Page 72 of Sunflower

Callum chuckled. “There are contingencies in place to ensure that never happens.” He folded his hand over mine to still my tapping. “Remember what I told you about Kiddo? We keep a close eye on all cults around the world and shut them down if we need to.”

“Good.” I turned my hand over so I could tickle his palm. “You said it was incredibly rare for any normie to leave outside of retirement. But, it can happen?”

He shrugged, completely unfazed by my question. “I mean, yeah? But it’s super rare. Like I said.” He eyed me. “Why do you ask?”

Chewing my bottom lip, I wondered how to word my response. “I feel like the Agent is someone who’s worked with you guys before.” I raised my hand to stop him. “Not like you personally. I mean, like worked in your agency or for a different department or something.”

“But the mole… George said—”

“Not the mole.” I shook my head. “You didn’t hear the way he was talking about George. Whatever he’s doing? This is personal. HeknowsGeorge. Or at least knew him sometime in the past. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Interlacing his fingers with mine, I rested my hand on his chest again. “It’s also something you said the other day that’s been plaguing me since you said it. You said that you would have done the same thing as the Agent, especially when it comes to a long game, because that’s how you’re trained.” I nibbled my lip enough that he lifted our interlocked hands up so he could free my lip from getting any more bruised. “He’s doing all this, because he’s worked with powered people before. And somewhere along the lines,he’s crossed paths with George. He can’t be that hard to find using those parameters, right? Especially if normies leaving the powered workforce is so rare, like you said.”

“I think I need to call George.” He shifted away from me to grab his phone from downstairs where he’d left it, but I grabbed his arm.

“Wait. I have one more question that you could help with.”

He paused, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching me curiously.

“All of what I just asked largely covers thewhy. Thewhere, though…” I grinned at him. “Remember that hair the weird guys grabbed and gave to me?”

He nodded, understanding slowly dawning.

“Do you know any scryers?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Joey

Thedeliciousscentofpan-fried burgers cooking enveloped me as soon as I walked into Urban Grind with Callum. We’d decided to keep up the pretense of going out for dinner, because we were both ravenous and knew the food from Urban Grind would hit the spot.

Plus, the restaurant had an outdoor seating area that we figured would likely be abandoned because of the cooler weather, which would make it easier for Callum to use his own signal jammer he’d picked up the night prior without affecting any other patrons.

Callum had the bug and scarf in his hands, still in the Ziploc bag he’d put them in earlier. I’d assumed Callum was going to hide the device somewhere in the restaurant while we jammed the signal for us to talk freely with George, so I was more than a little surprised when he handed me the baggie after I’d placed my order.

“Find a table out the back for us?” he asked with a definitive nod at the baggie, and a pointed look out the back. “I’ll wait for the food and bring it all out when it’s ready.”

“Sure.” I shrugged, even though I found the request confusing. Why wasn’t he planning on dumping the bug? I couldn’t question him because, as far as we knew, the bug was still transmitting. I assumed I’d find out what he was up to soon enough.

I made my way out the back, and just as we’d expected, the tables were empty. Urban Grind was in the middle of a larger hub of restaurants, most with internal seating, so even though the staff were flat out filling orders, the customers weren’t willing to sit outside. That boded well for us tonight; fewer people to piss off about their phones not working when we switched the signal jammer on.

There was a table in the far rear corner that would suit our needs, so I made a beeline for it. I placed the baggie in the middle of the table, making sure the bug was facing up so we could point it out to George when he arrived, then played with my phone until Callum joined me.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long.

“Foods ready,” Callum called, a tray of food and drinks in his hands. George had apparently arrived while our food was being prepared, as he was also carrying a tray full of food.

“Oh, thank God. I’m starving.” Smiling, I waved to George, then pointed at the bagged bundle on the table. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to say anything and announce his presence, so I kept the banter between me and Callum light and fluffy and relevant just to the two of us.

Heading to the seat opposite Callum and me, George remained silent, but nodded before he placed his tray down, staring at the bug with narrowed eyes. He and Callum took their seats at the same time in what looked like well-rehearsed movements.

“Double cheese for you,” Callum said from next to me, picking up what I’d ordered and placing it in front of me, while George opened the bag and carefully pulled the scarf out without touching the bug itself. “And bacon deluxe for me.”

Ignoring what George was doing, I eyed Callum’s food and started drooling. “Fucking hell, I should have ordered that.”

“A bit of food envy,mo lus na gréine?”Grinning cheekily, Callum plucked a fry from the bowl and winked at me before he shoved it in his mouth, licking his lips after it disappeared.

“Maybe.” I groaned and felt my cock plump from his teasing. With as much as I’d come my brains out earlier, I couldn’t figure out how I could possibly have enough in me to go again. Benefits of youth, I assumed.

With a nod of George’s head, Callum pulled out his signal jammer from his pocket and kept talking normally as George counted him down. “We’ll have to come again when you’re on break for Christmas, so you—We don’t have much time, so let me get straight to it.” He wiped his hands on the napkins, then held his hand out to George for the scarf. “Let’s see if I can get a read on this.”

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