13. Scott
THIRTEEN
SCOTT
Unknown: Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
“What do you mean, they’ve been compromised?!” Naz shrieks, loud enough that the construction crew on the other side of the property probably heard him. It’s pretty unlikely Simon didn’t hear it from just inside the house, that’s for sure.
“Everyone is safe. No one was seriously injured,” Blake says calmly.
“What do you mean by seriously injured?” I clarify.
“Jesse and Luc both have some superficial wounds, but they’re okay,” Cory says calmly. “They’re being treated by a private physician in a secure location, and I’m here with them. Will and Ari are completely unharmed and are with Eric in a second location.”
“Weren’t both of these locations supposedly secure?” I ask, trying to keep the pitch of my voice down. I’m usually calm in these types of situations, but my stomach is churning painfully.
Could I have stopped this?
“What happened exactly?” Naz asks. We still haven’t heard the whole story. All we know is that something happened at both locations and that none of us are as secure as we thought.
“The house Will and Ari were staying at was vandalized,” Cory answers.
“They weren’t in the house when it happened, but they came back to a broken window, scorch marks on one side of the house, and some burned landscaping.
The only evidence the police found was some debris from commercial fireworks, but Mr. Carter is working on pulling security footage. ”
“And Jesse and Luc?”
“Drone attack. Apparently Luc came out on the deck to see a drone hovering. He said it looked like it was holding something, and given recent events, rightly assumed it might be dangerous. He knocked it out of the sky, but instead of crashing into the water, it ended up crashing into the boat and exploded.”
“Jesus. They could have been killed!” Naz exclaims. He stares at me with wide eyes, and I move to put my hand on his shoulder.
“They’re okay,” Blake assures him. “Luc has a few first-degree burns and caught some shrapnel in his leg. He took the brunt of it, though. According to Jesse, Luc tackled him and knocked him into the water. He has a minor cut on his forehead and some bruising on his torso where Luc hit him.”
“The Coast Guard picked them up almost an hour after it happened. They were floating on a buoy just far enough away that they could still see the boat. Luc was worried the whole thing would blow,” Cory adds.
“He’s definitely the kind of guy you want around in an emergency,” I say.
Naz looks shocked. “How did the Coast Guard even find them?”
“The yacht had an onboard monitoring system that sends out an alert if any alarms are tripped. When the company called to check in and didn’t get an answer, they automatically reported it to the Coast Guard with the last known coordinates,” Cory answers.
“Do we think the two events are related?” I ask, knowing the answer. I feel it in my gut.
They warned me.
“Our working theory is that both incidents are connected, yes. My guess is that the attacks were identical—drones carrying fireworks—only with very different outcomes. We’ll know for sure when we get the security footage from Mr. Carter’s security company and when I get a report about the damage to the boat that confirms if the drone was carrying the same fireworks. ”
“For now, we need to figure out a more secure location for you all until things calm down and we get more answers,” Blake says. There’s some shuffling and murmuring in the background. “Hold on one second.”
The line goes quiet. No one says anything while we wait. There’s a vague sound of Cory breathing. Naz is watching me, probably waiting for me to look back, but I can’t. I can’t look in his eyes and know I might be responsible for this.
“Sorry about that.” Another pause. “Okay. Will you let me?”
“I have a theory!” Emmy says quickly, his voice too loud. I have a mental image of him reaching over Blake’s desk and shouting into the phone.
Blake sighs. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, I don’t know for sure, but it makes sense. Is this line secure?”
“Emerson.”
“Right. So, I’ve been going through everything we use to coordinate for the band.
After Jesse’s cloud got hacked, we moved all of you, management, and basically anyone connected to the band off personal accounts and switched to a completely secure workspace.
Encrypted messaging, calendars, itineraries, contacts, production notes—basically everything we need to keep the band organized. ”
“You think the platform was compromised?” I ask.
“Either that, or…”
“Or what, Emmy?” Naz prods. I think he’s trying to be encouraging, but we’re all on edge, so it comes off a bit harsh.
“Either someone found a way into the platform that was guaranteed to be the most secure workspace available… or someone with legitimate access is leaking the information and/or possibly the bad guy themselves.” He says the second part in a rush, the words tumbling from his mouth like he’s nervous to say them out loud.
No one speaks for a long, drawn-out minute while we all process what he’s saying.
“What I can’t figure out is why anyone directly connected to the band would want anything to happen to them.
All of our jobs are more or less tied to the band’s success,” Emmy muses.
“But it would make sense. They knew the hotel information for the bomb threat. They knew Will and Ari were staying at Alonso Carter’s beach house, which, sure, a good detective could have connected some dots and gotten there eventually.
But Jesse and Luc’s yacht? Let me tell you, Luc’s paranoid ass made damn sure they weren’t trackable. ” He pauses again. “Who’s missing?”
“They haven’t bothered Naz yet,” Blake answers thoughtfully. “But why not?”
“Because I’m not at the address in the system,” Naz answers. “Since the property isn’t finished yet, and I don’t technically live here yet officially, I haven’t changed my address or anything.”
I hold my finger up, and Naz nods his understanding. Hopefully Emmy is as smart as I think he is. A wiretap might feel far-fetched, but I’m not above playing it safe. Hell, I’ve searched Naz’s trailer for bugs three times. Call me paranoid, but I’m not taking any chances.
Emmy clears his throat. “Exactly. And I never told anyone here, other than Scott, where you are. I wouldn’t even let Blake have the address,” he says, sounding a little smug about it.
I hear Blake hum in the background. “Anything I’ve done regarding that location has been completely off the books and therefore never even mentioned in the system. ”
“I have an idea!” Comes a scratchy shout from the background.
“Hold on,” Cory says. “I’ve had you all on speaker for the last little bit so Jesse could listen in.”
There’s some rustling, then Jesse’s voice comes over the speaker.
“Yo,” he says, his voice sounding raspy and weak, like he has a sore throat.
“Emmy’s theory makes sense. I talked to my mom a while ago, and she didn’t say anything about attacks at home.
Which would support the theory that whoever this is, they knew where I was to be able to target me specifically. ”
“So, hypothetically, if we send someone to Naz’s address, where all the records say he’s at right now, there should be signs of a similar attack?” Blake supplies.
Naz shakes his head. “If there were any issues, the building manager would have called me.”
“You live in a condo building, right? The same one that Will and Ari live in?” I don’t wait for him to confirm, it was a rhetorical question.
“If the drones were pre-programmed to drop the fireworks at specific locations, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have landed directly on his doorstep.
More than likely, whatever happened did so outside the front entrance to the building. ”
“Naz, can you call your building manager and ask if anything suspicious has happened today?” Blake asks.
“And I’ll call my mom back to verify nothing happened around the property at our place, we live in a condo too. Ours is set up differently, but it can’t hurt to have the extra data. I’ll call Luc’s building manager, too, just to be thorough.”
“That’s a good idea, Jesse, thanks,” Blake says.
The added tenderness in the way Blake says Jesse’s name is obvious. It’s clear he cares a lot about these guys. I know he’s beat up about the guys being in danger and what Jesse went through today.
I know I am.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to bring up the texts. If I wasn’t sure before that this is the same person or people that are responsible for the bomb threat and the attacks today, I am now.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I should have taken it more seriously, even before they sent that picture of Naz. I should have told Cory that day, but I thought getting here and being by his side was more important.
And that’s when it hits me.
That’s exactly why they chose me.
Whoever is doing this knows that I’m more than protective of Naz. That this is more than a job to me. They knew I’d go to be with him, and then they tried manipulating me by trying to convince me the band aren’t good people, or that Naz thinks I’m disposable.
What they failed to realize is that I already know I’m disposable.
Naz has made it abundantly clear that our relationship is an arrangement and nothing more.
I think he cares for me, but I’m not deluded enough to think he could ever love me.
I don’t know that Naz is capable of allowing himself to let go enough to truly be with someone, but more importantly, the only thing he has ever wanted from me was a sexual arrangement.
There has always been an expiration date on what we have. And I’m okay with that. I have to be okay with that.
Did I anticipate falling for him? Not at all. But I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to force or even try to convince someone to be with me if that’s not what they want.
This person, whoever is doing all of this, is either delusional themselves, or doesn’t know me very well if they think I can be bought or manipulated into betraying Naz or any of the other guys.
Now that they’ve proven just how dangerous they are, I don’t think I can continue ignoring them the way I have.
I have to do something about this.