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“On it, Gray,” Jace said, typing something quickly on his computer. There was a moment where we had to wait to see if he was going to find anything of consequence. There was a chance that we would not find anything despite breaking into his house, despite the fact that this man had died and my brother had takenthe rap for it. I knew that I had stepped into a world full of danger and pain but I couldn’t fathom the idea of an innocent person being collateral damage.
Teo’s face was a mask of concentration as he stared at the computer screen, where the coordinates were beginning to take shape. My mind was racing, trying to process what this could mean. What message were we supposed to receive? And what did it have to do with the Viper?
Jace’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and suddenly, a map appeared on the screen. It was a topographical map of the area around the Lake Apopka reservoir. The coordinates pointed to a specific spot on the lake—a small, uninhabited island. One that was frequently covered by rain during the summer.
“Well, that’s... unexpected,” Victor said. “A secret message on a deserted island?”
“Hardly a deserted island,” I said. “That’s like ten blocks over.”
Grayson chuckled, his eyes glinting with excitement. “It’s not the island itself, Sofia, it’s what’s on it.”
“What do you mean?” Teo asked, his gaze still trained on the computer screen where the coordinates had been plotted.
“Before Disney, before Orlando became the city it is today, the government was using Florida for testing...weapons, experiments, that sort of thing. This island in particular was a testing ground for, well, no one knows for what. The legend around it is that when Walt Disney bought the land to make the parks, he made a deal with the government to pay for particularthings as long as they covered up some of their sketchiest facilities. Lake Apopka is a manmade lake.”
“And you believe that?” I asked, looking up at him.
“It’s just shit I heard as a kid,” Grayson said. “But now, looking at this...I’m starting to believe it’s more than just a myth.”
His eyes met mine and he flashed me a tight smile. “You grew up here. You must have heard something about this, right?”
“Sure, but it was just a rumor,” I said. “And what could have Brady wanted with a facility that’s in water most of the time, anyway?”
“”Here,” Teo’s finger jabbed at a series of numbers masked amidst the mundane inventory lists. “See there? These aren’t quantities or prices. Next to the coordinates? Those look like dates. European dates, that’s why it took me a bit to work these out. But these numbers 01122023, 24032024, these are all dates, not just random number strings. He’s scheduling drops.”
“Okay, let’s break this down,” Jace said, looking around the room to make sure everyone was focused. “We have the coordinates for a deserted island, supposedly the site of a secret government facility. And the dates, which seem to be drop dates. Could the Viper be planning to use Brady’s island as a meeting place for their operations?”
Teo thought about it for a second. “What would happen if you went to the island on those dates? Could you even get there?”
“Probably, it’s usually dry from October to May,” I replied. “Except lately. It’s been raining a lot lately.”
Jace exhaled sharply. “That’s it,” he said. “That’s why he kept moving the date…look.”
He pulled up a weekly schedule for the weather. “He kept rescheduling,” Victor said, inching closer to Jace’s monitor.
I could see the gears in Teo’s mind turning. “That’s why... that’s why the Viper would want Brady’s island as a meeting place. Not because it’s secret, but because it’s unpredictable. They can keep changing the date, and no one would know when the Viper is going to show up. It’s perfect for a secret rendezvous.”
My heart drummed a staccato beat against my chest, a rhythm fueled by adrenaline and dread. As Grayson dissected Brady’s cryptic messages, my mind snagged on a memory—my father poring over similar notes late into the night, his office a cave of secrets and shadows.
“What could he be trading in? He’s a serial killer, not a...” I said, then trailed off. It turned out that I had no idea what my father was after all.
Teo’s eyes met mine, and he offered a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Your father has limitless resources,” he said. “More money than all of us. Whatever he’s dealing with, it’s enough to bring in quite a lot of cash.”
“Your thoughts, Sofia?” It was Victor’s voice, calm and steady, but my head was pounding.
“Nothing conclusive,” I said. “Just... wondering how deep this goes.”
“Educated guess, arms dealing,” Teo said. “If he was selling drugs, he would be on someone’s turf, and we would have heard about it by now. There were a lot of guns in his cabin down in the Everglades.”
“Do you have any historical data on these dates, Jace?” I asked, my mouth dry.
I watched as his fingers flew over the keyboard. “No, it only goes to about like, a year ago,” Jace said. “But this is weird...isn’t your birthday January 10th, Sof?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“So that’s as far as it goes,” Jace said. “From last year.”
“Fuck, he’s such an asshole,” Victor said.
