Parker.
Aleksi comes bounding down the stairs with a big fucking smile on his face. He’s huge, so seeing himgiddyabout something has me questioning his sanity a little bit. “You alright there, big guy?”
He shakes his phone at me. “My new toy is here.”
I can feel when my brows shoot into a V, and I look him over. “Your new toy?”
He grins again, nodding like it’s Christmas Eve and he was just told he can open one gift. “Yeah, c’mon. It was dropped off by a drone.”
Yeah, I'm gonna need this guy to teach me some things. I get up from where I’m sitting on the couch, where I was taking a break from looking at all the screens and helping Aleksi put all the pictures Raven took with her phone together. From what we were able to gather, the facility is only one story, but it spans about a hundred yards long, or the length of a football field. There are about twenty rooms, in addition to what Damon thinks might just be a lab, and other types of rooms like a fucking break room for employees. Which means there’s probably security up the ass at this thing, and no telling how many.
I am the unconquerable…
Grabbing my coat, I follow Aleksi out of the manor and let him lead me all the way to the middle of the gardens that haven’t been tended to in quite a while. He looks a little lost at first, zigzagging around, holding his phone up, and then laughs when he finds the box with his new toy. “Fuck yeah!” He grins triumphantly, holding it over his head.
“What is it?”
“You’ll see.”
As soon as we’re back inside, he tears it open with an enthusiasm you’d see in a kid. I’m not gonna lie, I'm getting a little excited myself. He reminds me a lot of my twin brothers, Luke and Sean. Dayton was always alittle more serious, taking after me, but the twins were hilarious little hellions. Fuck, I really need to call Rory and make sure she’s okay. When Aleksi pulls out another box that’s in the box, he goes at it again with the same gusto, practically dancing when he uses a switchblade to cut the tape, and when he pulls out the thing from inside, he turns to face me and gestures towards it.
“It’s a drone,” I reply dryly.
“It’s a thermal imaging drone with infrared.”
I hike a brow.
“Military grade, man!”
“Didn’t you already have one of those?”
He shakes his head, gets to work turning it on and hooking it up to the virtual reality-looking goggles it comes with, and then does something with his phone. Next, he pulls out the remote control that looks like a gaming one. “I only had infrared. This one is so strong you’d be able to detect if someone farts.”
I cover my mouth and rub my hand over my lips, sucking in my cheeks to not laugh, reminding myself he’s technically a kid with adult money—only a year or so younger than Jonas. “And that’s… a good thing?”
He side-eyes me like I just asked the dumbest question. “You coming?”
I lift a brow. “Now?”
“Yeah. Look, everyone else is asleep. I need to be about… seventy yards closer. This thing came fully charged. It makes no noise. It’s the dead of night. We can do a full sweep of the grounds. Find all the entry points. If they have guards, they’re probably using secret entrances, not just the front and back doors.”
“Fuck it, let’s go.”
“Good. I was really hoping you’d drive. I’m not used to driving on the left side yet.”
I grin. “Yeah, grab your fart detector, let’s go.”
He chuckles, slips his phone into his pocket, hands me the control, grabs the drone, and we head out quietly.
I park between two large trees as close as I can to the property Sabrina’s currently inside of. I have to stop myself from checking my phone every few minutes to verify that she’s okay. It’s a fucking compulsion at this point. She hasn’t moved from one side of the manor since ten. I really hope she’ssleeping well and with the door locked. Aleksi slides back into the passenger seat, hands me his phone, takes the remote control from the glove compartment, and puts the goggles on.
“Blades won’t freeze?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “They shouldn’t. I’ve seen footage from these things going up Everest to try to find hikers.”
“Military grade,” I repeat.
“Yup. Shouldn’t you be familiar with them?”
