Mute (Muted Trilogy Book 1) (25 page)

“They’re watching you,” echoed a strange voice in her head, the woman’s brown eyes fixed on Jemma.

“Who?” Jemma sent back, and the woman shook her head.

“It’s safer if you don’t know. They’re watching both of you. I have to get out of here before they find out I’m here. I think they know about me. I messed up. You’re still on their maybe list.”

The woman looked at Jack, who’d reached the bottom of the stairs, then let go of Jemma and jogged toward the door.

“Wait,” sent Jemma, not sure whether the woman could hear her without contact. “How do you know? What should we do?”

Jemma ran out from behind the circulation desk and chased after the stranger, who picked up speed. Jemma heard footsteps behind her and took a moment to make sure it was Jack before she turned her focus back to the woman, who was pushing through the doors. Jemma reached the doors as they stopped moving, shoving them out of the way to join the woman in the parking lot.

The stranger was racing over to her car, and Jemma’s attention wavered as she heard tires squealing. The woman looked toward the side of the building, then tried to open her car door. As she did, a black sedan pulled up beside her from the back parking lot, stopping in between her and Jemma, blocking much of Jemma’s view.

The passenger door opened, and Jemma saw the back of a man’s head before the woman was pulled down and shoved into the back seat of the sedan. Doors closed, and both vehicles pulled away while Jemma watched, Jack frozen next to her. As the cars left the parking lot, she saw the woman sit up in the back seat and press a hand to the window.

“Help me, please!” the woman sent as the cars passed behind a building that completely blocked Jemma’s view. “Tell Ken—”

The connection was abruptly severed, leaving an empty, ringing noise in place of a connection that Jemma hadn’t even consciously registered until it was gone.

Jemma turned toward Jack, who had his phone in hand, texting.

“She was like us,” Jemma sent. “Did you hear her?”

Jack paused, then pressed send on the text and shoved his phone into his pocket.

“I didn’t, but I could see it on your face,” he sent. “I texted the police emergency number and told them we just saw someone kidnapped. They should be here soon for something like this.”

“Is that a good thing?” Jemma felt the anxiety that was lacing her tone as she stared up at Jack. “She said they’re watching us. What if having the police here gives us away? What if—”

Jack placed a careful hand on her shoulder and sent a strong wave of reassurance and certainty.

“If we didn’t know we had any connection to her, we’d still call the cops, right?” he sent.

Jemma took a deep breath and nodded, and Jack squeezed her shoulder before letting go.

“Come on,” he sent. “Let’s go wait inside.”

***

“The police only stayed for five minutes!” sent Jemma. She collapsed onto her couch, putting her elbows on her knees, her face in her hands, and she felt the couch dip as Jack sat next to her. “I know they got called away, but a woman was kidnapped. Right in front of us, in broad daylight, in a public place. It can’t be okay that there’s nobody who can protect us. We can’t even tell them everything, but they won’t care anyway because there aren’t enough of them to do anything about it and I just…”

“They asked you to close the library for just today,” sent Jack, “so I think they’re gonna do their best to investigate before tomorrow. They’re taking it seriously. In the meantime, I think the woman’s car was where the camera could catch it, but I haven’t gotten a chance to check my recording.”

He stopped and put his hand on her back, rubbing in a way that was comforting until Jemma started feeling a bit like a child. She sat up straight, and Jack moved his hand before it could be trapped between her back and the couch.

“I’m fine,” she sent. “It was just… This isn’t something I ever thought I’d have to deal with, you know? Watching someone get kidnapped and being afraid that I might be next. That
we
might be next.”

“Can’t say this was on my ‘things most likely to happen to me’ list, either,” sent Jack, his mental tone carrying amusement. Jemma looked over at him, and he was watching her, concern in his eyes. “I’m sorry about…” His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure exactly what emotion you sent when I was rubbing your back, but I know it wasn’t happy. I know you’re not as hands-on as me, and I can try harder to avoid that sort of thing.”

Jemma shook her head and wrapped her hand around where his had come to rest on the couch between them.

“It wasn’t the touch exactly,” she sent, trying to sort her thoughts before sending them. “It made me feel like a kid, like maybe you were patronizing me. My dad used to rub my back like that. I mean, not patronizing, but that’s what he did when I was upset, and I guess it put me back there or something.”

Jack’s forehead smoothed and a hint of a smile pulled at his lips. “And you didn’t like me reminding you of your dad?”

“I guess not,” sent Jemma, blinking. She shrugged. “Not sure how much sense that makes.”

“Hey, if you don’t want to be touched a certain way, I’m not gonna argue with that, just for the record,” he sent. “Doesn’t matter whether it makes sense.”

Jemma nodded, and silence fell for a few seconds, comfortable despite their frustration with the situation, before she sent, “Speaking of making sense, we should probably go ahead and see whether the camera caught anything.”

“Yes ma’am,” he sent, pulling his hand away to grab his laptop from the bag he’d set next to him. He opened the computer on his lap, fingers flying across the keys as he logged into his profile and pulled up the camera.

The video showed solid black.

“It isn’t dark out yet.” Jemma glanced at the window, then back at the computer screen. “The camera has night vision, though, so that wouldn’t even make a difference.”

Jack’s fingers raced across the keys again, opening and closing various windows with different strings of numbers and letters, some readable, some not. Minutes passed with the only sounds those that were coming from his computer. Finally, he shook his head.

“I’ve lost the connection to the video stream. Somebody’s blocked me out.”

“Does that mean they knew you were watching?” Jemma sent.

“Yes and no. They know that somebody was watching, but it doesn’t look like they were able to ID my computer. I’ve got pretty good defenses up against that sort of thing, and it helps that I wasn’t connected to the internet when they blocked the feed.”

“Was it someone from the city who blocked it? The police? Or was it someone else?” Jemma sent.

“I can’t tell. I can’t get into the city’s computer system at all anymore, so maybe they just increased their electronic security.” He ran a hand through his hair before returning his fingers to the keys. “It’d be a heck of a coincidence, but it would make sense, especially if they want to protect things better with fewer people.”

“So I should still be able to check the video in person, at the security office?”

“If there was nothing malicious about this block, yeah. It’s worth a shot anyway, if anything else happens,” he sent. He looked over at her again, letting a little hesitation seep through their connection. “My computer saved everything until the stream cut out. It looks like I’ve still got the file from the kidnapping, just no more live feed.”

“Can we see it, then?”

“Are you okay to watch it? You seemed pretty shaken up, understandably,” he sent.

“I’m fine,” she sent, adding confidence to her mental tone. “Let’s see if watching it gives us anything new.”

He nodded, navigated to a file, and clicked twice.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

Same

The video showed nothing interesting for a minute or two as Jack forwarded it to the right location. He paused the video as the stranger’s dark green Ford parked in the lot, and he looked over at Jemma.

Jemma’s heart rate had returned to normal, her breathing had slowed, and she felt more in control of herself than she had just minutes before. She nodded at Jack’s unformed question.

“I’m fine. Let’s watch,” she sent. Jack turned his attention back to the laptop and pressed play.

The vehicle was parked facing away from the camera, giving them a clear shot of the license plate. Jack opened a separate program and quickly jotted down the six-character combination of numbers and letters. The video continued, and the woman stepped out of the car. She looked around the parking lot before she closed the car door behind her and strode toward the library and out of view of the camera.

Jemma reminded herself to breathe as they waited for the woman to reappear, mentally reviewing the exchange that had happened inside the building. Finally, the woman came back into view, sprinting through the parking lot. Her attention turned in the direction of the camera at unseen noise or movement, her eyes wide, and then the video distorted.

And then the video went blank.

Jack frowned, rewinding and playing it through again, with the same result. He ran a hand through his hair.

“They must have blocked me from the video right at that time so nobody could see them,” he sent. “There’s no way that sort of timing is just coincidence.”

“Does that mean they’re working for the city? I mean, if you’re right, if they had access to the camera and were able to upgrade the city’s security at the exact right moment, it would make sense, right?”

“Maybe.” Jack sighed visibly. “I mean, it makes sense, but it’s not definite. Anyone who’d hacked far enough into the system could shut down the cameras, apply a security patch. Easier with a hard line into the city’s network, but not impossible without, not if the right person designed it. Way beyond what I could do, though.”

“So we don’t know anything new,” sent Jemma, frustration seeping into her mental tone, “except that apparently these people can kidnap someone in broad daylight and get away with it.”

“We also know that they were watching both of us, not just you,” added Jack, “and that there are other people we can Talk to without actually knowing them.”

“We don’t even know who she was!” Jemma stood and paced in front of the couch. “She risked getting caught to come warn us. Maybe they would’ve taken her anyway, but maybe she could’ve stayed hidden. Instead she came to help us, and she got taken, and she asked for our help but we can’t do anything, and I’m tired of feeling out of control of just everything.” She stopped, taking a breath, then turning toward Jack, who was watching her from the couch. “Or can we do something? You got her license plate, right? If we can find out who she was, maybe we can find the guy she wanted us to talk to.”

Jack nodded. “I’ve got her plate, assuming it’s her car. What did you say the name was, the one she used before she stopped Talking?”

“Ken.” Jemma watched Jack’s fingers fly across his keyboard. “Will you be able to figure out who the car belonged to if you can’t get back into the city’s system?”

“Hope so. Anything else the city records privately will be a bit more tricky. License plates, though, those are shared outside the system. Police need access, and they use third-party software for things like license-tracking programs. With that many people involved, it just can’t be protected quite as well, and I might be able to find a way to get to it.” He looked up at Jemma. “This is going to take a while, if I do manage it. Hacking the DMV isn’t exactly something I do regularly.”

Jemma nodded. “Okay. Did you want to do it here or head home, or is there somewhere else that’s better?”

“Here’s fine.” His mouth pulled up to one side. “I just thought you might not want to stand there waiting the whole time.”

Jemma expelled a breath through her nose. “That makes sense. I need to update my mom, anyway, in case the library’s closing makes the news.”

Jack sent a mental equivalent of a wince along with a wave of reassurance. “I might have the easier job here, then.”

Jemma felt herself smile before she turned away and walked over to her computer. She turned it on and sat down, feeling her connection with Jack dampen as he focused on what he was doing. She rubbed the tight muscles at the back of her neck, then reached for the mouse once the computer had started up. After opening Facebook, she clicked on her mother’s name in the messenger. School had been out for just a few minutes, but her name was already displaying the bright green dot that indicated she was online.

How was your day?
typed Jemma.

It was great!
her mother wrote back immediately.
Are you on break at work?

Not really,
typed Jemma.

What do you mean?
asked Carolyn.

We had to close early because something happened. I’m fine! But a woman got kidnapped in the parking lot, and the police wanted the library shut down for the day so they could investigate.

Carolyn’s response was immediate:

Are you okay???

What happened? Did you know her??

Are you at home??

Jemma sent a message before her mom could send more.