“Philip, give me the gun please,” I said, voice quavering.
He flipped the safety on and passed it to me, butt first. “Damn,” he repeated.
“What was that all about?” Kyle asked, dark eyes on Philip.
Philip’s expression turned grim and bleak. “It’s an adverse effect of a treatment I had this morning. Dr. Nikas was abducted before he could finish it and isn’t here now to correct the problem.” Hands tight at his sides and back tense, he turned away and walked to the edge of the parking lot, misery practically rolling off him.
Aching for him, I carefully held the gun and tried not to show how much my hands were trembling. If he’d shot Naomi . . . I shoved the unwelcome thought away. “We need to find Dr. Nikas before someone gets really hurt,” I said. Sick worry rose in a choking wave. “We need to find Pietro and the others too. We need to. We don’t know if Rachel and Dan and the rest of them are going to try—especially for the two drivers and the security guard—and even if they do, we know there’s an insider. Someone gave those Saberton thugs the codes to get in.”
Kyle’s gaze remained on Philip’s back. “Without Mr. Ivanov, the Tribe will falter,” he stated. “And without Brian,” he shook his head, “the organization of the remaining security and teams is crippled.”
And what will happen to me if the Tribe falls apart? I selfishly wondered. It was more than a cool part-time job. It was security that went beyond money or brains. Once Marcus moved away, would I have anyone around who understood me? I knew I was being crazily self-centered, but fuck, sometimes it was called for, right?
I moved to Philip, not caring that the others were watching or could hear me. “We need you,” I murmured, and bumped him with my shoulder. “We’ll get through this. Don’t make me bite you again.”
A weak snort of laughter escaped him. During the mayhem that occurred at the filming of High School Zombie Apocalypse!!, Philip went berserk, and I’d followed through on a bizarre urge to sink my teeth into his shoulder. Weird as hell, but it calmed him right down.
He bumped that shoulder into mine, then turned and walked back with me to Kyle and Naomi.
“How do we find Pietro and the others?” I asked. “Do we have even the slightest clue where they might be?”
“It would most likely be Dallas or New York,” Naomi said.
Kyle gave a solemn nod in response. “They weren’t taken for ransom, and Saberton has major operations in both cities.”
“Great,” I said. “How do we know which city?”
“The R&D labs are in Dallas,” Naomi said, forehead creased in contemplation. She tapped her chin as she considered. “And the corporate offices are in New York. No lab though.”
“All right, so we go to Dallas?” I asked.
“The immediate use is likely for research,” Philip said. “Dallas certainly makes the most sense.”
But Naomi held up a hand. “You’re right—the two drivers and the guard are most likely in Dallas. Probably Dr. Charish as well However, there’s a solid chance that my mother ordered Mr. Ivanov taken for retribution or some other personal reason. If so, then he might be in New York, since that’s where she stays this time of year.”
Great. Everyone had some bit of personal knowledge to help except me. I wanted to ask questions, but I had a feeling I’d end up being one of those people who asks the stupid questions that everyone already knows the answers to and simply ends up slowing the whole thing down.
“We don’t have enough manpower to check both,” Kyle said, then lifted his head and snapped his fingers. “Flight plans. They’d have flown him to New York if they took him there. Naomi, how hard would it be to check if a Saberton jet left here and, if so, where it went?”
She smiled. “Not hard at all.” She walked a few feet away and started doing stuff on her phone. I moved off in another direction and once again tried to call Marcus. Again it rang and then went to voicemail. Frustrated I hung up without leaving a message and instead simply texted him. Something happened 2 ur uncle n doc. Need to talk 2 u ASAP!!!!
My heart leaped when it dinged with a reply message. I know. Pursuing possible lead and keeping head down. You ok?
Relieved, I quickly thumbed in a reply. I’m ok. with some others. where r u? need to join up.
Can’t join up. Risky. About to leave town. Will explain later. Need to turn off phone soon. Stay safe. I love you.
I stared at the last three words, heart in my throat. Even after being dumped, he still cared. Finally I texted my reply. Love you too.
“It’s New York,” Naomi crowed in triumph, jogging back to the others. “Flight plans confirmed it. Time to get serious now. First things first, we need to ditch all the phones.”
“Phones can be tracked,” Kyle said with a nod of agreement.
“Right.” I tore my eyes from Marcus’s text. “I’ll turn mine off.”
“Not good enough,” Naomi said and held out her hand. “With the right technology it can still be tracked, even without a battery. Hand it over.”
The look in her eyes stopped me. “What are you going to do?” I asked, suspicious.
“Smash and toss,” she said.
“Are you crazy?” I clutched my phone to my chest. “This is a brand new phone!”
Philip looked at me, expression grave. “And we’re talking about our lives. A phone is replaceable. You aren’t.”
“Yeah, well I bet you three make a fuckload more money than I do!” I retorted. “Y’all can smash your phones, but I don’t see why I can’t hide mine somewhere so I can get it back after all this shit is over.”
“It’s just a phone,” Naomi said with a roll of her eyes.
“Did the Tribe give you your phone?” I demanded.
“Well, yes—”
“And the rest of you?” I stabbed the two men with my glare, and they gave grudging nods. I swung my attention back to Naomi. “I’m not as stupid as you seem to think, and I get that we need to ditch the phones, but shit’s only replaceable if you have the money to replace it. I have a goddamn mountain of debt right now because I had to replace everything.” My stomach roiled with tension at the memory of the flood and the aftermath. “I’d rather not make that mountain any fucking higher, so forgive me if I’m not all excited about tossing away something that isn’t exactly cheap. I spent half a week’s salary for my phone.” I started to go on about the fact that I had two pairs of jeans to my name because, instead of buying a third pair, I decided to buy dishes that actually matched each other, but Naomi jerked her hand up to stop me.
“Okay, fine, I get it,” she snapped, and I had the sense she was more annoyed that I was making her feel guilty about her financial status. Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do about that? Not my fault she had no clue what it was like to be poor.
“Where do you want to hide it?” she asked with an impatient gesture around her. “Need to do it sooner rather than later so we can get moving. And you have to promise not to freak if it’s not here when we get back.”
My scowl deepened. “I won’t freak,” I muttered, stung. “I just don’t want to destroy it.” Part of me knew my freakout about the phone was avoidance to keep from thinking about the scariness of going to New York, but I still felt a weird hurt that Naomi wasn’t even trying to understand what it was like to always have to sweat finances.
“There’s a post office half a mile down the road,” I told the others. “The lobby’s open twenty-four/seven, and I can mail it to myself.”