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He glared at her, his jaw ticking. Loren turned to my crazy-haired cousin, pleading. “Please, Pixel.”
She turned to Loren, softness covering her features. “Of course.” She looked back down at the screen. “They left about two hours ago and traveled for about thirty miles. They’ve been stopped for twenty minutes. Now, I don’t know if Jude is still with this guard, but as far as I can tell, no one has gotten in or out of the car.”
“Where are they?”
“No clue.” She turned the computer, and we all peered closer at the distorted image. It looked like an open parking lot. My mind tracked through the information and where they could be at the distance they’d driven.
Atticus ordered someone to start writing places on the whiteboard, but I ignored it, a thought tugging at me.
“Masked Kingpin.”
“That’s not possible. They’ve been in the car for too long.”
“You’re assuming they’ve been driving the same direction.” I turned to Pixel. “Can you give a detailed list of all the turns they made, the exact route?”
“Am I Pixel? Obviously, I am, so of course, I can.”
Miming that I wanted to strangle her, I let it go when she got to work. Loren squeezed my hand, and the rest of the guys settled down, sitting at the table. We all watched and waited as Pixel typed into the keyboard. With a dramatic flair, she hit a button. “Boom confetti!”
We all looked around the room, expecting something to happen. She slumped in her chair when nothing did.
“Aw, man! I really wanted it to print out all fancy and be like, boom! You need a printer, Cous!”
“Just give it here,” Nicco muttered, taking the laptop and clicking a few keys. A few seconds later, the whirring of a printer started, and Pixel pouted. Nicco had a smug look on his face, and I stifled a chuckle at someone besting her.
“No fair.” She crossed her arms, and I wanted to pinch her.
“Pixel! Seriously. You need to get out more.”
“I know! I tried to tell them that, but no one listens to me.”
“Let’s focus on Jude, shall we?”
Topher handed the paper to Monroe, who had been writing things on the whiteboard while we all focused on Pixel. As he started to list them, I knew I was right. They’d made a circle a few times, almost like they were just trying to waste time. I couldn’t imagine what they had over him for Elijah to turn. At least, I wanted to believe that Elijah was a decent person and not a traitor from the get-go for Jude’s sake. Though, remembering he’d been the one to let us in at the fight, it was starting to look grimmer.
“Looks like Cami is right. How did you know?” Monroe asked.
“Darren, and who I now know was Dayton, kept talking about it. There’s something about it they were really excited about. I’m not sure what it is, and I only remembered picking up tidbits of conversation in passing, but when I saw the space, it reminded me.”
“Nicco, call Ethan. We need to have a meeting.”
“Warehouse district?” he asked, pulling out his phone.
Atticus shook his head. “No. I can’t trust it’s not compromised.”
“What about my apartment?” Loren asked, looking up to meet his eyes. Atticus looked over, and some of the fear I’d seen evaporated.
“It could work. We could have others in Goldie’s place to observe.”
“Sure, you can use my space for your top-secret mission. No problem,” Monroe snarked. “Just don’t eat all the Lunchables, or Levi will riot.” Monroe rolled his eyes, miffed he hadn’t been asked directly.
“Kids get the best lunches,” Pixel mumbled. She still pouted, pretending she wasn’t listening.
“Ethan,” Nicco thundered, and the rest of us quieted. “We need to meet.” He listened to the other end, rolling his eyes. “Mmhmm. Yeah, that doesn’t work. This wasn’t really a request. I’ll text you the address. You have an hour.”
Nicco ended the call and typed something in before shoving the device into his pocket. It was the motion they all needed to jump into action. The one hour time limit didn't give them much time to prepare. But when it came to Jude, it already felt too long.
* * *
