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We’d barely sat dohen a truck pulled up behind Mr V’s antiques store I was hoping to seebehind the dry-cleaning business It hit me some time later that most supply vans rarely carried boxes out of a business Wasn’t it their jobs to carry boxes of supplies inside? So ould they have been carrying out?

I’d rackedto remember which supply co to me

Cleaner Supply Warehouse

I blinked in surprise It popped intoto re on the white van clear as sunshine, a corabbed a pen off the checkout counter, and wrote the nait they were For now, I focused on the truck, a red four-door Chevy I didn’t recognize Two ate down There was some kind of equipment in the back I leaned in, but it was just too dark to see Also, a set of fingers began snapping in h as I scowled at Ian

He scowled back, his patience see new levels of stupidity by the second Why did I ever put up with him? Because when I first showed up, I had no one and he was nice

"Are you even on earth?" he asked

I bit back a retort I had hiood here, but first I needed to get a look at the contents of the truck before they hauled their load inside

Still, I was finished worrying about his feelings "Order ?"

"I’ll be back," I said inat the back of my mind concerned at how I could reain, not my own name

I hurried to the alley exit and snuck out the door, trying to stick to the shadows and ever so grateful for Reyes’s jacket Thankfully, there was a slight discrepancy in the length of the two buildings They were connected, but the antiques store was a couple of feet longer, which gave ainst the brick The two s, and a couple of plain boxes that looked pretty heavy They put all of that on the ground and went inside

Mr V wasn’t with them, and I didn’t kno to feel about that

A ?"

It was just loud enough to get one of the men’s attention He stopped and scanned the area while I pressed a finger over Garrett Swopes’shand, his shadow scratchy and er from his mouth, I repositioned it over mine, then leaned back to see if theboxes out of the shop

"What is that?" I whispered to Garrett

He leaned over ave the area a once-over, then whispered back, "Plasma cutter"

I frowned "Why would they need to cut plasrinned down at ?"

"No"

"Does this have anything to do with the shopkeep’s current state of captivity?"

I bolted upright "You know?" I asked, amazed and relieved I wasn’t the only one

He stepped back "I saw the men in his shop today when I walked past Add to that the fact that he looked really uncoht? I saw the