Page 47 of Shattered Veil

Only minutes had passed since we had deduced that Colton’s assistance in everything would be akin to an oddly necessary third-party demon sent from hell. It goes without saying that the trust that I had in him—that the rest of the group had in him, for that matter—solely existed because we were operating with a mutual benefit. We needed him, and he needed me. Well, truthfully, he needed Cassie, but that was a fact that obviously hadn’t been spoken aloud. As often as he would glance at her with a brief questioning eye that appeared to be judging her familiarity, I had started to wonder if the secrets that she kept from our friends and family were known by him. It was a thought that I didn’t have the chance to fully process for, as a group, we were…rather busy.

With the knowledge that Mister Milkovich was returning to his apartment later in the day—assumedly in the afternoon with a locksmith per the short snippet of one-sided conversation that we had heard on Liam’s security camera—we knew that we had to act quickly. How quickly, we didn’t know…it was his apartment, after all, and he could legitimately return at any minute. The only advantage we had was that it was still what most would consider to be sleeping hours. As urgently as we needed to act, though, we still needed time to lay out a plan. Taking our seats back at the table with Colton remaining at the bar facing us, we did just that.

Colton rubbed at his eyes and then let his hands fall to his lap as he opened them wide. The whites were bloodshot, and it offset the cool iciness of his eyes in a manner that almost made him appear more spent than he was. There was no doubt that he was exhausted—we all were, as it was nearing three in the morning—but he was tired in the sense that he looked manic. I supposed that one would typically behave as such, considering the circumstances.

It was good that he was worried. If he didn’t succeed in getting into apartment 2D, scour the place for anything that could lead back to our entire group, and then leave without being caught…he would most certainly be in prison for a very long time. On top of that, if Colton didn’t manage to remove the potential evidence in 2D, both Liam and Zoey could be, as she had so eloquently worded earlier, fucked. Very fucked.

So…yeah. We, as a group, weren’t calm in the least, but I supposed that how he was acting seemed…apt. Especially because we were now going over final details, ironing out our necessarily rushed plan, and searching for any possible wrinkles before springing into action.

“Okay, okay-okay,” Colton spoke. “So, 2D—it’s not occupied.” We all shook our heads no. “The guy who lives there is presumably coming back at some point today.” General nodding from all of us. “And I’m,” he squinted as if he were confused, “…taking down cameras that are inside the place?” Nods, once again. “This is feeling like evidence erasure,” he grumbled.

Claire said, “Colt.”

“Not asking,” he remarked rapidly. “Not asking. ’Kay—cameras and…”

“Anything that seems out of place,” Zoey finished. “Or looks like it could have anything to do with us, specifically in a closet that we know is locked.”

“And you…don’t know what could be in this closet?” Zoey shot him a glare, and Colton spoke slowly, “Right…ah, phone call. Keep me on speaker on your end. I’ve got some headphones in my car that I can use to keep you in my ear…I’ll relay everything back, you tell me where to go and what to grab or leave behind. Who’s gonna look out? Are there multiple entries?”

“One staircase, second floor,” Claire explained.

“We’ll probably just watch through the surveillance cam feed, right?” I asked the room.

“Surveillance cam?” Colton inquired. “Where’s that?”

“Hallway,” I replied.

“Yeah,” Liam mentioned, “it’s on my side of the hall, same as 2D, but it’s angled—”

Colton’s dark eyebrows flew up. “The fuck do you mean your side of the hall?”

Liam’s mouth hung open as if he were intending to say more, but his mind had drawn a blank.

Luke held his head in his hands and griped, “Liam,” and Liam’s jaw snapped shut.

Zoey sighed heavily. “Yeah, thought that one was gonna come out.”

Colton noted, “So…you live there?”

The question was directed to Liam, and he did respond with a quick, succinct, “Uh, yes,” but the way that the remainder of the group collectively squirmed made Colton cock his head to the side in curiosity.

“I’m…gonna pretend like I’m not assuming that you all live in the same apartment complex as this infamous 2D,” Colton quipped. “Moving on…camera’s in the hallway?”

Liam replied, “Mhm.”

“’Kay,” he stated hesitantly. “We need a second means of surveillance. That’ll only give you enough time to say, ‘Colt, someone’s coming,’ before someone’s walking through the door.”

“What are we supposed to do,” I chimed in, “have one of us posted up at the bottom of the stairs? There’s a blizzard. It’d look mighty suspicious to have someone visibly on the lookout.”

“Well, I need something,” he argued, his tone sharp. “Someone. Your camera’s not gonna cut it.”

“That’s all we have,” Zoey retorted with narrowed eyes.

Colton bit back, “All you have is not enough. I’m not goin’ in blind—I’d be asking to get caught without a more reliable lookout. Look, I’m down to help, but if that’s all you have, I’m fuckin’ out. I get that I have risks in this, but I’m not slitting my own throat here.”

“Okay, okay,” Cassie spoke. “Like Claire said—one entrance to the complex. Let’s just all pile in a car or something and keep an eye from down the street. I’ve got the Jeep…we can all fit.”

“Thank you. Jesus,” Colton said as he let out a large breath. “That’s much better…and you’re right. One entrance is good. You only have one area to look out for, but that also means that I may only have one exit. If anything does happen and it looks like there are cops en route or some shit, I’m fuckin’ bookin’ it. I’m takin’ a quick glance and grabbing what I can, I’m taking off, and I’m laying low.”

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