Page 152 of Barinov

“This one’s a letter,” Nate says as he slides it to Knox. “For you.”

“And this one…” Khoza says, revealing the second page with the flame. “Looks like…” He squints. “Math? And some sort of drawing.”

Lex glares up at him. “Zeke gave us math?”

Khoza shrugs and hands it to Knox.

“Not math.” Knox scans it, eyes narrowing. “It’s code.”

Lex huffs. “For what?”

Knox turns the page on its side. “Guys,” he says, eyes blown wide as he glances at Lex. A small smile curves at his lips. “I know how to get the collars off.”

“You sure?” Lex asks, his voice shaky.

“Yeah.” Knox nods, his eyes scanning fast. “It’s gonna take some time but…” He lets out a breathy laugh. “I can do it.”

A warm rush of relief washes over me so fast it makes me dizzy. Under my hand, Lex lets out a rough breath. His shoulders finally dropping an inch at the first piece of good news in nearly two months since we lost her.

“Thank God,” I murmur.

Lex’s hand comes up, covering mine. “How long?”

“Not sure yet,” Knox admits. He looks around us toward the bar. “Laing, come here.”

Laing sets down his drink and pushes off the barstool. The closer he gets, the tighter my grip becomes on Lex’s shoulders.

Knox hands him the sheet. “What do you think?”

Laing’s eyes skim it once. Then again, slower.

“Damn, Z,” he huffs under his breath, a low laugh following.

“What do you think?” Knox repeats.

Laing hands it back. “I think it’ll work.”

He pauses.

“Once we get close enough.”

“The hell does that mean?” Lex mutters, tension snapping right back into his shoulders.

I start rubbing slow, firm circles into the muscle.

Laing leans over Knox’s shoulder and taps the bottom corner of the page. “I mean all of this?” he says. “Yeah. That’ll work.”

Another tap.

“But this right here is the fucking problem.”

My stomach drops.

Laing straightens, dragging a hand down his jaw. “We have to disable Luca’s remote access first.”

Silence slams into the room.

“Zeke’s code won’t mean shit,” Laing adds, shaking his head. “If Luca triggers this first.”