“No,” I said, shaking my head in denial. “No! He couldn’t have.”
I clenched the paper in my hands, jumped up from the table and rushed outside. Mason’s bike was gone.
The world seemed to spin around me as reality set in.
He really was gone. Gone forever.
I went to my knees with sudden crushing pain.
“Mason!” I screamed.
Chapter 16
Mason
“I need a secure passage to Mexico,” I said, pacing back and forth in the small living room of Shadow’s apartment.
He looked up from his screen and scratched at his chin, staring at me through his wide-rim spectacles. “You sure about that?”
I stopped my pacing to regard my fellow hacker. Shadow, real name Peter Hall, was a scrawny little thing that fit a stereotypical hacker profile. Despite that, he was one of the best I knew, and was one of the few that I could actually call my friend.
I’d went up to his house after I left from Carly’s, knowing he could give me up to date information on my trackers and help me with mobility.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be able to lay low for a while, get a plan together.”
Shadow appeared thoughtful. “Hmmm. I’ll see what I can do.”
“And I’m going to need you to help lead Maddy on a wild goose chase. As in, the complete opposite direction.”
Shadow nodded. “I can do that.”
“That goes for Anonymous too,” I added. “With how close Aubrey got, I don’t want to take any chances.”
Shadow frowned. “Razor, you’re asking me to betray the people that I work with. I told you already that I don’t want to get involved in that.”
“They’re basically one in the same. I know Maddy technically isn’t Anonymous anymore, but she still has friends that are. You’re already involved just by helping me anyway. Besides, they don’t deserve your loyalty anymore. Anonymous is more and more becoming associated as an online terrorist organization.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Shadow said thoughtfully. “The leadership is becoming just like the people we set out to expose. It’s made a lot of the hackers involved take more liberties, giving us a bad name. But still, it’s hard to turn my back on them.”
“Well, it’s time to choose. It shouldn’t matter that I exposed the information on my own. If anything, all they should be angry at is not getting recognition for it. But what I saw from Aubrey, they don’t see it that way.”
He let out a sigh and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll do what I can. Just know that I don’t like it. I have no problem fucking with Maddy though. That bitch is off her rocker.”
I nodded. “What happened with her by the way? You said she was hot on my trail.”
“Not exactly sure. I know I interrupted her and Andre’s tracking several times, but for the past few days, it’s been really quiet on their front.”
“That’s not good,” I muttered. I knew without a doubt that when Madeline Bona was quiet, trouble soon followed. I hated that I’d ever met that crazy bitch. Even worse that I got involved with her.
Shadow shook his head. “Nope, not at all. All I can hope to do is draw them out onto your fake trail.”
“It’s going to have to be more than hope. I can’t afford her finding out about Carly.”
Even speaking Carly’s name brought up fresh pain. I hated leaving her all alone. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, but I knew it was the right thing to do.
“Razor?” Shadow asked, breaking me out of my reverie.
“Huh?”
“You okay? You were just staring off into space.”
“Oh. I was just thinking about what I was going to do next, you know, planning ahead.”
He stared at me hard, not fooled. “You really care about this girl, don’t you?”
“She’s my stepsister,” I explained. “Of course I do.” Obviously I wasn’t about to tell him all the little details about how I was in love with her.
“I can see that.” Shadow turned his attention back to his computer screen. “Alright, well, I’ll do everything I can.”
“Thanks man. I knew I could count on you.”
Shadow gave me a toothy grin. “Although, my reasons for helping aren’t altogether altruistic.”
I scowled. “Seriously? You really gonna do this now?”
“Hell yeah I am. Why wouldn’t I? You’re a talented man, and I want to be able to call on you when I need it.”
I sighed. I couldn’t believe this guy. But you know what they say — nothing in the world is free. “I should’ve known. What is it this time?”
“It’s this fucking gaming company, Vetcom,” Shadow hissed with venom.
“Vetcom?”
“I just said they’re a gaming company! Well, I might, sorta, wanna hack into their database system.”
“For what?”
“Demand that they make changes to the game or else.”
I quirked an eyebrow.
“The latest expansion patch sucks ass and they took away all the cool abilities from my favorite class that I always play.”