Page 52 of Ramshackle
But more time with Gordon put a lot of things into perspective for me. He’s a master manipulator. I was too young, too inexperienced before, but this time I saw it. There was no choice for me or the guys back then. Gordon made sure to create the division between us. To cut me off from them.
I’m not going to let that happen anymore.
And this time, I may have been his prisoner, but I didn’t come back empty-handed.
That’s what’s going to help me move forward more than anything else.
Dane frowns, his expression filled with questions and concern, but Aiden surprisingly intervenes on my behalf. “I don’t have any maps like that here, but I’m not sure it would matter.” He taps his fingers on the table. “When Dane tried to look them up online, the imagery conveniently didn’t show certain islands.”
“I had to use real-time satellite images to find them,” Dane adds, though he doesn’t seem pleased by the topic shift. “But I kept getting kicked out. Vera probably has some sort of alert set up on that satellite when anyone tries to hack in. So, if I try again, she’ll be able to trace back who’s looking and from where.”
Which means we can’t do it from here or else we would lead her and GE right to the Guild.
“If she blocked you last time, how are we supposed to get what we need?” Kellan drawls from the couch.
Dane leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “She didn’t know it was me last time. There’s a chance she’ll let me in at the opportunity to trace where I am. We would need to be fast enough to get what Rae needs and get out before she and a swarm of GE agents show up.”
“I’m assuming these maps are for locations of specific islands for something?” Aiden queries, and I nod.
“I think they’re othertrainingfacilities. We can free a lot of people and take away their source of new agents.” I picture Mallory, recalling her story of why she was there. Even if some of them are freed, do they have a home to go back to? And one that wants them?
“Do we have enough room here for them?” Dane directs to Aiden.
There’s a knock at the door. “No. Not yet, anyway,” Aiden says before he stands. “Come in!”
The door opens, and a cart full of food and drinks rolls in. Aiden thanks the man who delivers it. “We’ll take it from here. Thanks, Jordan.” The man smiles and closes the door behind him.
Aiden piles plates in front of me, filling the small round table with more food than I could ever fit in my stomach in a day, let alone one meal. Pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits with gravy, fruit, muffins, yogurt…
I reach for a strawberry from the dedicated bowl of them. Aiden sets a mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice in front of me, makes himself a coffee, and then returns to his seat.
“You’re all going to help me eat this, right?”
“We already ate,” is Aiden’s answer, though Kellan snorts from behind me.
I turn in my seat. “I’m not going to eat all of this. Eat whatever you want.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “It’s all yours, beautiful.”
My lips turn down, but a glance at each of them shows me that no one else intends on touching it.
Well, fine. I’ll eat what I can, and maybe once they see how much is left, they’ll dig in for themselves.
“So, where were we again?” I ask, proceeding to stuff myself silly.
“I’ll need time to make room for whomever we rescue. We have a dozen of the quarantine rooms, but that won’t be nearly enough.” Aiden types something out on his phone and pockets it again.
I pause my chewing as what he says sinks in. It’ll take forever to construct more room underground. How did they even build this underground fortress in the first place? Did the bunker get built before the Tower?
Aiden catches my gaze. “Let me worry about it. That aside, we’ll need to go somewhere with computers in a public space. They’ll be less likely to cause a big scene if that place has too many others around.”
Easy. “The University library,” I offer between mouthfuls. “I doubt they’ll attack us freely with all the students and faculty around. A fight there would make headlines.” I wash the food down with hot coffee.
Dane’s face pinches again with concern as he watches me eat. I’d reassure him that Idideat on the island but my mouth’s occupied.
“Slow down before you give yourself an upset stomach,” Aiden chastises.
Kellan laughs and shifts toward the table, his hand out like he’s preparing to pinch some food. “Are you going to bite my hand off if I steal a piece of bacon, beautiful? You’re making it look irresistible.”
