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“You thought we were just the go betweens. We know. That’s what we want people to think when they hire us.”
“Phone?” another girl asks. She’s wearing high black boots with a ponytail that sits atop her head.
Leo takes the burner phone from his pocket and hands it over. She throws it on the ground, reaches back into the van, then smashes the thing to pieces with a few quick swings of a hammer. But that’s not what gets me. It’s the pure pleasure on her face as the parts go flying. When she’s finished, she looks at the disaster she just made and smiles. “There.”
“Don’t contact us on the number you used before again. Our burner ended up like yours.”
Hammer girl swings it over her shoulder. “Precautions. You understand.”
Eden laughs. I peer over at her and she has the biggest smile on her face. “You guys did it all? The alarm, the castle, the heist, everything?”
The first girl smirks. “Everything.”
Eden looks like she’s in love. “Wow.”
“Don’t get any ideas,” Leo grunts as he makes his way back to us with the file.
Oliver shakes his head. “Thanks… um… guys, I guess. Thanks for everything.”
“We’re Blood Red,” the one who hasn’t said anything yet finally speaks up. She gives us a wave and hops into the van. The rest of them follow. All of their doors slam, then they’re speeding out of the lot, throwing rocks everywhere as their tires squeal when it finally grips pavement.
“I want that,” Eden says.
“Is this the talk where we preach you can be anything you want to be, love?”
Eden gives Oliver a placating smile but then she rips the book from Leo’s hands and darts for the car with the two of them hot on her heels.
I stand there for a moment, wondering what the hell just happened. Everything I thought was impossible is coming crumbling down tonight. Everything.
I don’t stir until a hand rests on my arm. “You okay?”
Glancing down, I see Eden peering up at me. Taking her face in my hands, I say, “More than.” Then I kiss her like all the shackles have been ripped away.
20
Eden
God, these guys are fucked up.
I’ve been reading around Leo’s shoulder as he flips through The Secret File. We haven’t gotten to anyone relevant yet since we started from the beginning with the players of the past. One thing I find interesting, though, is that no one phoned their entry in. All of these secrets are good. The Fledglings took their assignment seriously, and I wonder if they actually tell you that if you don’t put something good in, you never make it to Knighthood.
The things written in this book would topple businesses. It would change the infrastructure of the elite world.
And now it’s ours.
“What the…” Alaric trails off as he pulls up to the house.
My gaze darts to him first, then to the area he’s looking at. Our headlights wash over a guy sitting with his head in his hands. He peers up, squinting into the harsh glow.
“It’s Keegan…”
The high from our victory falls quickly until the tension in the car skyrockets. “The fuck is he doing here?” Leo grunts next to me.
Oliver swings his door open first and the rest of us follow, a chorus of doors slamming after us.
Keegan stands. Without the bright lights of the car on him, he looks a tad better, but the dim glimmer of the front stoop backlights him eerily. He seeks me out, then Leo. “So, it’s true?”
“None of your fucking business,” Leo quips while shoving the journal into the back of his waistband.