Page 71 of Fallout

Peter said nothing. Stella walked him past them, toward the exit. He winked at Destiny.

Stella said, “I’d love to know all about Vanguard’s involvement in this. And how the PD got tangled up, apart from Jasper’s dating life. That I don’t want to hear about.”

Destiny leaned over and whispered, “Can they do that?”

“They just did,” Jasper said. “Vanguard has a lawyer, right? Peter has a right to counsel.”

“It’s in the phone.”

“Let’s go.” The quicker they got back to the van, the quicker they could figure this out. Jasper and Destiny walked back over and found the van doors open. “Did we leave it like that?”

“Where’s Simon?”

Jasper looked around. “Maybe he went after Peter?”

“He would never leave it like this.”

Doors open. All their equipment just sitting here. “Where is…” He climbed in and spotted blood on the edge of the desk. “Something happened to him.” And the screen had been locked. Simon had enough time to secure his terminal? “He knew it was coming.” Jasper turned the monitor so she could see the scrolling words.

I’ve been kidnapped.

THIRTY-ONE

Jasper drove the surveillance van, the hard set of his jaw mirroring her own tension. He pulled up outside the medical center, and the front door opened before Destiny even got out. Which made her stomach roil. Two of the Famous Ones stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the fancy doctor’s office and scanned the parking lot. Covering her.

She pushed open the passenger’s door and hopped down. “He’s been gone half an hour already.” She’d been trying to hold it together and not freak out. Having Jasper with her, a pro at this and a guy who knew how to keep things tight, she didn’t want to look like a waitress who didn’t know what she was doing.

Then again, as a waitress, she’d tackled some pretty irate customers in her time, people whose actions caused her to muster up all the self-control she had in order to politely explain where they could shove their opinions. And then she’d pray for them.

“How do we find him?” She wrung her hands together.

The two Famous Ones strode over. Destiny held out her hands, and a Famous One clasped her forearms. She needed that. Just a minute to anchor herself to something physical.

Jasper rounded the back of the van. “We should go inside.”

Destiny wanted to run, but she stayed where she was.

The woman closest to Jasper said, “I thought the shooter was arrested.”

“He was,” Jasper said. “But I don’t like being out here.”

He lifted his chin. Some silent communication the operators in front of Destiny understood.

“When we get inside, someone is going to tell me how we get Simon back.” She sounded like a bitter shrew, but that was better than freaking out.

She moved so they would all do the same. Someone opened the door for her, and she blindly walked inside. The ocean of Vanguard employees filled the waiting area.

At the back, a receptionist for the doctor’s office said, “Now will you all go to the conference room?”

“Come on.”

Destiny didn’t know who said that, but she went with the flow. Sentiments floated toward her, people who meant well and probably thought she was in over her head. She spotted Gage in the hallway, looking worried. He didn’t need to be concerned about this. He only needed to focus on his wife and their new baby.

She waved him off, and the flow of people entered a room not nearly big enough for all of them. “Why is everyone here?”

“You put out the call, right?” Jasper squeezed her shoulder.

Destiny frowned. “The phone alert?”

---