Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SHEP

By the time I was all caught up with everything, I needed a drink. Max was worried once more for his daughter.

"They think whoever took Four likely took you, Max. I don't think they believe you're an accomplice," JJ argued.

"Can you be sure? No, you can't." Max was red in the face.

"Why would they leave a note if they knew where to find us?" Mason rolled his eyes.

"We need to be even more vigilant. They pinged the last location Four was at and went there. We don't know if they can trace past locations. They went to Max's house because they knew Four was headed there, and once they heard someone reporting a break in at his residence on the scanner, they needed to check it out." Noel sighed. "The problem is, we don't know if they know who we are. And we're sending Mason and JJ to the charity ball in a few days."

"Not anymore, we're not." I wasn't messing around. "It's too dangerous."

JJ cocked his head. "Mason and I can handle ourselves. Plus, Noel and Nick said we'd be wired up, and you'll be outside the building, ready to jump to our aid should we need it."

The timer went off, and I opened the oven. JJ had made his mom's chicken recipe, and my stomach rumbled.

"Let's eat, and we can figure things out."

Mason and Gabe set the table in the dining room while JJ helped me carry out the food. Four hadn't said much as we discussed things, but I was sure if he had, it would have been nightmare inducing. He knew what we were facing, and I wanted to know.

When we were all settled and halfway through our meals, I broached the subject rattling through my head.

"Four?"

He looked up from his food, eyes guarded. "Yes?"

"I know this is a hard conversation, but it would help us all out a lot if you could explain what we have coming for us? These men, what their behavior is like, anything at all you can share to help us."

Four's gaze shifted from me to JJ before he answered.

"The ones on your screen, they are Investigators. They are sent to find the pattern and location of the target or targets. Then they will send out the Weapons."

"These Investigators, only they do that?"

Four nodded. "Everyone has a job, and everyone must follow the protocols."

"Once they know everything, these Weapons, they're boys like you?" JJ asked, his eyes soft and sad.

"Yes."

"If they're just investigating, they don't know where we are yet," Gabe shifted in his seat. "Their cars, did the cameras pick up license plates? Maybe we follow them a little bit."

It wasn't often a thought struck me like a head-on collision but boom , there it was. "We might not have to follow them." I smiled at Four. "Do you know where they are? I mean you are sent as a Weapon, correct?"

"I am."

"Was," JJ interrupted with narrowed eyes.

"Was. Sorry, dear."

Everyone but Four snorted.

"Anyway, you leave the facility or wherever you are, right?"

"You want their address?" Four tilted his head. "I am sometimes driven if it is too far. But I must return on my own. I do not know the address, only the way to get there."

"No." JJ stood and pointed a finger at me. "I know what you're thinking."

"It's an idea."

"You want to send Four that way, and we follow him?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "He'll be in a car with us; I don't want him walking there."

"That's damaging. Aziza would hate it." JJ wasn't having it. "No. Maybe we can show him a map or something."

"Get to main, go to tenth, make a left and then a right five streets down, count two thousand steps then make another right. At the building that's gray, take the narrow road named Day. Count the fifteen houses on the left, then up the driveway where the angels wept. Knock three times and wait for entrance." Four's eyes were closed as he repeated it three more times.

"That's enough." JJ was beside him and placed his hand on Four's. "Thank you."

"We can work with that." Nick nodded.

"That's a priority," Angel stood. "I'm going upstairs to go over security feeds."

"I'll walk the property." Gabe left, and Mason cleaned the table.

"I think we need to do schedules and have someone on alert at all times. The alarms are all well and good, but we need extra," JJ said.

"Agreed." I kissed his lips quickly and took the plates from his hands. "I'll wash up. Go with Four; I'm sure he needs his pill and stuff."

"Okay."

"He's very protective of Four." I started filling the sink with water to rinse and Mason would put them in the dishwasher.

"It's who JJ is."

"I know, but I worry. I don't know how this will turn out, Mason, but I do know that if handing Four over or him dying means JJ and all of you live, I won't hesitate."

Mason squeezed my arm. "I get it. We all know what's at stake here. Just do yourself a favor, and don't repeat that to JJ. He won't agree, no matter how much in his heart he understands what you're saying. He doesn't quit on people he cares about, and he will risk his life for them. Look at what he did for me."

Mason was referring to our time in hiding. Him, JJ, Heather, and Andrew had been in the safe house and were found. Me and my brothers weren't there, and Mason had almost died when the house was overrun. He'd ordered JJ to get the kids out of there. JJ had, but then he'd gone back for Mason. It was who he was and one of the reasons I loved him.

"I think that's what I'm afraid of. I can't lose him to a stranger."

"Four might be a stranger to you, maybe to all of us, but JJ doesn't see him that way." Mason got a distant look in his eyes. "What that boy has been through, I don't think any of us can fathom. I wasn't held nearly as long as he was, and I'm still awoken by nightmares. My skin sometimes doesn't feel like my own, and there are days I just don't feel like I can get clean."

We were silent for a few minutes as we filled the dishwasher. I took in everything he said and understood completely how JJ was seeing this. He was already attached to Four, and it wouldn't be a choice of Four or all of us, it would be me, JJ, and Four against the others. My vicious viper wasn't going to abandon that boy.

And I would never abandon JJ.