“Just what?”
Declan turned, frowning. “This wasn’t the same group who came for you before. It was different people, different equipment, a whole different game.”
“Oh,” Seb said. “I guess I’m not sure what the implications of that are.”
“Me either,” Declan answered. “But I don’t like it.”
Seb frowned. He didn’t like it either, although neither had he particularly liked it when some random gang was trying to kidnap him.
That moment, his eyes caught something, one of the smaller cabinets that was yanked open. He headed over toward it, and when he peered inside, he saw that one specific hard drive had been removed from the carefully organized archive. Squinting and trying to push aside the stress of the night, he turned to a couple of the other smaller cabinets, finding each one untouched until he reached the last, which was also missing a hard drive.
“Huh,” Seb said.
“What’s that?” Declan asked from across the room.
“They didn’t just grab some random equipment. They took a few specific hard drives, too.”
“Huh?” Declan asked, repeating the word with a heavier thump than Seb gave it.
“It doesn’t make sense.” Seb rubbed at his temples while he crossed the lab. “How would they even know what to look for?”
“You’ve got everything labeled clearly,” Declan said, nodding his head to the cabinets.
“Of course,” Seb answered, trying not to take it as a compliment on his organizational skills. “And I’ve got plenty of backups, so it’s not like the data is lost to me forever. But taking specific hard drives makes it seem like they care about the information, not the hardware. And none of that research would make sense outside of the context of my own work.” He waved his hand in the air, trying to think of a way to explain. “It would be like stealing random pages from someone’s diary.”
“Okay, that decides it,” Declan said, concentration tightening his brow. “We need to figure out what the fuck is actually going on here.”
“Do you want to go see your nephew again?” Seb asked, his voice tight. He hated the idea of Declan leaving, even if the police were still around.
“Nope,” he answered. “This time, I need to go up the ladder.”
“Up the ladder?”
“My boss is out in Vegas, but there’s a man I report to here, a local contact. I’ll pay him a visit in the morning. It’s time these guys stopped keeping me in the dark.”
Seb felt a shiver of relief that Declan wasn’t leaving that evening. “Great,” he said. “I hope they can help.”
Declan grunted his agreement. “You get that list done for the police?”
“Just about,” Seb answered. “I’ll go over things again in the morning when I get a clear head.”
Declan nodded quickly. “Good. Let’s see if you can get some sleep tonight. I’ll be wide awake, but that doesn’t mean you should be.”
Seb started to protest. “You shouldn’t stay up for me. That’s not—”
“It’s not a choice,” Declan answered. He tapped the side of his head. “I won’t be able to sleep if I try. Now come on. I’ll get Ellie.” He paused, his eyes holding Seb’s. For a breath, the shield around Declan softened, and Seb felt the glow of his warmth again. “We’ll be right there with you,” he said, “right by your side.”
“Okay,” Seb answered, and then at last, he reached out and rested his head against Declan’s chest, the relief of that brief touch setting the world right. “Thank you, Declan.”
