I opened the doorand the delivery man handed over my pizza and two other boxes and left. By the time I realized I should have tipped him, he was already in the elevator. Wondering what the hell was going on, I set the boxes on the kitchen table. Opening the pizza box, I took out a slice and munch on it while I considered the boxes.
What if it’s from the Spiders?
Nobody knew if the Spiders had identified meand Addison yet, and even if they had, sending a bomb didn’t seem like their MO. Besides, a bomb wouldn’t come in two different sized packages. I stopped chewing long enough to listen, but didn’t hear any ticking. I thought about calling Jake and Addison to get their advice, but didn’t want to interrupt their sexy time.
The curiosity was killing me, so I finally gave in and opened the boxes.The first held fitted black cargo pants, a black baseball cap, and a black tank top. The second held new black combat boots. The sizes were perfect, which told me that whatever was going on, Addison had to be involved.
The screen on my laptop drew my attention, so I wandered over to the coffee table and glanced at the screen. “Get dressed,” was all it said.
Kind of creeped out, I tried to callAddison, but got her voicemail.
Too curious to stop now, I dressed quickly, putting my hair in a ponytail and pulling it through the back of the cap. Because I still had no clue what was going on, I even put on some makeup so I wouldn’t look like a boy. When I was done, I typed, “What now?”
“Answer the door.”
Another knock. I wiped the stupid grin off my face and looked through the peephole.Addison’s driver, Jimmy, was standing on the other side. “Come with me, please, Dylan,” he said.
“I’m not supposed to leave,” I reminded him.
“We have an approved escort.”
I had no idea what that meant but wasn’t about to pass up a chance to get out of the house. I grabbed my keys, phone, and purse and headed out.
I followed Jimmy to his car. There was a motorcycle on either side of thelimo, and I recognized the drivers as the two Dogs of Fire who had escorted me and Addison to Lakeview. “Hey Train. Cheese. You guys pulled babysitting duty again, huh?”
They both laughed, waving to me. “Nah, Dylan. We volunteered for this shit,” Cheese replied.
Jimmy opened my door and gestured for me to get in. I slid across the seat and leaned forward. As soon as Jimmy climbed behind thewheel, I asked, “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” he replied, rolling up the partition between us.
Rude. Left to my own devices, I called Asher. Again, straight to voice mail. Frustrated that nobody would answer my calls, I group texted them all, asking what the heck they were up to. Nobody texted back.
Jimmy dropped me off at an unmarked warehouse where a man dressed just like me waited.The bikes came to a stop on either side of me, and Cheese and Train dismounted.
“Dylan James?” the man asked, not paying the big, scary bikers any attention.
“That’s me.”
“Can I see some ID?”
Weird. I flashed it for him anyway.
“I’m Sergeant Hernandez. I’ve been sent to brief you on our situation. Please come with me, Ms. James.”
Cheese and Train took up guard by the side of the building.I looked to them for help or advice, but they didn’t say shit. The fact that they were there did make me feel better, though. Sergeant Hernandez opened the door behind him, entering the dimly-lit warehouse and I had to practically run to keep up. I passed a laser tag sign and realized what was up. Someonewasplaying a game with me, and I was thrilled! I wanted to squeal with delight, but I clampedmy mouth closed and paid attention.
“We have a hostage situation,” the sergeant said as we walked past a handful of black dividers. The lighting was awful. Overhead fluorescents were mostly burned out.
“Who’s the hostage?” I asked, playing along.
“We’re not sure, but we were told that you can help us out with this.”
“Okay, what do you need me to do?”
He picked up what appeared to be abulletproof vest and handed it to me. “Put this on. We’re sending you in on a rescue op.”
That sounded fun. I strapped on the vest and he handed me a laser gun. “Take this. You’ll need to fight your way in. It’s the fourth door on the left, past the dividers. If you hit the back wall, you’ve gone too far. The place is full of hostiles, so shoot anything that moves until you get to that room.”
