Page 65 of Gunpowder

Marie hopped up to sit on the bar to be seen with the help of Jake who, Blair noticed bitterly, hadn’t got near the hostile reception Wren did despite not being a member either. Spencer continued, “Our primary goal is to deal with Isaac, we don’t want to engage Phantom in its entirety before we know his whereabouts if we don’t have to. Enough Incindious blood has been shed already.”

Everyone stiffened as one at the sound of boots hitting the ground. Blair didn’t have to look at the path opening in the crowd to know they belonged to the boss, having finally risen from the couch. Felix strode up to the bar with Julian at his side.

“From this point on, I want all of you ready,” Felix said, coat sweeping out around his ankles as he came to a stop in front of the bar. “As soon as I find out where that bastard Isaac is, we’re hitting the fuckers with all we’ve got.” He shook a cigarette out of his pack with a sigh. “And Blair’s punk ass boyfriend is gonna help so don’t give him any trouble.”

A weighted silence followed his words. No one could argue with him if they liked having their teeth in their mouths but there was no mistaking the wariness in the room. Irritation thrashed in Blair’s chest, teeth grinding against the urge to yell that if anyone had a problem, they could come say it to his face.

“What is it?” Wren murmured next to his ear.

He looked over. “Huh?”

“You’re grinding my knuckles into dust.”

“Shit, sorry,” Blair said, loosening his grip. “It’s nothing.”

Blair didn’t tell him how unsettling it was, to be so willing to spill his own people’s blood for looking at Wren the wrong way.

The night gave way to the earliest hours of morning and only a few of them remained. Julian took Marie home with Jake following them like some kind of lost puppy, and by the time Spencer locked up, only four of them remained. It had been a quiet night for business so he closed up earlier than usual. Spencer sat on the couch with Felix, and Blair pulled up chairs across from them for him and Wren. He could tell by the ever deepening slouch of Wren’s shoulders that fatigue was wearing on him.

“We want to go in quietly, but if we have to leave bodies, we do,” Spencer said.

Felix stretched his arms along the back of the couch. “So how are you gonna get us in?”

“If they were just another gang with average technology, I would use proactive jamming. We transmit a constant signal that doesn’t allow any other signals through their security system, including the ones that would tell them it had been tripped,” Wren said.

Spencer regarded him over the top of his glasses. “And why does that no longer work if they aren’t average?”

“Because it’s easy to detect. If the system wasn’t closely monitored, or if they didn’t know what to look for, we could get away with it. But I’m sure the system gets regularly updated on its status based on the signal from the panel we saw by the door. If we jam that signal, they’ll know something is wrong.”

Blair leaned his elbows on his knees. “Then what do we do?”

“Reactive bit jamming. In short, we choose which signals to interfere with. It’s not as thorough but it will take them longer to notice.”

“Sounds pretty hard to do without being there,” Blair said.

“We can set up a communication system with Wren,” Spencer said. “Blair and Felix will go inside, be his eyes. I’ll circle around and secure any exit points.”

Wren nodded, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “Either way, I won’t be far. I’ll have to be close enough to the warehouse to pick the signal up,” he said.

Blair’s head whipped to the side. “Woah, woah, not happening. You shouldn’t be anywhere near that place when we do this.”

“He doesn’t have a choice,” Felix said. “And if having him close is the only way we get in to scope the place out, then that’s what we do.” There was a sharp edge to his words that would have brought Blair to heel in an instant, but with Wren involved he barely even heard what Felix said.

“When will you be ready, Wren?” Spencer asked.

Blair caught his eyes, shook his head fractionally to try to tell him he didn’t have to do this. Wren met his gaze and responded to Felix without looking away from him. “Between the hospital and exams, I won’t have time for this warehouse thing until at least Wednesday.”

Blair saw the flat determination in Wren’s eyes, which meant not only was he outnumbered as the only person who saw an issue with this plan, but Wren wasn’t going to budge. Me and my bright fucking ideas.

“Wednesday it is,” Felix said, and pushed to his feet. “We’ll get together here to clear up any last minute details.”

Spencer followed them to the door, the only one not leaving since his apartment was above the bar. Felix was the first to leave with a mumbled goodnight, but Spencer caught Wren’s shoulder before he could follow. “Hey.”

Wren shook his hand off. “What?”

“I just want you to know we’ve got your back. One of ours or not, I’m gonna look out for you like you’re one of us when this goes down,” Spencer said.

Wren snorted.“Touching, really, but I don’t know you well enough to care if you have my back. I’ll leave that up to Blair.”

---