Page 99 of Raze
I pull out my chair, letting it loudly scrape across the floor before I plop right down. Dane has made a large plate of pancakes and bacon, and there’s a bowl of mixed fruit as well. Considering it’s past lunchtime, and he’s still made us all breakfast, I’m wondering howmany of us had a late night and just recently woke up.
I pile a load of each onto my plate and then pour myself a large glass of orange juice.
My fork stabs into the fruit first, shoving it into my mouth before I look around the table. Dane’s plate is already empty, and he’s just watching me with unguarded disgust at my eating habits. Aiden is scrolling through his phone as usual, while Raegan’s trying to look anywhere but at him. If I didn’t know what happened yesterday, I wouldn’t think much of it since they normally aren’t very chatty with each other in the morning. But now I feel a bit like Jack as I pick apart the details I would normally overlook.
Aiden’s wearing a black suit that’s wrinkled and rumpled. His tie is missing, and the first few buttons in his dress shirt are undone. It looks like he slept in it and then came straight here when he woke up.
If I paid any attention to clothes at all, aside from Raegan’s, I might know if he wore that suit yesterday or not. There’s also a light smell of bourbon wafting from him. Again, is it from last night or this morning?
At minimum, he’s definitely still going through some shit from Raegan last night. Even if he’s acting like nothing’s happened.
“Out late last night or early this morning?” I shoot Aiden’s way with a smirk. Some might ignore it or give him his privacy, but that’s not me. I just call it as I see it.
Aiden sets his coffee mug down and frowns at me. “Since we’re all here now, we need to come up with a game plan for our next steps. Where are we with Gifted Enterprise?”
I chuckle at the topic shift and lounge back in my seat, one arm hooked over the back of the chair and one leg sprawled out.
“I haven’t made any progress on finding the island. Or, islands,” Dane begins. “I think Vera’s blocking me, so it’s almost wasted time at this point to keep trying.” His eyes snap up to Aiden. “I think we should prioritize getting Vera back. Not just because she’s my sister, but we’re stuck in this holding pattern because of her too. Getting her on our side means we don’t have to worry about technology or the Guild anymore, and I can get the exact locations of the islands.”
“You would say that.” I scoff, and he slashes a glare my way. I shrug back. “What? I’m just saying that getting her here and on our side is going to be just as time-consuming. You really think she’ll just hand herself over to us and cooperate?”
“I’m with Kellan,” Raegan chimes in. “There has to be a faster way to take down GE.”
“Reid and Tinsley weren’t much help in the information they had,” Aiden admits. “They were brought to other locations by someone with the ability to create a portal between two places, so they never knew where exactly they were. And they weren’t high enough up the chain to know more than a couple names of lead agents.”Aiden finishes the rest of his coffee before he continues. “Hopefully, those names can give us somewhere to start. Otherwise, we’re back to square one. Jackson usually sniffed them out for us, so we need a backup plan.”
“I can do it. I’m a magnet for trouble, so I’m sure I’ll run into something we can use,” Raegan volunteers.
My hand smacks down on the table. “I’ll come with you.”
Her eyes cut over to me, and her mouth opens. To argue, I’m sure, but Aiden talks as if he didn’t notice.
“Good. Next, we need to figure out what to do with Jackson. We need to bring him in, detain him, and figure out what he’s doing and why.”
“We haven’t seen Thorne since Jackson took off,” Dane muses accusingly.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Raegan’s head whips around to him.
He gives a slight shrug. “Nothing. Maybe something. I don’t know. I just think it’s odd that he tried to draw us out over a month ago, he ran, and then he never tried coming back at us?”
I frown at that revelation.
“In any case, getting Jackson will be our priority. Has anyone seen him?” Aiden looks around the table.
“Nope,” I offer once he’s looking my way. Dane’s shaking his head, as is Raegan.
Wind out of nowhere sweeps through the room, knocking décor off the walls and sending any loose papers flying. It comes in a steady torrent, increasing in speed as if a tornado’s about to pick up within the walls of the firehouse.
“Get under the table!” I shout at the others, jumping over to Raegan first to help her duck under the table. The chairs are whipped away from us before I can grab them, so I hold either side of the table from underneath and keep it in place instead.
Our dishes fly off the table and crash against the wall. Anything lighter than the chairs and not mounted to the floor or wall has beenpicked up and is now spinning around the room.
Aiden curses. “It’s Thorne. I don’t have enough metal on me.” He raises the small shield he’s made from whatever metal he’d had on him, but it’s barely the length of his forearm.
“Where’s the rest of it?” I shout over the wind.
His jaw clenches. “In the locker room.”
Great. So, the complete opposite side of this building.
