Page 52 of Unraveling Connections

“I’d leave Jynx out entirely,” Atlas says, “he doesn’t need to know that it’s her specifically that we’re helping, although I’m sure he could guess.”

“I agree,” Jensen says, “I think, when it comes to Mr R, it might even be a case of the less he knows the better.”

Luc nods, “Exactly, he probably won’t want to know because if he knows then he may feel like he has to do something about it because Jynx operates outside of the law.”

“If he doesn’t know for sure, even if he guesses that’s who we’re helping, then he can pretend he doesn’t know.” Riot adds.

Peter smiles as he adds thoughtfully, “He likes Jynx, and he knows that she wouldn’t ask for our help unless it was really serious, so I think he would most likely want us to help her.”

Trick nods, “Yeah, okay. I hear you guys, and you all make really good points. If the situation arises where I need to tell Mr R that we are taking some time off effectively immediately, I will simply say that it is for personal reasons, and let him put together what he wants to put together.”

“Don’t forget Mr R knows D, he’s technically known about Jynx for longer than he’s known about us,” Atlas reminds us all.

“Fuck, you’re right,” I exclaim, “I always forget that. We definitely don’t know the full story there by the way.”

Atlas shakes his head, “No, we don’t, but I don’t think we will ever get the answers to that. It is highly unlikely that either of them are going to tell us.”

“I might just outright ask one of them next time I see them and see what they say,” I suggest.

“It’s worth a try, I guess,” Rage agrees.

“So, in actuality, Jynx is probably safer than most, and we could tell Mr R the truth. I still don’t think we should, but it is a nice cushion, as it were.” Trick says, looking a bit more relaxed about the prospect. None of us want to get Jynx in trouble.

Chapter Sixteen

Ever

Everyone agrees with Trick’s statement, but his phone starts ringing loudly before Trick can say anything else. He looks at the screen and frowns.

“Mr R,” he greets, letting us know who is calling, “yeah one moment,” he presses a few buttons and then says, “Okay you’re on speaker.”

“Emmerson’s missing,” he says bluntly, and I immediately sit up in my seat, “she’s still not supposed to leave headquarters, but we’ve lost her in the last hour or so; I wouldn’t be concerned; she’s just lost her mom it would be understandable if she wanted to have some time alone, but I didn’t realize that she was outside of my office while I was talking to Rylie about a possible locationfor Hunt. There is a chance that she heard us and has gone after him.”

“Fuck, I knew something was off with her when I saw her the other day. It would surprise me more if she were just hidden at headquarters somewhere,” I curse.

We all get up, leaving the table and heading to our weapons room, where we keep all of our gear, and the equipment that we are likely to need when we get called out on a last-minute job, including go bags.

“What's the location? We will go and check it out,” Trick asks and then adds, “how long ago did she leave?”

“Well that’s one of the reasons why we were calling you,” Mr R starts to explain, “you are the closest team, if she has gone to where we got the intel that Hunt was sighted then the location is only two hours away from you. I will send you the location now.”

While Trick carries on talking to Mr R, we all get our weapons on and make sure that we’ve got the kit we need while we head out to the trucks and climb in, Trick puts his phone down as he connects to the truck that we’re in and Mr R’s voice comes through the speakers.

“Got it,” Cash says from the passenger seat as he types the address into the sat nav.

The others are all in the second truck, pulling out behind us. As soon as Trick is done on the phone with Mr R, he will call Atlas so we can fill them all in on what is going on.

“She’s going to be there before we get there,” I mutter.

“We called you as soon as we could,” Mr R replies, worry in his tone. “Just to be clear, she is not a suspect or the bad guy in this situation. She is a woman in pain who, if she is there, made a silly choice and needs to be brought back home.”

“Got it,” Trick replies, “we’ll call you as soon as we have her.”

“I hope we’re not too late,” Rafe says anxiously.

“Me too,” Mr R replies and hangs up the phone.

Trick looks in the rear-view mirror at Peter, who is sitting next to me, his tablet already out as he taps away at the screen although I'm unsure what he’s doing.

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