Chapter 41
COSETTE
With a jolt, I found myself awakened from my state of unconsciousness.
Memories of what happened came rushing to me and I felt my body heat up at what we all did.
The sun was close to setting, and it was almost the perfect view from our bed, naked and surrounded by my guys.
Almost perfect, because Dex was missing from our pile.
I slipped from under Nero’s arm, getting dressed in one of their shorts, and a fresh pullover from the closest bag that I could reach before I was out and about looking for Dex.
Judging by the closed doors on our floor and the second, I assumed that most were having afternoon naps from the long drive, before the planned activities would start tonight after dinner was served.
Going downstairs, those who weren’t napping were playing foosball, pool, and some were just lounging in the huge living room with their noses stuck to their phones.
“There you are,” I called out softly as I finally found Dex on one of the beach chairs near the volleyball net, on his laptop that I didn’t even know he brought.
“Hey. You passed out on us. You okay?”
I sank down beside him, humming as I placed my chin on his shoulder, unabashedly looking at the screen of his laptop. On it was a state map, areas marked with red Xs, while some had minimized sticky notes on them.
“If only I could fucking know who among the Azul men are undercover, maybe I could find out where the guy that helped Callista was assigned to spy,” he said, fingers typing too hard as he noted the weather into one of the expandable sticky notes near Beaufort.
“And you can’t access those files?” I asked in a mumble against his skin, hoping the simple touch could bring him some kind of comfort to fight the stressful mind place he’s in.
“No, I’m on Exodus, so I don’t have the clearance to those files anymore.”
I bit my lip, feeling guilt climb up my throat because maybe if I hadn’t let Callista go that night, she could’ve told us more about the place. Her experience.
“I’m sorry, Dex. I shouldn’t have decided to just let her go in the middle of the night like that without waking you guys up—“
“Hey, no. None of this is your fault. You did so well talking to Callista, sweetie. You got her to talk. If you and Nero weren’t there, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have gotten a single thing out of her. She was scared of Siege and me.”
I chuckled then because it was true. She was a good judge of character. And I’m not saying she was right to be scared of Dex and Siege, but somehow, she knew that they’re different from me and Nero.
“So, which of those areas is the most likely?” I asked, hoping that if I talk him through the information he already has on hand, we can help each other figure out the most probable one.
“This place called Wilton. It has the smallest population, wide forests, basically the perfect place for illegal activity going undetected,” he said, pointing to the center part of the map.
“But?” I asked, knowing there’s got to be a ‘but’ somewhere.
“But… no rain that week.”
I nodded, gesturing to the nearby towns around Wilton. “Any of the other towns here got rain?”
“That’s the thing, sweetie. It didn’t rain at all that week. The whole state. Not a single drop.”
My brows furrowed.
“How is that possible? It’s the one thing Callista was sure of. The smell of rain.”
I took a deep breath, frustration getting to me, but I stopped. Because when I took that inhale?
I smelled.
There was no rain, and it didn’t rain, but it smelled like rain.
“Unless it wasn’t rain she’s smelling,” I mumbled.
And as if on cue, I heard a horn.
My eyes went out to the ocean, seeing a big cargo ship in the distance.
What else did Callista say? Dark. Big. Alarm. Brawny man.
What if—
Without hesitation, I grabbed Dex’s laptop, and I looked for an English-Filipino translator.
“I think I screwed up. Callista didn’t say she saw a brawny man in the Nest,” I mumbled, typing in the two words into the translator.
‘Barako’ meant a muscular guy. When I translated it for the guys when Callista said the word, I didn’t think it was out of place for a man like that to be handling illegal business.
And Callista couldn’t correct me that I said the wrong thing because I doubt she knew what ‘brawny’ meant.
I turned the laptop to make Dex look at the other word, sounding so similar.
“She said ‘barko’, not ‘barako’.”
And barko in Filipino? It meant ship.
Callista sometimes heard alarms or ships.
It was as if everything clicked into place.
The rain-like smell that could very much well be the sea. The monthly shipments that can only be possible if they have access to some kind of easy-access port.
I looked at Dex as we came to the same conclusion.
We may be closer to the Nest than we thought.