She squeezed my hand, a weird look of hope pooling into her eyes at the same time as her tears.
“Well, the universe placed you in the Sons’ lap for a reason, Dillon. Now you just have to figure out what that reason is.”
I toyed with my phone, dialing my sister’s number before Sienna could say anything else. After the third ring she picked up, her voice hushed and whispering.
“Dillon? I told you not to call me, that it was too dangerous.”
“I need your help, Joey.”
“Help? Help with what?”
“To right a wrong I committed. Can you meet me tomorrow behind the railroad tracks?”
There was a long, hesitant pause before she spoke again. “I can try.”
“Please, Joey. This is important. This might be the only way we can free you from the Artillery.”
I heard a quiet sigh come through the receiver. “Okay, what time?”
“You tell me.”
“It’s going to have to be early, like before any of the guys get up. So, how about 4:30 in the morning?”
“Okay, that works. I’ll see you there.”
I waited for my sister to say something else, but I was met instead with the click of the phone as she hung it up.
Sienna looked up at me with fear-filled eyes. “Do you think she will show up?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. The sister I knew, isn’t the same girl who answered the phone. I hope she will, but I also might be walking straight into a trap.”
Sienna’s eyes rounded in shock. “Then you shouldn’t go.”
I gave her a weary smile before brushing a single strand of hair behind her ear so I could kiss her forehead. “I have to, Sienna. It’s the only way to make things right again.”
Chapter Twenty-One
There was a frigid chill in the air, one that froze my breath in midair with every cold exhale I took. Sienna had pleaded for me not to go alone, but I didn’t have a choice. I needed to speak with Joey first before involving Zodiac and the Celestial Sons.
“Joey?” I called out after I heard faint footsteps walking toward me down the desolate tracks.
“Yeah, it’s me,” she replied, stopping a few feet away from me.
Her standoffish behavior was more than a little off-putting, so I stayed back, watching her as she nervously kept glancing over her shoulder.
“Did you bring someone with you?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m just worried I was followed.”
“Why?”
“Because the Artillery doesn’t like it when we leave the compound. If they found out I was here…”
“They’d kill you.”
“Yes,” she replied, breathing out a sigh. Her breath puffed out in a cloud of white smoke, one that hung heavy between us.
“Why am I here, Dillon? You said you needed my help, and I’m here, but I can’t stay long.”
