Free Erased by Jennifer Rush Page A

of all the other ways he could twist this to the Branch’s advantage.
    “You should go,” Trev said. “Don’t tell them I was here. Please.”
    When I didn’t answer, he took a step closer. “Anna? Please?”
    I let out a breath. “Fine.”
    He nodded, grabbing hold of the gun strap across his chest, as if he needed to lessen the weight on his back. “Be careful, please.” He started off in the opposite direction.
    “Thank you,” I called quickly.
    Trev looked over his shoulder. “You’re welcome.”
    I watched as he disappeared into the woods.
    “Anna, that you?” Cas said a second later.
    “It’s me.”
    “You okay?” He pushed aside a pine branch and came up beside me on the riverbank.
    I was soaked. Shivering. Sore. “Yeah, I’m good.”
    “You gotta hurry up and get back to the lab, then.”
    Instantly I went into panic mode. Was something wrong with Sam or Nick? Had they been injured?
    “Why?” I said quickly. “What happened?”
    “We found your sister.”

11
    WHEN I RETURNED TO THE LAB, THE boys were pushing wounded agents into the last cell on the left.
    “Lock it up,” Sam ordered, and the handler punched in a series of commands on the control panel. The glass wall slid into place, sealing the remaining agents inside.
    “Open the others,” Sam said next, and the handler followed the order, freeing the two boys I’d seen when we’d first arrived.
    I scanned the remaining cells. There was a third boy in the cell on the far right. He was tall, with short red hair, a face painted in freckles, and brown eyes that came across as more guarded than aggressive. When his cell opened, he cautiously walked out.
    I looked at the cell next to his as a figure stepped out from the shadows.
    It was a girl, a worried expression on her face, lips parted just enough to breathe a bubble of condensation on the glass. Bruises covered her left cheek. Her eye was swollen.
    “Anna?” she said. Her lower lip trembled. “Is it really you?”
    “Open that cell,” Sam ordered.
    “I am. Sorry,” the handler said. “She just came in yesterday. I’m still getting used to the code to her room.” The man punched in a series of numbers.
    I hesitated in the center of the room, worried somehow that I was dreaming, that I was having a flashback.
    “There, that’s it,” the handler said, and the cell opened and Dani burst out, tears streaming down her face. She lunged at me, frail arms wrapping around my neck. The faint scent of bar soap wafted from her.
    Slowly, stupidly, I returned the hug and Dani trembled in my arms. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she said. “I’ve been searching for so long.”
    She sobbed harder.
    I didn’t know how to comfort her.
    Dani finally pulled away, put her hands on either side of my face. She was taller than me by a few inches, skinnier by at least ten pounds.
    “Are you okay?” she asked. “Are you—” She looked over my shoulder at who I could only guess was Sam. Her eyes welled again and she stepped around me to wrap Sam in a hug with the same ferocity as the hug she’d given me.
    “You found her. Thank you. Thank you for keeping her safe.”
    She pulled away and kissed him gently on the cheek. Sam immediately flicked his attention to me, checking my reaction.
    I dodged his stare.
    “We should get out of here,” I said.
    For once, Nick backed me up. “They’ll send another team as soon as this one misses their check-in.”
    Cas started plucking things off the dead men and women. Mostly guns. Some clips.
    “We taking these guys?” Nick asked, nodding at the three boys we’d released from their cells.
    “For now,” Sam answered. “At least long enough for them to adjust.”
    And for us to question them.
    Cas appeared at my side. “Here,” he said, handing me a black leather jacket. “Looks like you took a dip, huh?”
    I frowned. “Not by choice.” I took the offering and examined it. “Any bullet holes or blood?”
    “Not that I could