Chapter 33

CHAPTER33

“You’re fired,” Nathan said, making Bailey bite back a sigh because she honestly didn’t have the energy for this today, not after everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“No, he’s not,” Bailey said, pushing past her brother and headed back to her desk so that she could drop down in her chair and stare aimlessly at her computer as she tried to make sense of everything, but…

They needed this program to work.

“Oh, but he really is,” Nathan drawled with a glare aimed at Quinn as he made his way over to the couch as Jonathan showed himself out.

“The bar wasn’t his fault,” Bailey pointed out, rubbing her hands down her face before dropping them with a sigh and grabbed the small laptop that she kept for moments like this out of her bottom drawer.

“No, it wasn’t,” Nathan murmured in agreement as Bailey looked for the charging wire and-

“I contacted Tristan this morning and told him that I needed to be replaced,” Quinn said, making her frown as she looked up to find him watching her.

“Was this before or after the incident in the elevator?” Nathan drawled, making her wince.

“That’s a good question,” Jess murmured from the doorway with a nod and a gesture for them to continue as she took a bite of her donut and-

“Oh, come on!”

-proceeded to watch through the glass with a pout that Bailey forced herself to ignore at the moment.

“You’re quitting?” Bailey asked, swallowing hard as she glanced at her brother to find him watching her as well.

“It’s for the best,” Quinn said, looking at her with an expression that she couldn’t quite read.

“When are you leaving?” Bailey asked, somehow managing to get the words out as she forced herself to focus on finding that power cord.

“Within the hour,” came the softly murmured answer that had her swallowing hard as she went through the motions of searching through the wires and-

She was going to be sick.

“That soon?” Bailey asked, swallowing hard as she closed the drawer and turned her attention to her top drawer as she told herself that was fine.

More than fine.

She had a job to do, and after what happened in the elevator, and God, she really needed to stop thinking about that, this was probably for the best, Bailey told herself as she absently pushed around the cords, knowing that if he was around that she would be tempted to pick up where they left off and with everything that was going on, she really didn’t have time for-

“We need to get going if we want to avoid rush hour traffic,” Quinn said, making her frown as she glanced up to find him gesturing for her to come with him.

“What?” Bailey asked as her gaze flickered to Nathan to find her brother glaring as he stood up.

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Nathan bit out.

“She can’t stay here. It’s not safe,” Quinn said before shifting his focus back on her. “You’ve got thirty minutes to pack before I drag you out of here.”

“But the program…” Bailey mumbled weakly as she gestured absently to her laptop.

“You’ll have to find a way to work remotely because you’re not staying here,” Quinn said as Bailey worried her bottom lip between her teeth and-

“Not happening,” Nathan said firmly, which had her reluctantly nodding in agreement because this was a bad idea.

“He’s right. This is definitely a bad idea,” Bailey said, releasing a heartfelt sigh as she shoved the thumb drive in her pocket and grabbed her backpack off the floor and placed it on her desk so that she could place her laptop in it. She followed that up by placing her iPad in it along with her cellphone before moving to close it only to clear her throat as she discreetly opened the bottom drawer that she normally used to hide her caffeine stash and-

“Jesus Christ,” Nathan said, pinching the bridge of his nose as she grabbed the large box of condoms on top and shoved it in her bag only to rethink that decision and grabbed a few more, making Quinn’s lips twitch.

Once she shoved them in her bag and kicked the drawer closed, Bailey cleared her throat and asked, “Where are we going?” as Quinn grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Nathan said, following him out.

“Back up to Massachusetts until this blows over, so pack warm,” Quinn said, heading for the elevator.

“Really?” Bailey asked, unable to help but smile. She hadn’t been back to Massachusetts since she ran away. She’d always planned on going back, but she’d never had time.

“You’re leaving us?” Jess mumbled sadly as Bailey followed Quinn to the elevator.

“Yes,” Bailey said, the same time that Nathan said, “No.”

“Wait. You’re going back to Massachusetts?” Kelly asked, not looking any happier about it than Nathan did.

“We’re going to stay at my grandmother’s old house,” Quinn said as he reached back and took her hand in his and led her onto the elevator.

“How long will you be gone?” Jess asked as Quinn released her hand so that he could pull the gate closed.

“Until this is over,” he said, taking Bailey by surprise, but…

That was probably for the best, Bailey thought, even as excitement began to build. She missed Massachusetts, missed the seasons, the food, and the snow. As they made their way upstairs, she couldn’t help but wonder if it would snow while they were up there. That led her to deciding that she should definitely pack warm just in case, only to remember that her winter wardrobe consisted of jeans and tee-shirts.

Resigned to going shopping when they reached Massachusetts, Bailey quickly made her way to her bedroom as soon as Quinn pushed the gate open. Ten minutes later, she was standing in front of the elevator with her bag packed and her laptop charging wire in hand, doing her best to stop smiling.

“You have everything you need?” Quinn asked a minute later, walking out of his room with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“Yes,” Bailey said, nodding solemnly.

“Good,” he murmured, leaning down to steal a quick kiss before he pushed the gate back open and grabbed their bags.

“Are we flying or driving?” Bailey asked, more excited than she thought she would be at the prospect of going back to Massachusetts.

“Flying,” Quinn said a moment later as he pushed the gate open before grabbing their bags and headed towards the front door.

As they made their way to his car, Bailey found herself sighing with relief when she didn’t spot Nathan waiting downstairs for her. She didn’t want to argue with her brother, not about this. Something was going on and she couldn’t stay here, not when it meant putting everyone in danger.

She still wasn’t sure how she was going to do this yet, but she was going to make this work, Bailey decided as she climbed into Quinn’s car while he put the bags in the back. First thing that she needed to do was check Jonathan’s program and see if she could make it work. If not, then she would have to start from the beginning and hope for the best.

She’d figure out a way to get the file to Nathan securely, but with everything going on, Bailey knew one thing, she was going to have to be sneaky about it. That was okay, she decided as Quinn climbed into the car and drove towards the highway.

“Why are we-” Bailey began to ask when Quinn suddenly pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be a rundown motel, only to have him place his hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything else.

When she closed her mouth and didn’t move to say anything else, Quinn dropped his hand away and turned on the radio, blasting the music as he gestured for her to get out of the car. Frowning in confusion, Bailey climbed out of the car and watched as her brother’s car pulled up beside them.

She watched as her brother climbed out of the car and grabbed his laptop from the backseat. Bailey opened her mouth to ask what was going on when Quinn leaned down and quickly kissed her as she felt his fingers slide into her pocket and grabbed the thumb drive.

She watched in confusion as he tossed the thumb drive to Nathan, who caught it and placed it in an external reader while Quinn made his way to the back of his car and grabbed what looked like a large cellphone out of his bag. She watched as he pulled her bag out of the trunk and laid it on the ground. He followed that up by running the phone over her bag before opening it and running it over her things inside.

When he was done, Quinn made his way to the passenger side, grabbed her backpack and placed the phone on it and-

Beep!

-had Bailey swallowing hard as she watched him tear through her backpack and placed all of her things on the hood of his car and-

Beep!

He quickly placed the phone down on the hood and grabbed her iPad. Seconds later, he had the cover pulled off and Bailey watched with dread as he pulled a thin metallic disc off the back of her iPad. She watched the muscle in his jaw clench as he set it aside and-

Beep!

Found another one hidden behind her phone case and then-

Beep!

One hidden behind the battery of her laptop. She watched as Quinn grabbed the discs and her devices and placed them aside as he shifted his focus back on her backpack and-

Beep!

Found two more metal discs hidden in her backpack. After double-checking that there weren’t any more discs, he handed her bag back to her as an SUV pulled into the parking lot. She watched as Jakob jumped out of the SUV and grabbed a large metal bin from the back and quickly joined them. Without a word, Jakob grabbed everything off the car and placed it in the bin.

When Nathan tossed the thumb drive to Jakob, Bailey glanced at her brother to find him shaking his head once. Swallowing hard, she watched Jakob add the thumb drive to the bin before securing it and placing it in the trunk of Nathan’s car, further confusing her as she looked back at Quinn and-

“Change of plans.”