“Password?” Carter says through a hidden speaker, his voice as clear as it would be if he were standing in front of me.
“Bite me.”
I’m used to Carter’s jokes and eccentric ways, and this is one of his things. He doesn’t actually have a password he wants me to say; he just enjoys messing with people.
“Nope,” he says, his voice light with humor. “Try again.”
I lift the laptop and show it to the camera. “Wanna have some fun?”
There’s a loud click as the door unlocks, and I pull it open to reveal yet another staircase that will take me to one of the turret rooms on the fifth floor.
The door at the top of the stairs is already unlocked, and like usual, I find Carter at his desk, his chair pointed toward the door as I step through it.
Carter’s room is probably the coolest in the entire house, and not just because of the impressive security and tech setup he has going on. Since it’s in a turret, the room is completely circular with no corners or straight lines, and it’s more than twice as tall as the other rooms in the house, with sharply vaulted ceilings thanks to the peaked roof.
The room is set up so one side of it is Carter’s living area and the other is full of security camera screens, multiple computers, and a ton of other equipment that I don’t understand and isn’t my business. There’s also a loft Carter uses as his bedroom, and there’s an attached bathroom that’s identical to mine, including being a normal shape and not round like his room.
“You have something fun for me?”
“More than one,” I say as I cross the large room and hand him the laptop.
“Two questions.” He eyes the laptop. “What’s this, and why the hell are you here and not hiding away in a hotel with a beautiful woman?”
Grabbing his spare desk chair, I wheel it over so I can sit with him.
“There’s a funny story that answers both of those questions,” I say, settling in the plush chair. “That’s a laptop I stole from some guys who drugged and kidnapped me and another guy.” I dig the phones we stole out of my hoodie pocket. “And these are their phones.”
His eyes widen. “Say what?”
“And to answer your other question, the reason I got drugged and kidnapped wasn’t because I was the target, but because my date bailed on me to get back together with her ex, so she can warm his bed since she made her choice.”
Carter blinks at me a few times. “Are you shitting me, or is this serious?”
“Serious.”
He nods gravely and puts the laptop on one of the only clear spaces on his desk. Then he holds his hands out for the phones. “Okay, tell me what we’re dealing with before I start messing with these.”
“Do you know Damon Cosgrove?” I ask as he examines each of the phones.
He pauses, a thoughtful look crossing his features. “The name is familiar, but I can’t place it.”
“He’s a member of the Keepers.”
“The one who looks like he’s the front man of an emo band?” he asks, his eyes widening again.
I nod. “He was at the same rave, and he was the target.”
“But how did you get mixed up in this?” he asks, his brow furrowing with confusion as he puts the phones on top of the laptop. “I didn’t know you were friends.”
“We’re not. I had no idea he was there until after we got kidnapped.”
Carter shoots me a confused look.
“Here, let me start at the beginning.” I briefly outline what happened, leaving out the part where we went into the smash room and hooked up while high off our asses, and his mouth is hanging open like it’s been unhinged by the time I finish.
“Christ on a bike,” he says after a long pause. “I don’t even know where to start with all that.” He points to the pile of electronics. “But why are you giving this to me and not to Jace?”
Both Jace and Carter are hackers, and Jace is not only incredibly skilled, he’s basically Carter’s number two and works with him to maintain the frat’s security and sus out cyberthreats. This kind of stuff is my cousin’s bread and butter; it’s no wonder he’s confused about why I came to him and not Jace.
