Page 114 of Stone Coast

I gave Xzavier our info. "We both need a place to stay tonight."

"I'll get us a hotel," Tyson whispered.

"I figured as much,” Xzavier replied. "TJ says there's ample room aboard his boat. You both are more than welcome.”

"I'll run it by Tyson and see what he says."

Xzavier ended the call, and I handed the phone back to Tyson.

Tyson gave me that cautious look.

"Don't look at me like that. You knew damn good and well what you were getting into with me.”

“You always were trouble,” he said.

60

“Sucks about your boat,” Piper said.

She had picked us up in the van and brought clothes. Not much—T-shirts, sweatpants, and flip-flops. It was better than nothing.

“Thanks,” I said.

She zipped us through the streets toward the warehouse district.

Tyson muttered in my ear, “Is she old enough to drive?”

I laughed. “Yes.”

“I’m 19, jackhole!” Piper snapped, glaring at him in the rearview.

Tyson raised his hands in surrender. Then in a hushed tone, he said, “She doesn’t miss much, does she?”

“Apparently not.”

Piper kept eying him in the mirror, smacking bubblegum. “Xzavier says you’re this badass spec-ops guy.”

“Is that what Xzavier says?”

“Says you worked for the Company, then private, and now you’re with the county.”

“Xzavier does his homework.”

We pulled into the parking lot of the warehouse that had grown familiar now. Piper parked close to the worn building. There were a few other cars in the lot.

“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to Tyson.

“You’re not getting out of my sight.”

“Plausible deniability, remember?”

Tyson’s face tightened, and he took a deep breath. “I’m coming with you.”

I gave him a look that said, are you sure? But there was no stopping him.

The cargo door rattled as I pulled it open. We stepped out of the van into the morning light. The amber ball was well over the horizon by now.

An eighteen-wheeler rumbled past the warehouse, spitting a plume of diesel exhaust.