Chapter 8 #2
I might do that with Kit as well. There was no reason for him to stay up much longer. One yawn was setting off another, and he seemed to be stuffing his face with ice cream just to pass the time.
“But, ohhhh,” Noa whined. “I’m not tired!”
“No, you’re way past that, freckles,” KC chuckled tiredly.
In any case, I wasn’t going to bed until Colt did, so I got up and asked if anyone was interested in more coffee.
“I wouldn’t mind a refill,” KC said. “Unlike Lucian, I’m allowed.”
Lucian gave him a look.
We’d all been exposed to his long-suffering journey with decaf after four PM. Poor man.
I assumed Nathan and Ash didn’t want any coffee. It was evidently their turn to do laps in the pool.
I got tired just watching them.
While I was in the kitchen preparing a new pot of coffee, I rummaged through the cupboards and found a stash of chocolate bars. I’d earned a Twix, thank you very much.
Then I leaned back against the counter and yawned.
What a fucking vacation this had been.
It was a good thing I loved my job, because I was going back soon.
I hadn’t read three books per week. I hadn’t started my new workout regimen. I hadn’t tried three new restaurants. I hadn’t sorted through my closet.
Maybe I hadn’t earned my Twix.
Once the coffee was done, I poured it into a thermos and returned outside.
With my Twix.
I was a grown man. I could do whatever I wanted.
Right when I reached the doorway to the patio, I caught a glimpse of Colt’s laptop screen. I didn’t know what the fuck that was, but it wasn’t some online newspaper. It looked like a map in night mode, and it made me pause.
I squinted, wishing I had my glasses.
What was that red dot on the screen?
A bunch of digits were changing at the top of the screen too.
Was it…terrain?
If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess he was tracking something.
Or someone.
Holy shit, was he?
Nobody had seen me yet, so I decided to test something. I backed off a few paces into the club area and moved a nearby chair noisily, before I made my way closer to the doorway.
Colt had opened a new window, a news site.
He was hiding something.
Well, I’d be fucking damned.
I strode out with the thermos and aimed for KC. On the way, I snatched up my own mug too, and I refilled them both. If others wanted coffee, there was plenty to go around.
“Colt, I need a quick word in private,” I said.
“Hmm? All right.”
I left my coffee and the chocolate where I’d been sitting before, and I glanced over at KC. “Please make sure Kit doesn’t get any ideas about my Twix.”
KC chuckled. “I’m on it.”
Kit pouted. “Can I have more ice cream, then?”
“Good lord, boy. Absolutely not. You’ve polished off two pints in one day—that’s enough.” I shook my head and motioned for Colt to follow me.
I wanted privacy for this, so I went to our cabin.
Fuck—I batted away a moth. Annoying little things that prevented us from using proper lighting out here. Then again, I’d rather have moths than the fucking spotted lantern flies. I was going to wage war on those shits until the day I died. I killed each one I saw.
I held open the door for Colt and closed it once we were both inside.
“What’s up, darlin’?”
“You tell me.” I cleared my throat and folded my arms over my chest. “Are you hiding something? Because we don’t do that to each other, Colt.”
“Huh?” He looked genuinely confused, so I would let him think on it for a moment.
I merely stared at him.
“What would I be…” He trailed off and didn’t finish the sentence, as if maybe something had occurred to him. He flicked me a brief glance that had some hesitation to it.
I was right. There was something.
He sighed and stuck his hands down the pockets of his jeans. “It wasn’t a choice to hide it as much as Ty and I wanted as few people to know as possible. It’s a security matter.”
Okay, but… “Is something wrong?”
“No.” He took a couple steps closer and cupped my jaw, the tips of his fingers easing into my hair. “We’re trackin’ Greer.”
I felt my eyebrows hitch. “With that scope thing?”
He inclined his head. “He doesn’t know.”
“Whoa—why not?” I blurted out. For some reason, this put me on edge and made me nervous. Shouldn’t Greer be fully aware of what was going on with his own equipment? “He deserves to know.”
He shrugged a little at that. “It’s safer this way.
Less to confess to if he were, God forbid, taken hostage.
But Ty and I would know if somethin’ went wrong—and where to find him.
” He cleared his throat and took a step back, then retrieved something from his back pocket.
“The screen I’m monitorin’ shows no signs of civilization.
It’s in the middle of the jungle in the Colombian interior.
But here—Ty called in a few favors and got us a satellite image of the same area where Greer is right now. ”
I swallowed against the unease and looked at the printout he unfolded.
There were structures, all right. Several of them. Surrounded by forest. Too small to be a town, even a tiny one, but it was certainly a community. The image was so clear that I could see little paths going between the buildings.
“Greer is there right now?” I asked to double-check.
Colt nodded. “They approached real slow, so I’m assumin’ security’s tight as fuck. But yeah, they’re on the inside as we speak.”
“Jesus Christ.” I covered my mouth with my hand, unable to process. This was wild. “If all this is secret—this community or whatever it is…”