How About Seven? ✔

40. Homecoming

Sunday morning dawned bright and sunny, and by the time noon hit the sidewalks and pavements were baked asphalt. Four of us were jammed inside a nondescript white van that had been parked at the corner of Harwood Street. From this angle, we could see both the front and side of the Octagon building. A perfect vantage point.

Damian squirmed and Emrys said calmly, "Stop rubbing your crotch against my hip. You're already going to get some action in the next few hours."

Damian glared at him. "This freaking van is too goddamn small."

"Yes," I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on a particular monitor that was currently displaying the front entrance of Octagon, "because it was meant for just William and the rest of the equipment. We'll be out of here soon enough."

Turning to William, who was the only one sitting, I said approvingly, "Good job hacking into the traffic surveillance cam, by the way." It was, in fact, the same camera that had taken the black and white photos of a tied up Eric which Jasper had shown me before, in his red convertible. "With this, and Octagon's inner cams, we're pretty much good to go."

"Yeah well, to be honest, I didn't do much." Ever since William had entered the van his jaw had been hanging half-open in awe. "I don't know who this Thomas guy is, but everything in this equipment is top-notch. He's set it up so that it's pretty much push of a button for me to do whatever it is I want."

William tap the multiple monitors that showcased all the different areas inside the building. "I mean, look at this. We've got infrared profiles displayed for each of you so I don't confuse you guys with other people in the building. And of course this headset I'm wearing is super comfortable and I can speak to each of you through your earpieces; even individually, so that you all don't get confused. And those must be some insane graphic cards because I'm pretty sure you do not get quality like this straight through surveillance cams - "

"Yeah, yeah, we get it," Damian said. He glanced at his watch. "I'm meeting up Jasper in an hour. Where's the bad boy? He should be showing up any minute now."

"Which is more than I can say about Thomas." I gritted my teeth. "Where the hell is he?"

Damian had gotten a text message half an hour back saying the van with all the equipment had been delivered to the corner of Harwood Street, and that the keys left with the receptionist of the nearby convenience store. When we had discovered the unmanned van, we had just assumed that Thomas would show up later. But now with ten minutes having passed after the agreed time, we were beginning to feel uneasy.

Emrys raised a hand. "Question. You guys have never met Thomas in person before, have you?"

Damian and I shook our heads.

"Right. And now he's running late. Very late, in fact."

Damian and I nodded.

"Okay. So what's stopping him from ditching us last minute and just not showing up?"

"But he bought all this equipment for us," William argued. "He wouldn't just not show up then, would he?"

"Uh huh." Emrys raised an eyebrow. "You know what I think? I think your ex-boyfriend chickened out. You haven't been able to reach him since morning, have you, Damian?"