Michael had left us to play and gone back to the booth where my dad and Paul were sitting, joined by another three of my father’s friends and colleagues. As our game came to an end, I noticed all of them rise from their booth and head through the same door we’d been through earlier. I glanced at Cass, and he gave me a slight nod, and we left the table and followed them through the door.
Keeping back, we headed down the corridor, only to see the men disappear through the door at the very end—the door with the beefy security guy now scowling at me and Cass.
“What do we do?” Cass hissed through the side of his mouth.
“Wing it” was my reply, and we strode towards the door.
THIRTY
I’d been working on my assignment for the past hour and a half, the need to finish my semester with good grades driving me to carry on, even though it was the last thing I felt like doing. It was getting late, and I still hadn’t heard anything from any of the Four. I knew, or I hoped, at least, that West would message me with an update, even if Caiden didn’t want to hear from me.
Kinslee wandered in, dressed in fleecy pyjamas and fluffy slippers, and came to a stop next to me, leaning on my desk. “How are you still going? It’s so late.”
“I just want to get this finished before I turn my computer off.”
“Fair enough.” She picked up the little crystal ball with a 3D model of the solar system suspended inside, that I kept on my desk. “This is cute. What is it?”
I glanced up, a sad smile on my face. “That was my dad’s. It’s the solar system. He used it as a paperweight in his office.”
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful.” She bit her lip, placing the crystal ball carefully back down.
“It’s okay. I like to talk about him. I don’t have anyone to talk to about him, really.”
“I’m always happy to listen, if you want to talk.” Squeezing my shoulder, she leaned across my desk to the wall. “Were these your dad’s, too?” She pointed at the collection of star charts and constellations I’d tacked up.
“Yeah. I told you he was an astrophysicist, right? He had loads of this stuff. At home, his study was covered in these posters. These are just the ones they sent me from his work office.”
“Oh, okay.” She leaned even closer, tapping her finger on one of the posters. “Huh. I never knew that was a constellation.”
“What?” I was only half paying attention as I tried to finish the paragraph I’d been typing.
“Argo Navis. I never knew it was a constellation. Did you know that the Argo Navis was Jason and the Argonauts’ ship? You know, from Greek myths?”
“No idea,” I murmured.
“It’s funny. My brother worked down at the docks last summer, loading and unloading cargo. One of the cargo ships was actually called the Argo Navis, can you believe it?” She laughed. “Someone must have really been into their Greek mythology.”
I swear a lightning bolt hit me.
“What did you say?” I gasped.
“Which bit? The ship?”
“No. This can’t be!” My hands shaking, I picked up my phone and opened Weston’s app, scrolling to the little safe icon which linked to our secure storage.
It seemed to take forever for the scanned image of my dad’s notes to load, but when it did, it was blatantly obvious.
AR(letter missing)O (letter missing)AVIS. TUES NIGHTS.
Argo Navis.
“Kins, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back. Uh, later. Or tomorrow, I guess.”
“Are you okay?” She eyed me with concern.
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Just got to see the Four.” I saved my work and closed my laptop lid with a bang, swiped my bag from the floor, stuffing my phone inside, and rushed out of the room. I paused to grab Caiden’s hoodie and a beanie hat, pulling them both on, then flew out of the building and into the car park.
Sitting in my car, I sent the same message to all the Four.
Me: It might not be Arlo Davis. I think it could be ARGO NAVIS. A boat at the docks. I’m going there to check it out now. Will let you know what I find.
Text sent, I switched to my maps app and set a course for Alstone Docks.
We reached the security guy. His scowl deepened as he stared us down, slightly shorter than me and Cass, but built like a brick shithouse.
“Can I help you boys?”
“You need to let us through. My father is in there, and it’s imperative that I speak with him, right now,” Cassius tried.
He stared at us, unimpressed. “Sorry, no can do.”
“Don’t you know who I am?” I cringed inside as the words came out of my mouth. “I’m Caiden Cavendish, son of Arlo Cavendish, your employer. I don’t think he’d be happy that you kept us from him, would he?”
“I know who you are. I’m under orders. No one gets through this door, not without the explicit permission of Mr. Cavendish, Drummond, or Lowry. You can take it up with them later, but you ain’t getting through tonight.”
“Let us through.” Cassius’ tone was low and deadly, and I stared at him in surprise.
“Do we have a problem?” The guard pulled out his radio and pressed the button to speak into it.
“No, no problem. Come on, Cass.” I dragged him away from the smirking security guy. When we were out of earshot, I turned to him. “We’re wasting our time. Let’s get out of here.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “Maybe check that entrance around the back, to see if we can find another way in. We might need Weston’s expertise.”
He narrowed his eyes, thinking, then sighed. “Yeah, guess so. Let’s get the boys and go.”
We reached the main room, and Zayde and Weston stood when they saw us, pushing back their chairs and nodding a goodbye to the guys at their table. We exited into the night air and back to the car.
“What do we do now?” West asked once we were all inside the car, twisting in his seat to look at me and Zayde in the back seats.
“Fuck!”
Weston’s head flew round at Cassius’ urgent shout. “Fuck!” he shouted again. “Fucking Winter!” He slammed the steering wheel, and my stomach flipped.
“We need to get to the docks, right now. Our girl could be in trouble.” He started the engine and threw the SUV into gear, peeling out of the parking lot.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong with Winter?” Weston’s voice was panicked.
“Phone,” he grunted, concentrating on navigating his huge SUV through the narrow street we were driving down, high stone walls on either side of us. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned it on, while Weston reached over to the centre console to grab Cass’ phone.
Snowflake.
No. She’d fucked me over.
My voice echoed around the silent car. “Wait a minute, mate. Some asshole sent me video evidence of her kissing Granville earlier.”
“Fuck you, Caiden,” West snarled, and I recoiled at his tone. “I don’t wanna hear it. Stop with your trust issues or whatever shit you have going on in your head. Z, you too, for that matter. Our girl is in trouble. Do you want to be responsible for anything happening to her?”