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“What if he’s already there?” I asked. “What if he’s already gone?”
“He’s not leaving tonight,” Axel said. “He could try, but the yacht he owns takes more than one person to run. He’d have to get his crew together quickly. And if he’s waiting on this last shipment, he’s not going to leave without it. But we do have to be careful. He may suspect Kayli’s watching, so he’s probably going to be trickier. He may even divert where this shipment is going. We’ll need someone to intercept it if possible.”
“He’s not doing the delivery himself,” I said.
“Right,” Axel said. “We still need someone to watch him. Brandon, go down and start. Corey, I need you to start listening. Phone calls, emails, anything he might be using. Set up a monitoring team and figure out how the hell he’s been able to cut our feeds without us knowing.”
“What about Kayli?” Marc asked.
“What about me?” I sliced my hand through the air. “Don’t worry about me. Just make sure Wil is okay. Actually, you probably need to get him. I should probably go with Raven to the docks. I know what the guy making the delivery looks like. I know where Coaltar’s at now but if he’s already on his way...”
“Does he know your name?” Axel asked. “Does Coaltar know who you are?”
“He still knows me as Kate. He doesn’t know anything about me.”
“We don’t want to take any chances. Marc, stay with Kayli. Kayli, stay in the apartment.”
“What?” I cried. “I can’t stay.”
“Kayli,” Axel barked from the phone. “I’ll be forever grateful that you took the initiative. You found out more in a day than what took us a couple of weeks of surveillance. You’ve done a wonderful job, but let us take it from here. Go to sleep. You need to recover.”
“But—”
“If you want to help, you need to stay put. If he’s looking for you, if he thinks you’ll be watching, you won’t be able to go anywhere near City Marina without him being aware of it. He’ll have people looking for you. He won’t be expecting Raven. You need to stay away from Wil, and you especially need to stay away from Coaltar. We should probably even get you out of town for a while.”
“I can do that,” Marc said.
“Right now, stay put,” Axel said. “We may need her for information and to make any identifications. But if you see any sign of trouble, get her on the first plane out of here. And stay with her. Call up the Academy for a couple of favors if you have to.”
I grunted, shoving my fists at my eyes. I realized then why I was so frustrated with this group. I wasn’t used to letting anyone else tell me what to do. It was annoying when I wanted to go back and kick Blake’s ass for being a lying bastard. Had he known they were on to him? How much did he know? I wanted to go get Wil myself and warn him. I didn’t want to sit and do nothing.
The worst part was that they were probably right. They had been right from the very beginning. I was too stubborn and too angry. Like shooting Marc in the leg. Like getting jumped by a bunch of thugs in a back street alley. I bit my tongue now, hard, simply to stop myself from protesting. Even Blake saw it in me. I was going to get myself killed jumping the gun and not listening.
I sighed, with a lot of emphasis, just to show how much I really didn’t like it. “Fine,” I said.
“Everyone move,” Axel said, and he hung up.
With that, everyone started moving at once. Corey, who had been standing by, patted me once on the shoulder, looking like he wanted to say a whole lot of things to me, but couldn’t at the moment. He dashed out of the apartment to, I imagine, his own place where he could use the computers and do what he did best.
Raven ran for his room, stuffing his feet into boots and shoved on a shirt. Brandon did the same, borrowing some clothes from Marc’s room.
“Emergency phones, guys,” Marc said. He walked out to the computer desks in the dining room. He opened a drawer, pulling out what looked like brand-new flip phones. He curled his fingers at the other guys, and passed the phones off to them. He collected their old cell phones, too, leaving them on the desk.
“I need another ID,” Raven said. “I need to borrow a boat.”
Marc disappeared into his bedroom, and came back with an ID card, and a wad of cash. “There’s a hotel by the marina, plus there’s a little restaurant. See if you can set up surveillance from the hotel room. Get Silas to make friends with whoever is in the dock house. When it opens, go to the restaurant that has a good view of the docks. Call Silas from a pay phone. Make sure he brings an emergency phone and leaves his own behind. He needs a non-GPS car, too.”
“I’ll take the bike,” Brandon said.
“You need another car,” Marc said. “See if anyone has a spare. The bike will work for now, but it’s too loud and obvious. Have them replace your bike. Use the park to hide in for now. And you need some protection since Blake knows your face. I should probably be doing your job.”
“I could make it obvious,” Brandon said. “I could tail him and make sure he knows. He’ll be reluctant to make a move then.”
“He may figure out a way to divert you, instead. If he is with one of the cartels, that makes him more dangerous. We don’t want to take that risk right now. Just watch, but from a distance.”
Brandon nodded. “Have Corey send someone to find me. I’ll stay in the park if I can. If I need to, I’ll circle the block.”
I had my arms crossed around my stomach, and hovered in the hallway. I was in awe simply hearing them talking like this, the way they worked together. They talked about their plans. They came up with a solution. Marc made the final decision and they went with it. The fluidity of how they worked dazzled me. Raven, the least likely I suspected to take orders or advice from anyone, accepted what Marc had to say and simply absorbed it. It was like their fight from before had been forgotten completely.
I felt out of place where I stood, but inside I desired this. I didn’t understand it so well, and while I worked alone, being with the guys was like being more confident in my choices. With more than one person making the decision, it felt like more of the right thing to do. I didn’t feel like I was messing up any more.
I’d messed up enough. Now they were doing all this to fix my mistakes. Maybe Coaltar didn’t know about the cameras and the rest until I tipped him off. And I’d pointed him right at the boys by mentioning Brandon and their suspicions.
Marc walked over to the door to open it for the others as they left. As he moved, it was the first time I noticed the limp. Panic settled in. If the guys left, I’d be alone with him. He’d curse me out for shooting him. He’d tell me how stupid I was for getting caught up in this. I couldn’t run now. I’d already promised I’d stay.
Before Marc shut the door, I approached him. “Maybe we should go hang out with Corey,” I said. “Maybe we can help him.” I thought a third person being around would ease the tension.
“Corey works best when he’s alone so he can listen and think,” Marc said. He closed the door and turned the lock. “If he needs us down there, he’ll call. Besides, he may not stay here. He may need to work from somewhere else. We don’t want to slow him down.”
I tapped my fingers across my upper thighs, and started the awkward gazing around the apartment. Silence settled in. The crazy moments of before still coursed through me but I had nowhere to expend the energy.
Not much had changed since I left. The place still smelled like special blends of coffee. I curled my toes against the fibers of the standard beige carpet. Blake’s carpets had been softer. I cringed at the bitter thoughts of him, at thinking of how he had tricked me.
“What’s wrong?” Marc asked, his voice softer than I expected.
I flinched and looked up. He stood by the door still, leaning against it with his shoulder. His mismatched eyes focused on me.
“Nothing,” I said quickly.
“Liar,” he said quietly.
That stung. “Stop saying that,” I said. “Don’t cal
l me that.”
“You were lying.”
“If I’m lying, there’s probably a reason.”
“Like what?”
“Like I don’t want to tell you.”
