy until now.

"Alright," Monroe concluded the meeting, "Be here tomorrow, ten o'clock."

We all just nodded in agreement before watching him disappear into the black car.

Climbing back into Derik's car I could tell everyone was mulling over tomorrow. How was Agent Monroe so calm about this? I didn't believe things were going to get physical, but if they did it was possible someone could get seriously hurt or killed.

Worrying didn't seem worth it so I tried not to think too much.

The night had proven to be a weird string of events from the moment I had met Melissa and Willi at the door. All I could hope was that the next twenty-four hours stayed fairly normal.

Before Willi and Melissa parted Derik asked, "What are we going to do about the getaway."

"I can get us one tonight," Melissa claimed, which made me skeptical.

"You steal cars?" I asked.

"I mean I've done it before, but I'll need some help."

I knew what was coming before it even left Derik's mouth, so I wasn't surprised when he volunteered me to accompany Melissa.

"Alexa, take my car and bring the getaway back here. We'll park it in the garage until tomorrow," Derik ordered.

This time I didn't protest even though I wanted to.

The two of us climbed back into Derik's car, this time me in the driver's seat. I found that I was more anxious now that we were alone because it was just me and Melissa, whom I still didn't trust. So finding comfort in this situation was hard.

"I'm surprised you didn't object to coming." Melissa broke the silence as she indicated for me to take a left turn.

"I wanted to," I retorted, not letting her believe I was here by choice, "But arguing with Derik is pointless."

It was difficult to forget the NIA incident, and forgiveness was a task I was still dealing with. I knew it would take a while for any type of trust to grow considering what she had done. I needed to find the will to forgive her now that we were going to be working side by side. But that didn't mean I liked the idea.

"Look, I made a mistake Alexa, but holding it over my head-"

"Mistakes get people killed," I looked at her, those silver eyes staring at me. She might've worked solo for a long time but if she wanted to work with us mistakes couldn't happen. There was more than just her life on the line now, and selfishness could get us all killed.

I continued, "What if those men had seen you making a run for it? They would've alerted authorities immediately. I could've been killed because I didn't have a weapon. You weren't thinking about the bigger picture when you bailed. You were just thinking of yourself."

My rant had made me feel slightly better, but I could tell my words had hit Melissa like a blow to the face. She gazed out the window while I continued down the road. Our conversation was over until we were making it more into the inner city area.

She pointed up ahead, "That's the dealership."

I parked the car down the street and asked, "How do you know they won't be able to track down the car tomorrow morning?"

"Because all those cars are stolen," she informed me. "People bring them in for payment, remove any sign of previous ownership and sell them for cash."

"How many times have you done this?"

"Enough to know how to get away with it." Then she exited the car.

I followed a few feet behind, knowing I had upset Melissa with my calloused response. Maybe I was being too harsh.

We made it to the building of the fraud dealership as I prayed Melissa had a better plan than high-jacking a car that would most likely have an alarm.

"How are we doing this?"

She ignored me as we crept around the back of the building and out of plain sight, making it to the back door. I watched her pull two tiny metal tools from her back pocket and kneel in front of the lock.

"We're going inside," she claimed, getting to work.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked nervously.

"I know what I'm doing, Alexa. Just try to trust me for once."

"It's hard to do that after you abandoned me."

Then the lock was open, and Melissa pushed the door and paced up to the alarm keypad that was beeping. I watched her type into it with the back of her fingernail, disabling the security system.

"You knew the code?"

She nodded, "I know the guy that owns this place and he sucks at picking passwords."

"What was it?"

"His birthday," she confirmed, which was actually humorous.

Walking to the office of the building she opened a drawer that was followed with sets of keys that belonged to the cars in the lot. I watched her grab a set and close the drawer, looking up with a sly expression.

"Okay, let's go."

As we exited I asked, "So you're stealing from a friend?"

"Just because I know him doesn't mean we're friends. Besides, I don't really think he'll call the cops since all these cars aren't legally his. It seems to be the safest choice."

I couldn't help but admire Melissa's intelligence. Even though I was still annoyed with her she seemed to be a totally different person than when we had initially met.

After following me back to Derik's her and Willi left, allowing the rest of the night to unfold with me lying in bed alone. As nervous as I was about the task presented to us by Monroe I was even more nervous about my sister, who seemed pretty fed up with not knowing what I was up to. I had to remember her ignorance was bliss because if she knew the truth she would do nothing but worry. Involving her seemed unfair, but so did keeping her in the dark. If anything did happen to me she would never hear the truth, at least not from my mouth.

I tried to tell myself it could be worse, even when it was hard to believe after everything we had gone through. At the end of the day I still had Anna. And even though she was mad at me right now, she would get over it eventually...

Hopefully I lived longenough to see the day.

* * *

The next morning was uneventful until Anna appeared at my doorway. "Can you bring me to Holly's?"

I stood from my bed, appreciating that she didn't seem as mad today as she had yesterday. Maybe she was coming around.

I nodded, "Sure. Are you spending the night?"

"Can I?"

"Yeah," I agreed, not wanting to get more on her bad side. I didn't mind bringing her to her friend's house for two reasons. One, because it was summer vacation and trapping her in this house was unfair. Two, because tonight I wouldn't have to worry about lying to her again if she figured out I wasn't home. It seemed to be a win-win.

I passed through the front where Derik was sitting on the couch, "Can I use your car?"

He nodded, "Sure."

It was slightly awkward at first because there was a tension I wasn't sure how to deal with. I knew she had questions and I, or course, had answers. But neither of us knew what to do. She wanted to ask but knew I wouldn't answer honestly. I wanted to tell her but understood that wasn't the right decision.

Eventually I couldn't take the silence anymore, "So you're just going to Holly's to hang out? Or are there other plans I don't know of?"

I was joking but apparently Anna didn't find it funny, "No, I don't lie about what I'm doing."

I sucked in a tight breath. It hurt knowing she wasn't letting up but I knew she had her reasons.

"Anna listen, you don't need to know everything. Sometimes it's best if you don't know the truth."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because it protects you."

"Stop saying that! God that's your excuse for everything."

I felt my hands gripping the steering wheel as her words sliced my heart wide open. Inhaling deeply, I tried to keep my cool but it was so hard not breaking down and telling her the damn truth since she wanted it so bad.

We were sitting in Holly's driveway when I finally answered, "I need you to trust me, Anna."

"Well, I don't."

The pain in my heart was suffocating as I held back tears, "I want to tell you, I do... but I can't right now."

I watched the hazel eyes of my little sister search mine for answers but there weren't any. It broke my heart to know she didn't trust me, and it hurt even worse knowing I was slowly losing the only one I had left. What would I become without her? I needed her just as much as she needed me. Maybe more.

"I'm scared," Anna admitted in a whisper, "I'm so scared you're not gonna come back one night when you leave..."

Anna was observant, and she never missed a beat. She knew every time I was home and when I was supposed to be. I could only imagine the anxiety she felt when I left, and it had only grown worse after this weekend when I had come back badly bruised and with a mauled arm.

Grabbing her hand, I continued, "I'm not ever going to leave you. Just trust me on this."

She forced a nod as she readied to part with me, "Please... just promise not to disappear again."

I nodded slowly, "I promise."

With that she exited the car, leaving me to release the breath I was holding. I felt like she had ripped my heart out and taken it with her, but I forced myself out of the driveway and away from the house.

I knew it wasn't fair to lie, but she wouldn't understand. I was all Anna had left after putting our own mother into rehab for the third time in almost three years. But she was there for a reason.

The first time I had believed a sixty-day program would do the trick and paid for it with the leftover money from my first score. A few months after I turned nineteen she left for the two months, but relapsed soon after.

The second time was required by law due to multiple charges of public indecency and wrecking her car while intoxicated. The selling of our house payed for the attorney fees and her second round of rehab. We had done a ninety-day that time.

The third, and hopefully final, time was because even after a ninety-day program mom still hadn't found the strength to better herself. But her six-month program would expire at the end of the month, and she would be back home come August first.

Her being in rehab was my doing, but it wasn't because I wanted her out of my hair. It was because I couldn't watch my mother waste away in a bottle anymore. I needed her alive. I needed her to recover and live long enough to see Anna grow up. I needed her to see there was more to life beyond the loss of dad.

Thinking further on thematter stopped when I drove up Derik's driveway. It was time to start preparingfor tonight. Maybe somewhere down the road all of this would make sense, but asof now I had no choice but to blindly roll with the punches.