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The smaller man stepped out of reach as he licked his lips and walked away. “You’re welcome.”
Felinus blinked, for a moment actually stunned into silence. Then his expression hardened into an odd mix of acceptance and annoyance, an almost normal combination since Issac came into his life and pulled some bratty act that Felinus couldn’t immediately act on in company. “Alright,” he growled, “point taken.” He looked at Seong. “Where are you on finding the last two rats?”
“One is keeping to public and honest areas that would be difficult to spook him out of,” Seong told him. “The other has practically gone to ground. I’m fairly certain he’s using other people to pass on instructions to keep his digital footprint hidden. If I focused on one or the other I can nail them, but splitting my attention it’s going to take longer.” He pushed his crust away. “And if I’m completely honest, before that I need at least twelve hours of sleep and an additional twenty-four hours away from my screens. I’m seeing shit in my sleep.”
Felinus sighed slowly, tilting his head back to glance at the door Issac had disappeared through. “Fine, I’m a fair man,” he said a bit too begrudgingly to sound completely genuine and turning back to them. “And I know when I’m outnumbered and on the brink of mutiny. Tomorrow is Thursday. Snake, you unplug. I don’t need you losing your mind because of something like sleep deprivation. Bat and Brutus, you two do things the old fashion way tomorrow. See if we can’t spook out some informants. I’ll put some other men on making a show of looking for people and information in the meantime. Everyone gets Friday and Saturday morning off but I want everyone ready to hunt by Saturday evening just in case. Agreed?”
There was a resounding agreement from the other men at the table, Bat looking particularly pleased with himself when Brutus made eye contact for a moment then looked away again with a soft smile.
“Great,” Felinus said, glancing again over his shoulder. “Now everyone shut up and eat your pizzas. You have until Issac finishes his phone call before I kick you all out.”
Sleepovers and Clubs
Thomas sat on the bench and fidgeted with the cube as he waited. He and Danny had continued to text each other yesterday about plans and random other things throughout the day. When Thomas had mentioned taking the bus to the city center, Danny had immediately insisted that he and his older brother, Sean, could come get him.
Meeting at the park had been Thomas’s idea— an idea that he was regretting as snow started falling around him. He hadn’t put on snow pants. Everything Danny had said he wouldn’t need them but he was having second thoughts the colder his knees got.
At least he had gotten an email back from Seong before he had left. With all of his work done, Thomas hadn’t needed to go into the school for the rest of the week, which meant there was nothing to stop him from playing the coding game well past when he should have gone to bed. Reaching the promised twentieth level, he had immediately emailed Seong, tried to get some sleep, then ended up beating the entire thing yesterday between his chaotic packing attempts.
The email had been short again but Thomas thought there was something bemused about how Seong told him to make sure to take breaks. Seong gave him a handful of links of resources about the sort of coding Thomas had mentioned to start reading up on. He had also apologized and said his replies between now and Christmas would probably be unpredictable while he handled some things.
The snake clicked comfortingly in his fingers as he wondered what was going on that was keeping the Zoo so busy. Seong had been kind and attentive, but Thomas had seen how exhausted he had been. What were they-
He shook his head hard to drive the thoughts away. Whatever was happening in the Three Rings was none of his concern. He’d promised Fergus O’Hare and his aunts that he’d spend the next three years at least doing everything he could to stay out of that stuff— to be an honest man.
A minivan pulled alongside the curb. Thomas tensed as the back door slid open.
“Hey,” Danny called as he hopped out of the back and grinned at Thomas, “been waiting long?”
Thomas looked up at Danny, and just like the first time he had seen the attractive young man, his heart leapt into his throat. Danny was an athlete. When Thomas had first met him, it had been in the middle of the baseball season; Danny was also on the soccer team, and despite the unseasonable freeze, he still had a slight sunburn on his nose to blend the freckles on his cheeks. He’d once watched Danny play last year. He was good. Really good. “N-no,” he said quickly, getting to his feet before he started doing something mortifying— like drooling over the image of Danny running in his soccer shorts.
They both reached for Ceri’s military issued duffle bag that Thomas probably over packed, and their hands bumped into each other. They both glanced at the other and Danny’s smile widened as Thomas’s face burned. “Sorry, let me,” he offered.
“No, it’s fine,” Thomas managed, slipping his hand into the shoulder strap and swinging it around before Danny could grab it. “I got it.”
Something Thomas didn’t understand flickered in Danny’s face but it was gone instantly. “Sure,” he said, moving out of the way of the door. “After you! Everyone else said they are on their way.”
* * *
Seong tugged his mask down to sip his drink as he leaned against Bat’s back. The other man was faced the opposite way on the bench they had managed to snag in the club, watching people pass by. Seong still wasn’t quite sure how Bat had managed to convince everyone that their one day off in months should be used to go clubbing, but he had even gotten Brutus and Tiger to come along.
Not that he had to try particularly hard to convince Seong. Bat hadn’t been wrong when he said Thomas was the only person Seong had spoken to in the last three months that wasn’t a made man or Issac. To say Seong needed some socialization was a massive understatement; if there was one thing Seong knew, it was that he could trust the three men to watch his back. Not that he was going to be particularly good at spotting anything in the mass of bodies, flashing lights and pulsing music.
“See anyone that’s caught your interest,” Bat called into his ear.
“Neinte,” Seong replied, glancing at Brutus and Tiger a few feet away talking to a man and three women that had been staring Tiger down. He couldn’t blame them.
Despite being barely twenty-one, Tiger looked like the sort of person people dreamed of hooking up with. Dangerous, quiet, big enough that you would always be the little spoon. The irony that the man was so shy that it was only when Brutus offered to do the talking that he agreed to approach the group at all.
He went back to scanning the crowd, tipping his glass back to have a drink. A familiar mess of red curls flicked through moving bodies and he froze. “No fucking way,” he growled, slamming his glass down onto the table and rolling to his feet.
“Hey,” Bat shouted as Seong’s support disappeared, almost spilling his own drink. “What the f-”
Seong made a hand gesture that Felinus insisted he learn despite never having a reason to use it. He knew, without looking, that Brutus, Bat, and Tiger would be moving to back him up.
Thomas was at the bar, looking at a man on his left. Seong only saw him for a second before a crowd of people cut across his path. Just enough time to see him dressed in a cropped sweatshirt and pants so tight it left nothing to the imagination.
“Fuck,” he hissed, trying to get around the people and feeling his chest tighten when Thomas wasn’t in the same spot. He looked around, standing on his toes and spotted the curly hair again, heading towards the dance floor. He couldn’t go straight through but by some miracle he managed to push and weave between the swell of bodies.
