Curtain Call (The Jewel Project #7)

13. Updating Protocols

Jimmy typed away at his laptop, but he couldn't help but throw his watch a glance every few seconds. He'd taken it off and it lay on his desk, silent and useless.

What had happened? It had been over a week and the death signal hadn't gone off on Kyle's watch. Did this mean he wasn't dead, or that he'd been right and the damn thing broke before it could provide any useful information? Maybe it just ran out of batteries which was the most frustrating possibility.

He'd used the tracking request command, but it remained unanswered which proved that Kyle wasn't alright. However, it didn't prove that he was dead. He had nothing.

"Fucking hell!"

He dropped his work on the newest safety protocols for their houses and picked up the watch. What stopped him from trying to just locate the chip inside it?

No battery, no GPS. And he'd never done something like that before, so he wasn't exactly sure how to start tracking a random chip and override a system he himself had programmed to need tracking permission.

But the longer his watch was silent, the more obsessed he became with it. He'd chosen to hold on to hope, to believe, and now it was driving him insane. So insane, he didn't even dare share it with Jessie.

Alone in the Agency research department, he was free to freak the fuck out as much as he wanted. He could take a five minute break for that before he returned to tightening the security around their homes.

"Jimmy?"

Or not. He turned his attention towards the door where Corey Flynn leaned against the jamb and knocked on it as if he weren't already inside.

"Not now, Corey."

Corey didn't listen. He huffed and let himself in, closing the door behind him. Jimmy should've locked it.

"That's all everyone tells me, but I can't keep putting this off. It's been almost two weeks."

Jimmy narrowed his eyes as the frustration and annoyance inside him found a target. A part of him was aware it was wrong, but the serum had been bubbling inside him for days, begging for some form of release.

It wasn't the first time. It pushed him every time he was frustrated, but when it got too much he used to solve the problem by sparring with Kyle. It was the only way to let it out without potentially hurting someone. But now that it was precisely his comfort that was gone...

"Try," he said between his teeth, hoping the kid got the hint.

"No, thanks. I'm done with that." Corey dropped on the chair in front Jimmy's desk. "I need to know what to do."

"And whatever gives you the idea I can tell you that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but someone needs to. With Kyle gone--"

The words made Jimmy wince. Yes, he was aware of it, but it didn't hurt any less to hear it. Every. Damn. Time. Almost two weeks. Two weeks was nothing.

"I'm not his replacement." He tried to keep his tone as calm as possible, but he wasn't sure he was doing a very good job. His ears buzzed with the serum's attempts to set him off. "William is in charge of training and recruitment now so if you have any questions--"

"You know that's not what I'm talking about."

Of course Jimmy knew that, but it didn't mean any of them had pulled themselves together enough to even begin thinking about what Corey meant.

"That's what you should be talking about."

"Well, I'm not. Before you guys left on the mission, Kyle updated the doomsday protocol and I wanted to know--"