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“Hey Riot?”
“Yeah sweetness?”
“I love you kid.”
“I love you too, you stubborn shit.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Travis
“Hey Zeke, how’s the security looking for the private rooms?”
“Should be all set, let’s check em’ out,” he says, pulling his laptop out from his backpack and setting it on top of the bar. He opens the lid, as I unload fresh bottles of liquor from boxes to stock up the shelves.
“Alright,” he says, clicking through some screens. “Want to see? I can show you how it works.”
“Yeah,” I respond, setting the last couple of bottles on the bottom shelf. Walking around the bar, I pull up a stool next to Zeke and he spins the laptop to face me. The screen he has pulled up shows 8 separate squares of surveillance, each a different private room.
“So, here’s the main view, you can see all of the rooms from here. If you want to focus on any one particular room, you just click here,” he moves the mouse to the tiny arrow within each box. “The view will expand to full screen. Then when you want to exit out, just click the arrow again, it’ll shrink back and you’ll go back to the main view.”
I nod as he continues walking me through the screens, going over the lockdown features. Whoever is manning the system can put the room into lockdown, and those inside of the room can also put the room into lockdown. The lockdown feature in the room is secret, hidden beneath the small in-room bars, so that only the girls know where to access it.
When he finishes walking me through, I interrupt with something that’s been on my mind since Riot and I came up with this half cocked plan to save Spencer.
“So uh, Zeke. I have another ask for you man.”
“Yeah sure boss, name it.”
“I need you to-“
The door swings open and in walks Hannah Shaw.
“Hey boys!”
“Actually, I’ll text it to you,” I mutter quietly. “Hannah! I thought you had your hands full with Oasis today and couldn’t help with the setup?”
Her heels click against the floor as she pulls up a stool next to me and Zeke.
“I did, but I also got that cryptic text message you sent me the other day. I’ve been really mulling over your ask, and Trav, I’m honestly a little worried about what you’ve gotten into.”
“What do you mean?” I lean back, resting my elbows on the bar behind me.
“The Syndicate?” she lowers her voice to a whisper and looks around.
“Whoa, really?” Zeke snaps to attention and shuts his laptop, sticking it back into his backpack.
“What the fuck, is everyone familiar with these fuckers but me? I mean I’ve heard the name and where they run, but that’s about it.”
“And do you know why that is?” Zeke asks raising an eyebrow.
I give him a dumbfounded look, expecting him to give me the answer.
“Because that’s all they want anyone to know,” Hannah chimes in with a sigh. “The last thing I was going to do was have this conversation over text. Why the fuck are you asking about them?”
I look at Hannah and shift my gaze to Zeke, and back to Hannah. “It’s Spencer.”
“The phone?!” Zeke jumps up from his stool, nearly knocking it over, and I look at him nodding.