“We had just about given up on you.”
The words were said without condemnation, just a simple declarative sentence from Nio. He was positioned in the corner of the coffee shop, his back pressed against the wall. Just inches from his hand was a paper cup, the lid off and a red stirring straw lying across a napkin beside it.
Slouched in the chair to his right was Iggy, red lines striping her face. Coupled with crust encased in the corners of her eyes it was clear she had been asleep, blinking in rapid sequence to wake herself up.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Almost nine,” Thorn muttered, pulling out the chair opposite them and falling down into it. He raised his chin toward the barista walking his way and said, “Iced tea, please.”
The young girl accepted the order with a nod, stopping halfway to the table and turning back for the counter.
“I thought you get off at seven?” Iggy asked, the insinuation in her voice clear.
“I do,” Thorn said, his voice relaying the exhaustion and frustration both roiling within. “Just spent the last two hours going over every detail of what happened last night.”
“Ugly?” Nio asked.
“Even worse,” Thorn said. “They acted like I was some sort of damn hero. Kept praising me for what happened.”
Iggy let out a low snort. “You? A hero?”
“And that’s bad?” Nio asked, cutting off the banter before it could go any further.
Turning to glance through the window at the morning foot traffic passing by, Thorn shook his head in disgust. “Getting patted on the back for having my ass handed to me? Yeah, that’s bad.”
The waitress appeared as Nio and Iggy exchanged a glance, dropping down a napkin and a clear glass of iced tea in front of Thorn.
“Thank you,” he whispered, taking up the sugar dispenser from the middle of the table and upending it, a steady stream of white granules falling into his drink.
“You know, we saw most of the fight,” Nio said. “Looked pretty damn even to us.”
Thorn swirled his drink twice to disseminate the sugar before taking a swig, the jolt of sugary caffeine sliding down easy. When he was done, he stared at each of them in turn, letting them see the small purple lump protruding beneath his left eye and the swollen rims of his nostrils. He waited further as they took in his busted lip.
“Jesus,” Iggy whispered, for a moment appearing as if she might reach out and touch his face.
Just as fast Thorn turned away, the look of sympathy on her features only heightening his mood. “Everybody got away,” he finally said, not bothering to point out the obvious. “That’s all that matters.”
Silence fell over the table as Thorn again shifted to focus out the window. He was exhausted and his body ached, but the venom within him was too strong to allow him to simply return home to bed. The next step was for him to circle back with Ingram, determine where the tracking device had led them.
From there he would ascertain his next steps.
Thorn took another long pull on the tea before leaning back in his chair and extracting Nio’s phone. He slid the implement across the table, the top of it already crusted with dried sea water.
“I’m sorry, but it got damaged when I went into the ocean last night. I’ll see to it we get you a new one straight away.”
Nio looked down at the item, though his face showed no display of being too upset about it. Instead he arched an eyebrow, an unspoken question on his face.
“I’ll tell them I busted the company phone and need to replace it,” Thorn said. “They won’t put up too much fight about a cell phone.”
Seeming to accept the explanation Nio nodded, sliding Thorn’s phone out and pushing it across the table.
“Thanks for trusting us to ride shotgun last night. Anything else we can do to help, let us know.”
Thorn took up the phone with one hand, lifting the glass and finishing the tea with the other. When the ice inside it fell against his lips he paused, drawing in the cool relief, before standing and placing a five on the table.
“You guys have my number if anything else comes up, right?”
Nio and Iggy both nodded, saying nothing.
“Alright,” Thorn said, looking at each of them in turn. “Sorry to run off like this. I don’t mean to be a dick, but...”
“Long night, lot happened,” Nio said, raising a hand. “We get it. Thanks for saving those people. That could have been nasty.”
Beside him Iggy stifled an eye roll, remaining silent.
A sour expression passed over Thorn’s face as he nodded again, turning for the door without another word.
Once he was gone, Iggy shifted her attention to her brother. “Thanks for letting us ride shotgun? What was that all about?”
Through the front windows Nio watched as Thorn crossed the street, heading toward the parking lot at the end of the docks. Once he was gone, a thin smile crossed Nio’s lips, just barely lifting the corner of his mouth.
“A half hour ago somebody texted his phone a set of coordinates. Remember last night when we saw him plant something on that first victim?”
Iggy stared at him as a look of realization passed over her features, her head rocking upward just a bit. “He’s tracking them.”
“Yep.”
“Any idea where to?”
“Not yet,” Nio said, “but it should be easy enough to figure out.”
In her seat Iggy leaned forward, folding her arms on the table in front of her. “And when we do?”
“Wouldn’t hurt to go take a look around, right?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Liberation Day - A Thorn Byrd Novel Page 35