But it was too late for second thoughts.
For the first time in years, he’d be responsible for Hope’s health and safety again. He’d failed her the first time. Would he do so again?
His stomach churned with anxiety. Could he do this?
He’d been so focused on rescuing Hope and making sure he’d be prepared for her medical needs, he hadn’t fully appreciated what moving her would mean. He alone would be responsible for her care. It had been one thing when she’d been an active teenager. But now, with her medical issues...
Ash swallowed hard and pushed the nerves away. Time to step up and play big brother again.
Chapter39
Ash was bone-tired.He’d worked his morning shift and then, as promised, had appeared in Portia’s office for his shift for her. It didn’t matter which project he was working on—protecting the corporation or excavating secrets for Portia—his brain had kept spinning.Hope was free. Hope was free. It was a never-ending chant in his head.
His phone rang and he ignored it. He was tired and cranky and couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept or eaten.
The ringing never stopped. Even long past when it should have transferred to voicemail, it still rang. He finally picked up.
“What?” He spit out the word as he answered. He didn’t care that he was being rude.
When there was no answer from the other end of the line, he growled. “Stupid prank callers.”
“Don’t hang up, Fenix.” A robotic voice, although it carried a familiar cadence.
His body went cold. No one called him that any more. Fenix was as good as dead and he should stay that way.
“Who’s this?”Fuck!Why hadn’t he checked before he answered? Not that it would have done any good.
“Oh, Fenix.” The voice on the other end of the line chuckled.
Shivers ran up and down his spine. Like the voice, the laugh was distorted, sounding closer to a computer than to a human. And eerily familiar.
Ash knew that laugh. He’d never wanted to hear it again in his life. “What do you want?”
“Is that all you’ve got, boy? I’d heard you were a corporate bitch now, but I couldn’t believe it. The old Fenix would have known who was calling before the line even rang. How the mighty have fallen.” That twisted laugh again.
Fuuck.
Ash knew who it was. His guess had been confirmed the moment he’d heard his hacker handle. He just hadn’t wanted to believe it. “What do you want, Caspar?”
Caspar was the ghost in the machine. No one knew how old he was— if you believed the stories, he’d been around forever.
You didn’t see him unless he wanted you to. A hacker had to be exceptionally good to find Caspar.
Ash was one of the people who had. That’s how he’d joined the hacker collective.
“Is that any way to talk to a long-lost friend?” The computerized amusement gave him goosebumps.
Ash gritted his teeth. He’d hoped that Caspar had believed he was dead.
Unless... had Caspar sold them out? Ash didn’t know one way or another, but if he ever crossed paths with the person who was responsible for Hope being in that coma... he’d make them regret it.
“Hang up now and we can both pretend that I’m still lost.”
That crazy mechanical laugh again. “Oh, Fenix. If you wanted to stay lost, you should never have gone into that bar.”
“A man can’t get a drink?” Ash was nearly completely sure that Taryn hadn’t sold him out. The Jack might be ruthless, but his time with her had shown him that she was fiercely loyal to her friends and they’d gone way past friendly.
“Well, Fenix,” Casper said, stressing Ash’s handle every time he said it. “If you hadn’t set foot into that bar, no one would have seen you. If they hadn’t seen you, I wouldn’t have heard whispers that Fenix was alive and still in Seattle. If I hadn’t heard those whispers, I would never have started looking for proof.”
