The sun had burned off in the sky to be replaced by a fat moon, still a ghostly outline in the transition to dusk.
If I was trending on social media, that probably meant this was going to be my last time out for a while. Hopefully, Varun's lawyers could work enough magic to keep my family out of trouble.
Aaron met me at the door with a secretive grin. "Your video is trending!"
"Yeah, I heard," I whispered, trying to hush his excitement. "I thought it was supposed to expire?"
"We can't help if a fan captures it to repost," Aaron shrugged, lowering his voice considerably. "So far everyone wants to know how a bot account got ahold of it and they're pretty sure it's a fake."
"Nice work, pit sweat" I smiled and offered him a high-five to cover the exhausting emotional roller-coaster I'd been riding.
"Ha! Thanks, trash mouth," he bobbed his head, still trying to convince himself that we weren't going to get found out.
Varun's movie choice wasn't entirely the best material for me to watch, but I'd realized that far too late to say anything. John McClane (a name I'll forever associate with my big Canadian Lumberjack friend) was already elbow deep in bad guys when I started flashing back to my own accidental office brawl. That close encounter had set off a chain of events with further reaching consequences than I was ready to face. Then again, that had never stopped me before.
I made the excuse that I needed to get some air when my mom paused the movie for a 'tinkle break.' Aaron was too wrapped up in his phone to care, but Varun followed me down the hall on my way to the courtyard.
"My team is looking at the watch," he said in a hushed tone. "I'll let you know as soon as we hack in."
"Thanks," I smiled weakly, not meaning to sound ungrateful. "Galen got fired because of me."
I hadn't told anyone yet because I didn't want my mom to worry that any more drastic changes were coming.
"I heard," Varun nodded as I pulled one of the mobile glass panes at the back of the house.
"I feel kind of bad," I admitted as the frigid air rushed into the room.
"Galen knew the difficulties of his job when he took the role," Varun's voice was insistent. "He wasn't able to secure the confidence of his team mates, including you. You cannot feel bad for the actions of others."
I couldn't overlook the fact that my actions had directly impacted Galen's job.
"It looks like your mother is finished tinkling," Varun waved at my mom's feminine silhouette as she gestured for us to come inside. "Shall we?"
"You go ahead," I told him. "I want another minute of freedom."
"How easy it is to forget the things we take for granted," Varun bowed his head respectfully and made his way back inside. "Take all the time you need. Shall we keep the movie paused for you?"
"Are you kidding?" I grinned to bolster my waning confidence. "I could recite every line for you right now, movie or not."
"Impressive," Varun's lips twitched upward, but the expression didn't quite reach his eyes.
His cane clicked across the polished wood planks as he backtracked into the hall. Tipping my face to the smattering of stars twinkling overhead, I tuned into the water of the fountain. My hand came up to run through my hair when I noticed Varun's bracelet on my wrist.
The subtle matte material had angular etches less than a millimeter deep surrounding the whole thing. I could feel the slight fluctuations of the radio frequencies it emitted, pulsing with my blood pressure.
"Chips to cash?" The unexpected hollow voice stole my breath and I whipped around to face the skeletal mask of my emo-stalker.
"Holy shit-pickles!" I squeaked. "Stop sneaking up on me!"
As usual, he was clad in his calf-length trench coat that made him look like a card-carrying member of the Chris Angel fan club. His dusky locks were slicked back to show off the pair of deep-set onyx eyes that burrowed into mine. Stretched across his lower mandible was the jawbone mask that artfully obfuscated his face.
He inclined his head to the side, stepping forward to get closer, but said nothing. My limbs began to buzz with tiny flares of electricity that stopped short of blossoming out of my skin. Our close proximity was wreaking havoc on my ability to think straight from the multitude of questions spinning around my brain.
His dead eyes widened and he raised a gloved hand to point at my right arm.
"What this? It's part of my new Scion-inspired jewelry collection," I sneered, holding up my wrist so he could see what I had to put up with. "Cute, huh?"
His mask moved where I assumed his mouth was, but it was difficult to make out the expression creasing his vacant eyes.
"Look, I don't know you or what your deal is," I came right out with it. "But I'm trying to get some information about a group of mercenary's with the initials C and E. Have you heard of anything like that?"
He nodded once.
"OK, well, what do you know about them?" I probed, audibly frustrated. "I don't have time for your Lassie act tonight."
The sound of something metallic plinking lightly off the cobblestones of my mother's patio stole our attention and I turned to watch a plain tin cylinder bounce over to our feet.
I barely had time to yelp as the man in black wrapped one arm around my waist, hoisting me into his side.
"Hold on!" His raspy cry was swallowed by the crack of the detonation enveloping us.
Welp! Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger this weekend! I'll be updating again next week. :)