Page 162 of Javier

“Not just them,” Dash said. “But you and Javier as well, all of us, really.”

Javier growled. “How?”

“Someone left us a ‘gift’ at the altar.”

“You mean at the convent?” I asked.

“I made sure the convent was safe,” Kai volunteered. “They couldn’t get in there and they couldn’t get into BB’s servers, either. So, instead, whoever delivered Li’s message left it on the city’s cathedral after a mass that the sisters had organized.”

I gulped dryly. Several people swore out loud.

“So, the sisters found the message,” Javier concluded and Kai nodded.

“What does it say?” I asked.

Dash nodded to Mina, who pulled out a small tablet. “No prints. No IP addresses. No way to track shit. No trackers to find us, either.”

“We did the full sweep,” Trev added.

“It’s basically a shell,” Mina said. “It flashes only one message. A permanent one.”

Javier took the tablet from Trev. We all huddled around him. The tablet streamed a message, news ticker style.TrackerTeam, your time’s running out. Bring it to me before the countdown gets to zero or she will die.

“Who’s ‘she?’” Thena asked, her voice shaky.

“We don’t know,” Dash said. “It could be Affie. Or Cece. Li could be bluffing. Or not.”

“Oh, my God.” My stomach plunged and the warmth drained out of my bones.

Javier put his arm over my shoulders and drew me closer to his side. “How much time do we have?” he asked.

“Two weeks,” Mina said. “Less than that now.”

“The fucker doesn’t tell us what ‘it’ is.” Javier contemplated the message in his hands. “How are we supposed to bring him anything if we don’t know what he means?”

“He assumes we know,” I realized.

“That’s the problem.” Thena grimaced. “We don’t.”

Finn cursed under his breath. Matt huffed. Micah clenched his massive jaw.

“I say we give him something,” Javier proposed.

“Something like what?” I asked.

“He didn’t name it,” Javier pointed out. “We don’t have to name it, either.”

“We can gain time pretending we’re going to comply,” Kai caught up to Javier’s plan.

“Exactly.” Javier set the tablet down. “Meanwhile, we can find Cece and Affie, and also whatever the hell it is that Li wants from us.”

“But how do we contact a fucker who can’t be contacted?” Micah asked.

“Leave that to me.” Mina smirked.

“To us,” Trev put in. “Just craft a message and we’ll deliver it.”

“How about via a round to the head?” Finn suggested.

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