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Vehicles like that do not hold vacationers or salespeople.

Vehicles like that hold people who are up to no good.

“Oh shit. We gotta go,” Leo whispers.

Two people sit in the SUV while a third exits the van and locks it with a beep.

The driver of the Sprinter grabs a bag through the window of the SUV and locks eyes with Gideon.

Shit.

“Jay, we gotta go!”

“Frankie, Leo is going to call you back at this number in fifteen minutes. If he doesn’t, then call the police and have them come to the Residence Inn in Downtown Clearwater.”

Jay hangs up.

Gideon grabs Leo by the arm, pointing toward the elevator, but taking his eyes from the man moving toward the lobby at a jog.

“You go get the kids. Finn will balk, but you have to keep your head, Leo. Once Jay and I have engaged them, you run. Here’s the room key.”

He presses the key into Leo’s palm with a squeeze, prepared to do what he was born to do at that moment.

The same as he is every damn day since he was seventeen.

“No, I’m not leaving you.”

“Take care of the others. Go. Now.”

With a firm but insistent push, Gideon urges Leo back just as the man from the van strides into the lobby.

Outside, the other two remain in the vehicle, watching with unnerving patience.

A hand disappears into the man’s pocket, sending a jolt of unease through Gideon.

Not a gun. Please, not a gun.

The growl that follows isn’t human—it rises low and guttural from Jay, whose tense shoulders radiate hostility.

The charged atmosphere thickens, an unspoken warning pulsing through the lobby, ready to burst into flames.

Gideon moves to his right, farther away from Jay, so as not to make it too easy for the visitor to get a bead on both of them at the same time.

“Leo, go!”

“James Rhodes?” the man asks, and Gideon almost sheathes his claws, because people planning to abduct you—or worse, kill you—don’t ask for your name first.

At least, not in Gideon’s experience.

Jay doesn’t respond, and the guy just tosses him the keys to the van with a smirk and a salute.

“Codex sends her regards.”

He’s back out the door and into the SUV, peeling out of the parking lot as quickly as they came.

Codex?

They watch them peel away, and Jay looks at the van and then the key fob, a look of surprise on his handsome face.