Page 126 of Jackrabbit

Chapter 53

Charlotte

“Jesus fuck.” Colt winced as he took his first inhale of air that hadn’t been conditioned. “It feels like trying to breathe through a damp towel.”

Beau snorted. “Desert baby. This isn’t even bad.”

Colt took his bag off his own shoulder and dropped it on Beau’s as they stepped out onto the curb. “Fine. Take my bag then, since I’m a baby.”

“Mature.” Beau hefted the bag anyway, and Colt bit his lip to keep from smirking at how he looked in his dark green polo carrying Colt’s loud-ass bag. “Got a rental. Supposed to meet at the office in Concord in an hour.”

A group of travelers dashed past them, roller bags droning as they whipped by. The older man was yelling at the teen in another language. They were probably late.

“And you’re taking me by Bojangles, too, right?” Sweat trickled down into the collar of Colt’s t-shirt, but it didn’t matter because everything was fucking moist. Gross. “I am starving.”

“You’re not eating fried chicken before you get in a car going a hundred and eighty miles an hour.” Beau stepped around a mother tying her little girl’s shoes. “Unless you want your legacy to be ‘Kid Who Tossed His Cookies Day One’.”

“At least I’d have a legacy.” They filed into the rental building behind a line nearly out the door, and Colt sighed in relief at the feeling of fresh, conditioned air. “Bright side.”

Beau chuckled and shook his head, and they waited in silence for their turn to get their car.

***

Colt watched the trees zip past his window, sitting in the passenger seat of a gray Tacoma and trying not to feel the silence. Not literal silence—Colt’s phone was connected to the bluetooth, andBohemian Rhapsodywas blaring over the speakers. Beau, however, hadn’t said a single word in twenty minutes. Not even when Colt had played that Bloodhound Gang song about boning like animals. Just gripped the steering wheel with both hands, eyes firmly on the road. Silent.

Twenty-two minutes later, they exited the highway toward a warehouse complex, and Liberty Speedworks sprawled out before them. Glass and steel reflected the sun back into Colt’s eyes when he hopped out of the truck, and he squinted as he dropped his sunglasses back down onto his nose.

“Mr. Rourke, Mr. Moore.”

A man was hurrying toward them from the building. Deep blue suit, dark skin, electric blue hair, the man held out his hand to Colt first, the nails painted the same color as his hair. Colt took it and shook, and the man turned to Beau.

“My name is Theo,” he said, smiling and showing off the jewel embedded in his right incisor. “I was sent to bring you into the command center. Are we ready?”

“Yeah,” Colt agreed since Beau was still playing statue. “Thank you.”

“Of course!” Theo gestured for them to follow, and they fell into step behind him as he led them to the main building entrance, a huge circular front made entirely of glass with a massive pride flag waving next to the stars and stripes.

Colt grinned up at it as they passed under. Sam hadn’t been wrong that he could really fit in here.

Toward the back of the starkly white lobby was an archway, and Theo led them through it and paused a few feet in. Which was good, because Colt hadto stop and stare. The whole hallway was more like a catwalk with a glass floor. Beneath their feet was a chassis shop, people in Liberty-colored coveralls scurrying around working on a car that hadn’t been painted yet.

“That’s so cool.” Crouching down to get a better look, Colt peered toward the other side of the room and found Vic Navarro’s car with three people working on it. Black and neon sulfur and plastered with a bunch of logos, it was badass under the shop lights.

“It is, right?” Theo smiled at him, genuinely warm. “Wait until you see the command center. Come this way.”

“Command center,” Beau said as he hauled Colt up by his bicep. The first words he'd spoken since they left the airport, and he wasn't looking at Colt at all. “That the war room?”

Beau dropped Colt’s arm.

“Sure is!” Theo started walking, and Colt followed, the warmth from Beau’s grip still seeping into his skin even though he'd let go. “But Laura is a bit of a sci-fi fan. Prefers command center.”

Theo led them across the catwalk to a reception desk with no one behind it. A framed photo sat on top—Theo perched on the arm of a massive, gorgeous man in full bearded drag. Two guesses whose desk it was.

Colt loved this place.

The command center was a big-ass room with a million screens and one wall made completely of glass so they could see into the shop. Walters, Navarro, and Hoyt were gathered around a conference table waiting for them, all three heads turning as they walked in.

Walters stood and crossed the room with a red-lipped smile that matched her pantsuit. “Thank you for being here, gentlemen.”