Page 57 of Never Again

“You’re leaving us?” Jess mumbled sadly as Bailey followed Quinn to the elevator.

“Yes,” Bailey said, the same time that Nathan said, “No.”

“Wait. You’re going back to Massachusetts?” Kelly asked, not looking any happier about it than Nathan did.

“We’re going to stay at my grandmother’s old house,” Quinn said as he reached back and took her hand in his and led her onto the elevator.

“How long will you be gone?” Jess asked as Quinn released her hand so that he could pull the gate closed.

“Until this is over,” he said, taking Bailey by surprise, but…

That was probably for the best, Bailey thought, even as excitement began to build. She missed Massachusetts, missed the seasons, the food, and the snow. As they made their way upstairs, she couldn’t help but wonder if it would snow while they were up there. That led her to deciding that she should definitely pack warm just in case, only to remember that her winter wardrobe consisted of jeans and tee-shirts.

Resigned to going shopping when they reached Massachusetts, Bailey quickly made her way to her bedroom as soon as Quinn pushed the gate open. Ten minutes later, she was standing in front of the elevator with her bag packed and her laptop charging wire in hand, doing her best to stop smiling.

“You have everything you need?” Quinn asked a minute later, walking out of his room with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Yes,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly.

“Good,” he murmured, leaning down to steal a quick kiss before he pushed the gate back open and grabbed their bags.

“Are we flying or driving?” Bailey asked, more excited than she thought she would be at the prospect of going back to Massachusetts.

“Flying,” Quinn said a moment later as he pushed the gate open before grabbing their bags and headed towards the front door.

As they made their way to his car, Bailey found herself sighing with relief when she didn’t spot Nathan waiting downstairs for her. She didn’t want to argue with her brother, not about this. Something was going on and she couldn’t stay here, not when it meant putting everyone in danger.

She still wasn’t sure how she was going to do this yet, but she was going to make this work, Bailey decided as she climbed into Quinn’s car while he put the bags in the back. First thing that she needed to do was check Jonathan’s program and see if she could make it work. If not, then she would have to start from the beginning and hope for the best.

She’d figure out a way to get the file to Nathan securely, but with everything going on, Bailey knew one thing, she was going to have to be sneaky about it. That was okay, she decided as Quinn climbed into the car and drove towards the highway.

“Why are we-” Bailey began to ask when Quinn suddenly pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be a rundown motel, only to have him place his hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything else.

When she closed her mouth and didn’t move to say anything else, Quinn dropped his hand away and turned on the radio, blasting the music as he gestured for her to get out of the car. Frowning in confusion, Bailey climbed out of the car and watched as her brother’s car pulled up beside them.

She watched as her brother climbed out of the car and grabbed his laptop from the backseat. Bailey opened her mouth to ask what was going on when Quinn leaned down and quickly kissed her as she felt his fingers slide into her pocket and grabbed the thumb drive.

She watched in confusion as he tossed the thumb drive to Nathan, who caught it and placed it in an external reader while Quinn made his way to the back of his car and grabbed what looked like a large cellphone out of his bag. She watched as he pulled her bag out of the trunk and laid it on the ground. He followed that up by running the phone over her bag before opening it and running it over her things inside.

When he was done, Quinn made his way to the passenger side, grabbed her backpack and placed the phone on it and-

Beep!

-had Bailey swallowing hard as she watched him tear through her backpack and placed all of her things on the hood of his car and-

Beep!

He quickly placed the phone down on the hood and grabbed her iPad. Seconds later, he had the cover pulled off and Bailey watched with dread as he pulled a thin metallic disc off the back of her iPad. She watched the muscle in his jaw clench as he set it aside and-

Beep!

Found another one hidden behind her phone case and then-

Beep!

One hidden behind the battery of her laptop. She watched as Quinn grabbed the discs and her devices and placed them aside as he shifted his focus back on her backpack and-

Beep!

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