Free Exposed by Judith Graves Page A

“Go online and enter this URL …” It took two tries before I was able to get the address right. My fingers refused to work right, and I was a horrible two-finger typist at the best of times. “Okay, enter this user name and password…”
    I did as instructed. And presto, Bentley had full access to Diesel’s laptop.
    I watched as the laptop seemingly took on a life of its own. Documents opened and closed, and folders were both uploaded and saved to the USB drive. Every dirty deal Diesel had ever made.
    It was done.
    Now all I had to do was get out of the warehouse.

FIFTEEN
    From my perch on the window ledge outside Diesel’s office I had a clear view of kids running out the side exit. That had been one of my conditions when I proposed this crazy plan. They were to cause a freaking riot, do as much damage as they wanted, leave Diesel’s goons incapacitated but relatively unharmed, then get out by nine.
    I scaled the wall to the roof and ran toward the wing of the warehouse that backed onto the alley where I’d had Jace leave one of his cars for me to make a quick exit.
    Not the ’30s Ford Coupe, though I’d asked for it. Repeatedly.
    Throwing a leg over the ledge, I quickly climbed down to the alley.
    Headlights snapped on, freezing me in place. I held up a hand to block the light. Doors opened, and two dark silhouettes approached.
    “Raven, my dear,” came Diesel’s voice from the left. Controlled. No, enraged. “I suspected I’d find you back here. Running away, are we?”
    A hand snatched my arm in a fierce grip. Not Diesel’s. Wheels’s. Diesel had always said Wheels did “odd jobs as required.” I had always wondered what that had entailed.
    “Don’t you wish you really could fly now, little bird?” Wheels pulled me to his side, his hands groping and searching my flesh, checking me for a weapon. He neglected to check the boot where I stashed my pocketknife. That would be my last resort if Emmett’s dad didn’t get here soon. Where was he? It had to be past 9:00 PM . What if Jo had bailed on me? Hadn’t even asked Emmett? I clenched my fist around the USB drive, my blood pumping from adrenaline and sheer terror.
    “She’s clean.” Wheels threw me at Diesel, but my mentor, the man who’d practically been a father to me, didn’t catch me.
    He sidestepped, watching as my off-balance momentum drove me to the ground. My fingers spread wide, breaking my fall. Palms smashed into the concrete, the impact making me cry out. I lay there, stunned.
    Diesel’s polished black shoes came into view. As did the USB drive I’d dropped. He scooped it up from the ground. “Well, what do we have here?”
    “Exactly what I was thinking,” a man’s voice said over a squawking PA system. Another set of headlights snapped on, as did a swirling set of police lights.
    “What the hell?” Diesel spun to face the officer, his face paling as he took in the two other cruisers pulling up.
    I scrambled to my feet and ran. I reached Jace’s car in record time, fired up the engine and shot out of sight. I drove about six blocks before I realized no one was following me. The cops had let me go. They had much bigger fish to fry.
    I was free.

SIXTEEN
    “You’re sure I can stay? It’ll only be a few more days, and then I’ll have my own place.”
    I laughed at the earnestness in Jo’s voice. “Stop stressing, will you? We’re cramped on the boat, but we’re safe. It’s all good. It’s better than good. It’s fantastic. Just stop burning out my blow-dryer.”
    “That thing hates me. Okay, see you after school.”
    “You should be in school too, you know. Bentley can get you into any school you want. I hate to see that great mind going to waste.”
    “What great mind? Your blow-dryer has fried it already. No more school talk. I told you guys I’d think about it. Between you and Bentley, I get a lecture every day.” Jo laughed. “Wait a minute. Should you be in a class right now?”
    “Busted.” I grinned