Page 14 of Rising Storm

"I'm sorry I scared him away," Gareth said softly. "You should talk to Lane or Shelli and set up another meeting and this time, I won't go."

"He's long gone by now."

"You don't know that. He's obviously local."

"That's not obvious, either. He could have driven here for the meeting. Do me a favor and don’t tell anyone he’s my brother." Helix's shoulders slumped. "I was so close."

"We'll find him again. Now that we know who's on the other end of those emails, you can talk to him."

It would mean admitting he knew that email belonged to Sayer, but he could at least let him know he was free.

Chapter 6

When Helix got on his laptop, he got a ding from his Skype. He switched over to find Shelli video calling him. He clicked it on and her blue-striped hair filled his screen. She wore a lot of eye makeup, but it suited her, the liner going out to points on the outer corners of her eyes and her lips a bright purple. She was in the room she’d turned into the main computer area, a big window with streaming light behind her.

“How did it go with the guy this morning?” she asked.

“Not good. Gareth went to meet him and he took off. Gareth looks like a cop, so it’s understandable.” He settled back against the headboard as the air conditioner kicked on. He crossed his jean-clad legs at the ankles. “Do you think you could get an address for me?”

She nodded. “He’s been emailing a lot, so I should be able to track him down. Give me a little time.”

“Lane and Reid get back?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, not too long ago, so you can probably guess where Lane and Quincy are. Those two can’t keep their hands off each other.”

It was true. They always disappeared into their room for hours whenever one was gone for any length of time. Helix might have been a little envious of their relationship. He couldn’t imagine anything like that for himself, though. Trust came hard for him. But a small part of him kind of longed for it, he couldn’t deny it. For some reason, he thought of Gareth.

He snorted at the idea of a relationship with the man.

“What was that noise for?” Shelli asked. She scratched her cheek, her nails the same color as the blue streaks in her hair.

“Just thinking you might as well not expect Lane and Quincy for a while.”

“You’re telling me.” She turned and greeted someone and in the next instant, Reid’s smiling face and blond hair filled half his screen. Reid was nineteen and pretty beyond belief. He wasn’t as small as Lane, but he had the same sort of graceful way about him. His features were sharp yet delicate and he seemed to have a personality to match. Helix could still remember how he’d cried when he’d learned he was free of Hayrick. But he’d settled right into the house in Maine. He fit into their mismatched group really well.

“Hey, Helix,” Reid said with a sweet smile. “How’s Oklahoma?”

“Either hot as Hell or we’re hit with fierce rain showers that have the loudest thunder imaginable. It’s like this state must make a statement no matter what. I miss the summer up there.”

“I bet,” Reid said. “I used to live in the south and the summers sucked there, too. I always heard Oklahoma was a dry heat, though.”

“It is when it doesn’t rain.” Helix adjusted the camera on his laptop. “You and Lane have success getting back the toys?”

“You mean the collectible action figures? We did. Got them back to their original owners already, too. They were on the way back. We left them on the covered back porch. I wish we could have stayed to see them open that box.”

Helix wasn’t as trusting as most people. If he walked out to find a strange box on his porch, he’d call a bomb squad. He certainly wouldn’t just open the thing. But he knew what Reid meant. There had been several times he wished he could see people’s faces when their property was returned without explanation.

“You getting along with Gareth at all?” Reid asked.

Helix knew why he asked. They never got along at home and that was mostly his fault with his distrust of cops. He nearly grinned. Yeah, they were getting along, though there was some kind of fire between them he didn’t understand. “We’re fine,” was all he said. “We plan to go into the building tomorrow and get the lay of the land. Gareth should be fine.”

“This is his first re-steal, so I expect he’ll be nervous.” Shelli leaned closer to the camera. “You may have to hold his hand.” She winked.

“He’ll be fine,” he repeated because he knew the man would be. So far, Gareth had mostly been returning items from the basement. They’d first started shipping things, but worried it would be too easy for law enforcement to trace them back, even with all of them traveling to different towns to do the shipping. So now, they took things back personally. Gareth had volunteered for that part right away.

“Just be patient with him. He’s bound to be nervous.” Shelli smiled into the camera.

“You think I wouldn’t be?”

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