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They stared silently at the TV until Thomas’s eyes wouldn’t stay open, and he slept.
* * *
“So Peacock works for the locals,” Bat asked once the plane was in the air, frowning as he glanced at Seong, then back to Felinus.
“‘For them’ is perhaps not the right words,” Felinus said, his lips twisting in contempt. “They allow Peacock to operate in their territory and in exchange, he pays them a cut. They are not happy to learn he has drawn our attention. From what O’Hare said, he and one of their liaisons had worked out protection for Thomas and his friends. They were supposed to be gently encouraged to remove themselves from any situation that involved local powers, but otherwise left alone and untouched. Peacock isn’t acting with their blessing.”
“Or he was, but that blessing was rescinded when he didn’t manage to get Thomas and got us called instead,” Tiger growled. “I have seen that happen before.”
“That is a possibility,” Felinus acknowledged, “but for the sake of politeness, we are going to believe them about their claim to know nothing about Peacock’s actions. Unless and until they threaten Thomas or his friends, we assume they are allies.”
“Ja, fine,” Tiger grumbled. He glanced at Seong too. “They are helping us then?”
“Within limits,” Felinus said, nodding. “They are hoping to keep Peacock’s operation going as it has been profitable for them. A profit that I imagine will go up with the leader out of the way. They will give us Peacock to do with as we see fit. They will oversee the rest. They claim they will make sure no one retaliates against us.”
“Well it’s not as if they can actually do anything about it once we’re back home,” Bat said, his head jerking towards Seong. “Snake’s already crushing all of them.”
Seong hummed, he kept typing on his keyboard without looking up. Three people were trying to mess with Thomas’s passport, school admissions, and bank accounts simultaneously. Seong was trying to decide which was going to be the less annoying thing to correct so he could take the others down. He let the passport attacker slip through. Getting Thomas off every no-fly list was going to be annoying, but he would only need to get him off two to get him back home for now. All the others could wait. “Say goodbye to your RAM privileges,” he muttered darkly, breaking into the first computer through the door they had left open.
Kitten’s Run
Thomas stirred to a buzzing sensation on his wrist, tapping at it with his palm automatically. Opening one eye, he squinted at the predawn light creeping through the windows. He was still on the couch and he appeared to be alone.
Danny had remained in the room by himself all night. Mark and Kevin probably went to bed sometime after Thomas fell asleep.
His watch buzzed again and he frowned, lifting it up to his face to peer at the tiny screen. Several notifications clogged the screen, including several emails, but Thomas was confused by the text message symbol. The island had towers for cell service, but his provider didn’t cover that. It was possible to make calls using the internet, but not send or receive text messages. What was more, the number that had messaged him was blocked.
He grabbed his phone, the screen unlocking to his face. He saw a picture of himself and Danny for a moment before the text conversation pulled up.
Good morning, kitten, the first message read, sent just a few moments ago.
Popi can’t protect you or them from me now, the second said and slid up as a third message came in. Come here. Bring your tech.
Thomas swallowed, sitting up and checking the emails: three from Seong, giving him updates, reminding him to stay put; emails that said they’d be arriving in the next hour or so to get them if something hadn’t gone wrong with their flight.
Another message came through, simply identified as a picture in the preview. Thomas’s heart landed solidly in his colon. It was a picture of Danny’s dream school admissions, Danny’s information and full ride scholarship all there.
Another text. Come here now or he says goodbye to everything he worked for.
Thomas swallowed as he took a screenshot of the messages and tried to send it to Seong. An angry red circle with a line through it appeared on screen and the message disappeared.
No, no, kitten, Peacock mocked him through the text. Thomas’s stomach clenched as he noticed the green snake in the corner of his screen was now a blue feather. Popi is busy at the moment. It’s just you and me. Come here. You have nine minutes.
The words blurred as Thomas stared at them. Danny had been dreaming about playing for that school since he had been in little league. It was all he had ever dreamed of, next to playing for the big leagues. “Fuck,” he breathed, his voice cracking as he rubbed at his eyes. Thomas had never gotten a real grasp on the baseball talk and the nitty gritty of Danny’s scholarship, but the one thing he did know what how cutthroat keeping it was. If Peacock removed Danny from the list there was nothing to guarantee that Seong could put him back before the spot was filled.
Despite Danny’s belief that Thomas would be willing to risk what Danny wanted on a guess, he wouldn’t. Last night hadn’t been a guess. This was. Without being able to contact, Seong he couldn’t keep Danny’s future safe.
“Dammit,” he snarled, keeping his voice low as he crossed the room for the door. Quickly and quietly, he slid his sneakers back on and let himself out of the room.
Once he was in the elevator, he tried to get another message through to Seong.
Naughty kitten, Peacock mocked him. Stop wasting your time. Clock’s ticking.
“FUCK,” Thomas shouted as his screen was replaced by a countdown timer. He managed to swipe it away and snapped a picture of the elevator numbers.
Now you are listening, the message said before he could even send it. Don’t waste any more time.
“I hate you,” he snarled under his breath as the screen once more changed to a map of the area, a red dot where the hotel and a line leading away from the tourist areas. “I hope they fucking gut you when they find you!”
