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There was a brief pause, the knob trying to turn through the lock Thomas had flipped when he had gotten in. “Uh, yeah,” Danny said. “Mark said there’s a place down the beach a bit that has some decent reviews if we wanted to eat there, but said I should ask you since said you didn’t want anything touching you.”
A smile tugged on his lips. “That should be fine,” he said, turning off the water and running his fingers through his hair. “The shower helped. Give me a few minutes and you can shower.”
“Sure,” Danny said, his voice odd even through the door. “Take your time.”
* * *
The restaurant was absolutely a front for something. It was busier than any front he had seen in the Three Rings, but still absolutely a front. Thomas frowned at the little signs of it as he looked around the touristy bullshit, at the absolutely massive portions on people’s tables and the odd clusters of made men scattered through the bar. He was tempted to grab Danny’s arm and drag him right back out of the place.
It’s fine, he thought, as Mark and Danny went to the bathroom. It’s just food, and so long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves, no one should bother us.
“There’s free WiFi,” Kevin pointed out, picking up a little note card from the table they were sat at and passing it to Thomas. “You want to use it for a bit?”
Thomas looked at the code and grimaced. “I’m supposed to be unplugged, remember?”
“We won’t tell if you don’t,” Kevin chuckled. “Besides, your aunts didn’t message you back and I know you’re playing it cool or whatever, but I know you want to check to make sure they landed safe too.”
Thomas sighed, a soft laugh coming out at the end. “You aren’t wrong,” he said, scanning the code with his camera.
For a moment, everything seemed normal as the internet connected and he was able receive the message his aunts sent of their own arrival on their cruise ship. He smiled at the picture of them pressed in close, making heart shapes at the camera at him next to the railing of the massive ship. Then his smile dropped as the alert Seong had set his phone up with pinged.
“Fuck,” he hissed, taking the phone in both hands as someone tried to pry into his information. His heart was in his throat as he did what Seong had taught him, the only bit of hacking Thomas would ever know. The program assisting him in pushing the hackers out of his device pinged a second user as he swiped and typed in rapid commands. “Fuck off,” he muttered darkly, pushing both hackers back far enough to turn on airplane mode to cut their connection.
“Thomas,” Kevin said nervously.
“Dammit!” Whoever was coming after him managed to toggle the airplane mode back off. But Seong had warned him about that. It wasn’t a good sign, but Thomas was prepared and he continued to hold them at bay while giving the program a command.
A smile pulled at Thomas’s lips as he turned on the airplane mode on his attackers’ device.
“FUCK,” a man sitting at the bar snapped as Thomas turned the attack back onto him.
He switched his own phone to airplane mode, and this time it stayed on. He looked up at Kevin who was doing his best to look small, not easy for a linebacker. “We have to go,” he said quietly. “But calmly. Get up, go to the bathroom, and grab Danny and Mark. Go for the closest exit.”
“What about you,” he asked, frowning. “We shouldn’t split up.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he promised, glancing at his phone to make sure everything was still toggled off. “If we both go immediately, we are going to draw more attention. We need to act as calm as possible, maybe a little annoyed but nothing that will get more than a glance. Do you understand?”
Kevin’s frown deepened, a crease in his brow. “I- yes,” he agreed, getting up. “I think pizza does sound better actually.”
Thomas smiled at him. Kevin was as honest as anyone from the Three Rings could be, but he wasn’t stupid. Marcus had taught him well enough. Kevin didn’t like the idea of leaving Thomas alone for even a second but he’d trust him. That trust meant a lot more to Thomas than he could say. “Go grab the guys and we’ll head out.”
The crowd seemed to part as Kevin made his way to the back where the bathrooms were, several people glancing towards him for longer than a passing interest.
That’s normal for Kevin though, Thomas reminded himself, glancing up and down Kevin’s back. The football player always drew looks due to being one of the biggest people in any given room, with an attractive face and the muscle mass of a star player. If people weren’t looking at him Thomas would have concerns.
Count to thirty then get up, Jake’s words reminded him as if from a lifetime ago. Thirty seconds will be enough to draw attention away from your table. Don’t be obvious that you are trying to be quiet, but don’t be carelessly loud either. Nice and easy.
Thomas breathed in slowly as he checked his phone again, everything still off as expected, a little green snake in the upper corner indicating that Seong’s program was still picking up attempts to get back in. Ten more seconds.
“Hi there.”
Thomas tensed, looking up at a man in his thirties smiling at him. He took the seat Kevin had been in across from Thomas.
“Um- Hi,” Thomas said, starting to push his chair out. “Sorry. Do you need the table? I was just about to leave.”
“But you just got here,” the man said, his cold blue eyes reminding Thomas far too much of Finnegan. “Why so quick to leave?”
Thomas swallowed, the smile making his skin crawl. “My friend isn’t feeling great,” he lied. “We figured it might be better to get something else. Excuse me-”
