“Kev? Is something wrong?”
Ford and Dalton dashed over to him to listen in.
“The camera to one of the other exits just went out. That whole grid, just shut off remotely.”
“Which exit?” Ford demanded.
“There!” Dalton cried, taking off as there was a flash of color and movement down the hallway.
“Wait!” Ford called after him. He gave chase, and Andrew sprinted in pursuit behind him, but Dalton still crested the corner first. Then Ford.
Then a gunshot rang out, followed by a scream.
Andrew prepared for the worst as he rounded the corner, but it wasn’t a gunshot, just the slam of the door, which must havecaught Dalton’s hand, because he was on the ground cradling it, while Ford crouched over him.
“Go!” Ford cried.
Andrew wasted no time darting past them out the door, meeting the cool night air to see… nothing. There were multiple directions the thief might have gone and no sign or indication of which one they’d chosen. The ground wasn’t dusty or soggy enough to leave footprints, and there were too many shadows and hiding places.
Still, Andrew ran out further from the building, hoping to catch something, anything, even a random passerby, but the thief was gone.
Angry as he was at their failure, there was still plan B. He turned back to the building, bringing his hand up to his earpiece to alert Kevin—when he passed a dumpster just outside the exit and saw a collection of tiles sitting on top of the trash.
The trackers.
Chapter 11
ANDREW
“Whatdoyoumeanthe thief was naked?” Kevin sputtered over the radio.
Andrew hovered in the corner of Ford’s living room, getting out the final details to Kevin, which he’d have to repeat to Steven too.
“That’s what Dalton said. He only saw the quick flash of a naked leg, but he swears it was skin, with the foot covered in plastic to not leave prints. It would explain why there were never any fibers. The blur I saw looked like all one color. I would have guessed a bodysuit, but maybe he’s right.”
“Ew.”
“Agreed, but not stupid.”
“Male or female?
“He couldn’t tell. Just that they had a medium skin tone and were small and slender.”
“Anything else?” Kevin asked.
Oh, there was—the trackers—but Andrew didn’t dare say anything until he knew what it meant. “Not for now.”
“Well, there issomething…”
Andrew could tell by the hitch of nerves in Kevin’s tone what he meant: the almost kiss he’d witnessed in the kitchen. “Can we talk about that tomorrow?”
“Sure, man,” Kevin said. “But we’re definitely talking about it. Do I hear yelling?”
And then some.
Ford had dragged Dalton to his building, and Andrew had helplessly tagged along, knowing they had to regroup and talk about this, but also caught up in the family feud currently exploding.
“What were you thinking chasing after them alone?” Ford cried as Dalton once again refused his help in bandaging his bruised and stiff fingers.
