Chapter 14

A laugh escaped her lips before she could shut her mouth.  Spencer’s eyes narrowed at her, but the corner of his lips twitched.  Whether they did so because he thought his suggestion was ridiculous also, Amy didn’t have a clue, but she did know one thing, they would never be able to just take Jaxon’s flash drive.

“We can’t,” she said between laughs as she shook her head at Spencer.

Spencer crossed his arms over his chest, an eyebrow rising in question.  It was the same expression he always gave her when he was trying to talk her into doing something, and even though she knew that expression, he had always succeeded in making her do whatever it was that he wanted her to.  “You afraid?”

Her laughter stopped instantly.  “I’m not afraid,” she said, narrowing her eyes slightly.  “Neither of those men in there will let the flash drive out of their sight.”

“You’re saying that you couldn’t distract one of those men long enough to grab it?”  His eyebrows scrunched together for a moment before he shook his head.  “Never mind that, I’ll do the distracting.”  He mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like a death wish before glancing at the door.  “Which one of them has it?  Logan will be the easiest to distract.”

Amy rolled her eyes.  “Did you forget his background?  He sees everything, and you know that.  Jaxon would be easier to distract.”

Spencer was shaking his head before she could even finish her words.  “Jaxon doesn’t trust me like Logan does.  He’ll be the one watching my every move, while Logan is the one who watches your every move.”

“None of this matters if we don’t know which one has it,” she reminded, making Spencer groan in frustration.  Walking towards her, he plopped down on the chair beside the bed.  A loud cracking noise echoed through the room, making Spencer immediately jump from his seat.

“Oh shit,” he whispered as he picked up the blanket he had been sitting on.  “Logan is going to kill me.”  Spencer grabbed the laptop and quickly eased it open.  “If everything looks good,” he said before glancing up at her, “we don’t tell him I sat on it.”

“He’s going to kill you,” she taunted, even though she knew Spencer did nothing that Logan couldn’t fix.  “You know how he is about his technology.”

Spencer ignored her as he frowned at the computer screen.  His fingers flew over the keys before he frowned harder.  She watched has his fingers moved to the mouse pad, but at this angle, she couldn’t see what he was looking at.  She may not have been able to see it, but as soon as the audio began playing, she knew what he was viewing.  Jumping off the bed, she stepped towards him before slamming the laptop shut.  He moved his hand back just in time, but the look that he sent her said that he wasn’t going to let her actions go unquestioned.

“What in the hell was that?”

Grabbing the laptop off his lap, she shook her head at him.  “Those are personal.”

A confused look covered his face.  “They’re just some weird looking videos.  I’m guessing it’s the evidence that Jaxon has on those guys.  Why does it matter if I watch a couple?”  She didn’t say a word, but something must have shown on her face because understanding flew into his eyes.  “He didn’t just do a couple bad things did he, Amy?  Is that what’s on the videos?”  Spencer shook his head before she could answer his questions.  “Don’t answer.  You’re right; it’s none of my business, but this changes things.”

“It doesn’t change anything,” she argued.  “We’ll still get the flash drive, we’ll still go home, and we’ll still help him the best we can.”

“It’s more dangerous than I thought,” he said, as he began pacing the room.  “If they know that you have the flash drive, they’ll come after you.  I can’t let them close to you, Amy.”

She sat the computer down on the bed before walking towards him.  “You don’t even know who they are!  For all you know, the worse crime they committed could be kidnapping the neighbor’s dog.”

“More like murdering the neighbor’s son,” he mumbled as he stopped in front of her.  “You must think I’m an idiot if you think I’ll buy that.  I saw your face when you slammed the computer shut.  If the crime was something small, you wouldn’t have paled when all you did was hear it.”  He shook his head again as determination hardened his features.  “You’re staying here.  I’ll explain everything to Carson and Asher when they get here, and they’ll agree with me.”

“What happened to you saying that it was wrong for everyone else to run my life?” she asked, fighting to keep her voice from becoming too loud.  “This is my life, Spence.  If I want to make mistakes, I can.”

He gripped her shoulders.  “You can make as many mistakes as you want to, Amy, but not the kind that could get you killed.”

“I’m already in this,” she said ignoring the exasperated look he gave her.  “I made a decision before any of you showed up, and that decision was to help Jaxon in any way that I can.  If getting that flash drive away from him and to a safe place is the way that I can help, I’m going to do it.”

“Dying isn’t going to help Jaxon,” he mumbled before dropping her shoulders.  Pacing the room once more, he narrowed his eyes at her.  “No matter what happens, you’re going to do exactly what you want to do, aren’t you?”

She nodded.  “I’m going to do what I think is right.”

“Even if that thing is stupid?”  She didn’t nod this time, but he did.  “I know you are.  Dammit,” he groaned while running his hands through his red hair.  “You’re going to get both of us killed.”

Despite herself, a smile curled the corner of her lips.  “You mean you’re going to help me?”

He rolled his eyes as he quit pacing.  “Did I really have a chance?  You’re my best friend, Amy.  Anything you do, I’m involved in.”  A sigh left his mouth.  “But this leaves us where we were from the beginning.  How are we going to get the flash drive when we don’t even know who has it?”

Her eyes strayed to the bed, where the forgotten laptop laid.  “That’s the thing,” she said as her smile widened.  “I know who has it.”

“Who?”

“Us,” she answered as she bent down and pulled the flash drive from the side of the computer.  Holding it up for her brother to see, she tossed it in his direction.

With a laugh, he snatched it from the air while shaking his head at her.  “Luckiest person I know.”

Her smile slipped slightly, but she immediately widened it to keep him from noticing.  She wasn’t the luckiest person he knew; she wasn’t even close.  “Now what do we do?” she asked as she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind.

Slipping the flash drive into his pocket, he glanced towards the door.  “It matters how much longer you want to stay here.” 

“Meaning?”

Spencer turned towards her with a large smile on his face, and she knew that his plans were going to be outrageous at best.  She shook her head at him, knowing that his next words were going to be something she disagreed with.  “Now wait a minute,” he said, his smile growing larger.  “Just listen to me for a second, and if you don’t like my plans, we don’t have to go through with them.”

Her eyes narrowed on him, making his smile dim as he did his best puppy-dog face.  She glanced away from him before it could have any effect, but even without him begging her, she knew she would give in.  Despite what her brothers thought, she was just as wrapped around their fingers as they were wrapped around hers.  “Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like either one of your plans.”

“First,” he said, ignoring her completely, “we could wait for Asher and Carson.  If we get to them before Logan does, you won’t have to do anything, they’ll do all the work.”

Then, Asher and Carson would hold it over her head forever.  She had learned that lesson when she was younger, and she knew without a doubt that they would find out she used them.  “What’s your other plan?”

“We sneak out the window.”

Another laugh, this one from surprise, slipped through her lips.  Shaking her head at Spencer, she smiled.  “Life is boring without you.”  She shook her head again.  “Even if we could just slip through the window without them noticing, as soon as you crank the car, they’ll know we’re leaving.”

“Did you hear me pull up?” he asked.  The smug look on his face let her know that he had something up his sleeve, but she wasn’t going to bite.  Rolling his eyes at her, he dug around in his pocket before holding up a pair of keys.  

Walking towards him, she snatched the keys from his hands with wide eyes.  “Asher let you borrow it?”  When Spencer didn’t say a word, Amy winced.  “Now you have two brothers who are going to kill you.”

He grabbed the keys from her hand with such ease, Amy wondered if he thought they would break on him.  “Asher won’t miss it,” he mumbled as he dropped the keys back into his pocket.  “Hell, it’s not like he even drives the thing.”

“He’s going to know that the Batmobile left its cave.”

“It’s not a Batmobile,” he said with a sigh as he walked towards the only widow in the bedroom.  “It’s a Hennessey.”  He jimmied the window open, before smiling over his shoulder.  Turning back to it, he popped the screen off before jerking his head towards their new escape.  “Hurry up before one of them wonders why we’re taking so long.”

“You just want to leave before Asher shows up,” she joked as she walked towards the window.  Poking her head out, she let out a breath of relief when all she saw was the ground.  The last thing she needed to do was jump out the window only to fall into a briary bush.  “Give me a boost? And if you make one short joke, I’m telling Asher you took his car, the only thing that he has ever splurged on, the thing he bought when he won that big case.”

“I get it,” he groaned before dropping down to one knee.  Placing his hands on his thigh, he sent her an impatient look.

Glancing down at her clothes, she shrugged.  No matter where they were going, she had more clothes stashed everywhere from the beach house to her parents’ house.  Plus, it didn’t matter what she looked like, not when she didn’t plan to stop anywhere until they were miles away from this place, miles away from the people who wanted to do harm to Jaxon. 

She placed her foot into Spencer’s hands, giving her just enough height to slip easily through the window.  As she landed on the other side, she winced as her foot twisted underneath her.  Taking a deep breath, she put her weight on it, and when no pain vibrated up her leg, she let out a relieved sigh.  She couldn’t run away from her brothers with a twisted ankle.  Heck, she wouldn’t be able to run from anything. 

A small smile curled the corner of her lips.  Maybe Spencer was right, maybe she was a little lucky.  Her thoughts were cut off as Spencer slipped through the window as if he escaped through them every day.  “You good?” he whispered, waiting for his nod before nodding towards Asher’s car.  “We have to hurry.”

Without another word, he jogged towards the waiting vehicle, and Amy was right behind him.  They got to the car, and before Amy could even open her door, Spencer was steering her towards the driver’s side.  “One door closing isn’t as noticeable as two,” he whispered as he pushed her into the open vehicle.  Jumping in behind her, he barely gave her enough time to slip into the passenger’s seat before he was starting the engine and easing the door shut.

The car purred to life, the engine seeming louder in the quiet outside.  Spencer paused for a second, staring at the cabin and Amy knew that he was waiting for Logan to burst out and demand they return.  When nothing happened, Spencer smiled in her direction before steering it down the driveway.  The further away from the cabin they got, the less worried she became.  Maybe she had made the wrong decision in running, maybe Spencer was right and she was being stupid, but she couldn’t let Jaxon get hurt.  She had the resources to stay safe; she had the powerful name to secure her safety, but Jason had nothing.

“Do you think this is going to work?” she whispered into the quiet car.

“No,” Spencer said honestly, “but it’s what we love about you, Amy.  Even when things look like they can’t be salvaged, you keep trying.  Like that cat,” he said with a laugh.  “I remember when you brought it home that day.  Asher took you to the park because all of us were too busy to take you, but the truth was that the rest of us were going through that time where there little sister was the last person they wanted to tag along with them.  Asher never cared though.”  His voice was full of admiration, while Amy smiled slightly at his story.  “Any way,” he mumbled as he shook his head.  “Everyone thought that cat was going to croak over at any minute, but you made Dad take him to the vet.”

“It lived.”

He glanced towards her before turning back towards the road.  “That’s the point, Amy.  Even when everyone else gives up on something, you keep trying.  I just wish you’d remember that.”

“Spence,” she started, knowing that he was no longer talking about the cat, but before she could say a word, he mumbled a curse beneath his breath.  Frowning at him, she realized that his eyes weren’t on her or the road; he was looking in his side mirror.  She turned in her seat, and her stomach immediately dropped when she saw the vehicle behind them.  It looked as if their perfect escape wasn’t so perfect after all.