All these warriors, p.14
All These Warriors, page 14
“Yes,” Maddie replied.
“And you think he’s going to start using them against people. Or he’s already started.”
“Why do you look so dubious about that?” Maddie asked. “You’ve seen his temper.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Scarlett trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.
“Look, we could be wrong about Julian,” I said. “Maybe he’ll never use trained scrabs against people again. But MDG is absolutely training scrabs. Even if Julian has taken time off from MDG to stalk me full-time, they are still out there doing it.”
“He’s stalking you?”
“He called my brother. I had to quit using Instagram because he kept messaging me. And he’s emailing me nonstop.” Two more emails this morning. I hadn’t even bothered to open them, and then I’d turned off notifications for my email. I was tired of the way my chest seized every time I heard that ding.
“I guess I’m not totally surprised, but . . .” Scarlett shook her head, widening her eyes.
“Is this really the kind of guy you want to have access to an army of trained scrabs?” Maddie asked.
“Of course not, but I don’t know what you expect me to do about it,” she said.
“I noticed that Julian and Brian seemed pretty chummy at the gala,” Maddie said.
Scarlett sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple. “My parents insisted we go to the Montgomerys’ funeral, and Brian reconnected with Julian. No one really wants to be around Julian anymore, and Brian felt bad for him.”
“No one wants to be around Julian?” I repeated.
She shook her head. “Julian will tell anyone who will listen that Grayson’s death was an accident, but everyone’s still suspicious, you know? They had a weird relationship. And everyone thought it was strange that he disappeared to London right after his parents died. He didn’t even need to go pick up their bodies himself, but he insisted, and then he pretty much left the funeral planning to his aunt. He acted like an asshole, from what I’ve heard.”
“I believe that,” I said.
“If you’re asking me to reach out to Julian, I won’t do it,” Scarlett said. “I’m not putting myself in that position. Seeing him at the gala was bad enough.”
“No,” Maddie said quickly. “We would never ask that. I recommend you stay as far away from Julian as possible, actually.”
“Then, what?” Scarlett asked.
“You and Brian are pretty close, aren’t you?”
“Somewhat,” Scarlett said slowly.
“Did you ever tell him about Julian?” I asked.
“He knew we dated, but I never talked to him about it in detail, no,” she said. “I figured he’d either get too mad or tell me I was overreacting, and neither of those options sounded appealing to me.”
“So maybe he wouldn’t be suspicious if you started poking around and asking questions?” Maddie asked hesitantly.
Scarlett leaned forward, resting her arms on her thighs as she held Maddie’s gaze. “You seriously came over here to ask me to spy on Brian?”
“Yes,” Maddie said. “And to possibly save him.”
“Save him?” she asked skeptically.
“He’s invested in MDG, isn’t he? I saw him talking to some of the MDG guys at the gala.”
“I don’t know.”
“It seems pretty likely. A lot of the Montgomerys’ friends seem to be involved. It’s probably why they turned Grayson down when he tried to get them to invest in the teams.”
“There were plenty of reasons not to invest in those teams,” she said.
“Whatever. What MDG is doing is illegal, and I’m going to take them down, even if I have to spend the rest of my life doing it.” Maddie’s voice had gone hard. “But maybe we could help each other out. Get Brian to find out where that facility is, tell me, and then have him pull his investment before he ends up with prison time.”
Scarlett blanched at the words prison time.
“Or skip me and go straight to the police with the information. I’ll give you the number of my FBI contact, if you want. But I don’t have to wait for warrants. The FBI is dealing with a lot of lawyers and powerful people who are determined to shut down any investigation into MDG. I give zero shits about lawyers.”
“I don’t know if he’ll even tell me anything,” Scarlett said, after a long pause. “Brian still treats me like his kid sister. We rarely even talk about his work or his investments.”
“Can you tell him the truth?” I asked quietly. “About all of it? Your relationship with Julian, our suspicions, his jealousy? Just lay it all out for him and see if he’ll do the right thing? He may not even know where Dust Storm is, but maybe he can find out if you tell him all of it. Get him to help us.”
She considered for a moment. “Maybe. Let me think about it, OK?”
“Of course,” Maddie said, getting to her feet. I did the same.
Scarlett stood and opened the front door for us. Maddie paused halfway out the door.
“Just, for the record, I wish I’d been more honest with Grayson about Julian,” she said, turning back to Scarlett. “I think that if I’d told him how Julian treated me, he would have ended their friendship. He certainly wouldn’t have let him be a team leader. I kept making excuses for Julian, and I kept thinking that it wasn’t fair for me to break up their friendship just because things had ended badly between us. I mean, I pursued him.”
Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
“But I should have told Grayson. He would have been kind about it. And maybe all of this would have turned out differently.” Maddie blinked back tears. I put my hand on her arm. Scarlett’s eyes followed the movement.
“I said I’ll think about it.”
15
I actually succeeded in getting Maddie to take some time off. Maybe only because there wasn’t much for us to do over the holidays. Hannah and Victor were with their families, we hadn’t heard back from Scarlett, and Julian never showed up in person.
He sent emails every day, though. Eventually I changed my email settings so that everything he sent me went straight into a folder. I didn’t have to see them if I didn’t want to. I was tired of the constant dread.
I did, however, have to see the gifts he sent. He started with flowers, a huge bouquet that Nicole took directly to the dumpster. Then he sent me macarons (also in the trash), chocolates (trash), and several cards (Maddie shredded them).
On Christmas Eve, he sent a necklace. I took it out of the box and held it up by one finger, showing it to Maddie and Nicole, who stood in the kitchen, drinking coffee. It was a diamond pendant in a shape of a heart on a gold chain.
“I’m going to send it back to him,” I said.
“Oh, no you’re not,” Nicole said, leaning forward to examine it. “He spent a lot of money on that.”
I cocked my head, peering at it. “You think so? It’s kind of ugly.”
Maddie snorted.
“Trust me, I know my jewelry. He spent a lot of money that he doesn’t have.”
Maddie looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean, that he doesn’t have?”
“The Montgomerys were broke when they died,” Nicole said. “Bad investments. There were rumors they were going to declare bankruptcy soon.”
Maddie appeared delighted by this. I stifled a laugh.
“Julian will probably be selling off all their assets soon. Their apartment is already on the market.” She took the necklace from me. “This might have been his mother’s, actually.”
“What do you want to do with it?” I asked.
She took the box from me and put the necklace inside. “I say we sell it. I know a guy who will give me a great price. I’ll send you whatever cash I get for it.”
“I don’t want his money.”
“Then give it to charity,” Maddie said. “Give it to one that’ll really piss Julian off. Maybe that homeless shelter Edan used to stay at occasionally. Julian hates Edan and homeless shelters.”
“What in the world does he have against homeless shelters?” I asked incredulously.
“He said they discouraged homeless people from getting a job.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. We used to fight over that guy.”
“Thanks for the reminder. I feel great now,” I said dryly. She laughed.
Nicole smiled at her daughter, then patted me on the arm. “I’d spend it on myself, personally, but you can do whatever you want with it.”
“I . . .” I trailed off as Nicole walked out of the kitchen, apparently uninterested in my protests.
“You’re getting the money from that necklace,” Maddie said, an amused look on her face. “There’s no use fighting with her about it. She probably sees it as a way to screw over Julian, and I couldn’t agree more.”
“I think your mom hates Julian more than all of us,” I said.
“She really does.”
* * *
Part of me thought that Mom might finally email on Christmas, but she didn’t, and I tried to tell myself that it didn’t bother me. I spoke to Laurence that morning, and he said he was spending the next day with them. I changed the subject.
It was my first Christmas away from my family, and Maddie and Nicole’s first Christmas without Grayson, so no one was really in the holiday spirit. We agreed not to exchange gifts, and instead cooked a meal and watched Die Hard, which was apparently a family tradition in Maddie’s house. We’d watched A Christmas Story in my house, a movie I hated, so I was more than happy with this new tradition.
The day after Christmas, I sat in the media room, my laptop on the table in front of me. I pressed Accept on the incoming call from Patrick. His smiling face filled the screen.
“Clara! I feel like it’s been a hundred years. How is New York?”
“I love it. How is Austin?”
“I hate it.”
I laughed, and he sighed dramatically.
“OK, I don’t hate it. But things are weird now. Half of my friends are telling me why trained scrabs are actually a great idea for our military, and shockingly, they don’t appreciate me telling them what dumbasses they are.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Former friends, I guess I should say.” He shook his head. “Anyway. You wanted to talk before everyone else joins?”
“Yeah. I’ve been working on some new training and recruitment ideas, and I wanted to get your input. Can I send you some stuff I’ve been working on?”
“Of course.”
“I’m thinking of extending our training period by several weeks, which Maddie will hate, but I feel like might be necessary.”
“It is,” he said. “I’m happy to back you up there.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “And I’m also sending you my ideas for noncombat teams.”
“Noncombat teams?”
“Yeah, I got the idea from Grayson’s notes. I did research into what some charity organizations are doing to help with scrab destruction, and I think we should look into creating rebuilding teams. People who go in and help with construction of new houses or businesses after they’re destroyed by scrabs.”
“I love that idea, but we don’t even have enough people for our combat teams right now.”
“I know. It would require a lot of work and . . .” I trailed off. He looked skeptical, and I still wasn’t sure that this was a good idea. He was right, we didn’t even have enough people for what we’d already built.
I heard footsteps on the stairs, and I returned my attention to the screen. “I’ll send you what I have and we’ll talk about it later.”
“Sounds good.”
Edan appeared at the bottom of the stairs, smiling as he walked over to me. He sat down beside me, so close that our arms brushed. I didn’t move away.
“Hey, Edan,” Patrick said.
Dorsey joined the call, followed by Priya, Laila, and Noah.
“Have you talked to Saira, Laila?” I asked. “Is she still at the hostel?”
“Yeah, she’s there,” Laila said. “She said the UK teams are talking about pulling something together themselves if we don’t ever come back. I keep telling her that Maddie isn’t giving up.”
“She definitely isn’t. I can barely get her to take a break.” I leaned away from the computer to yell up the stairs. “Maddie! Everyone’s on!”
“Coming!” she called from upstairs.
“Did you get to Chicago OK?” Edan asked Dorsey.
“Yes. Thank god. Two nights in Indiana was more than enough. Both my parents are convinced that North Korea is about to invade us with trained scrabs. I feel like I just wandered into some alternate dimension.”
“Oh my god! Me too!” Patrick said. “I mean, not my parents, but my friends.”
“My neighbor suggested I join MDG now that the teams are dead,” Priya said.
“I hope you told him to fuck off,” Maddie said as she walked into the room. She slid on the couch on the other side of me.
“Maddie, I’m in Alabama. I said, ‘Bless your heart.’”
“It means the same thing,” Patrick said.
“It does,” Priya confirmed.
“Do you guys have any updates?” Laila asked. “My friends were asking about New Year’s Eve, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be here for that.”
“I think you will be,” Maddie said. Patrick groaned. “You’re welcome to come to New York, if you want, though.”
“No, that’s OK,” Patrick said with a sigh. “My parents throw a big New Year’s Eve party every year; they’d probably really like it if I was here for it.”
“We may have a lead on Dust Storm,” I said. “We’re just waiting to hear back.”
“Hear back from who?” Noah asked. “What kind of lead?”
“An old . . . friend of Maddie’s,” I said, glancing at her. “She’s doing a little digging. No guarantees, but it’s the best we’ve got right now. If we don’t get a solid lead, we’re going to have to try something else.”
“But we’re going to the conference for sure in January,” Maddie said. “So, we may just plan to meet up there, unless any of you want to join us here before then.”
“There’s plenty of room,” Edan said. His arm brushed mine again when he leaned forward.
“I may take you up on that after New Year’s,” Dorsey said. “The buddy I’m staying with has to go back to school.”
“Just let me know,” Maddie said. “We’ll keep you updated on Dust Storm. In the meantime, please yell at all your friends who think trained scrabs are a good idea.”
“On it,” Patrick said.
I waved as we ended the call, feeling a pang of disappointment as their faces disappeared from the screen. It had only been a few weeks, but I missed them. I was ready for the team to be together again.
16
Scarlett answered the door as soon as I knocked, a more relaxed smile on her face than last time I’d seen her. Maybe because I didn’t have Maddie with me this time.
She’d texted half an hour ago, saying she had information for us. Maddie was on Long Island with her mom, so I’d raced over alone, eager to hear what she’d found out.
“Come in,” she said. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” I said, shrugging out of my coat.
The bedroom door opened, and a blond man, handsome and in his early twenties, emerged from within. His hair was slightly damp, like he’d just showered.
“Dan, this is Clara,” Scarlett said.
He extended his hand to me. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
He headed to the door, kissing Scarlett quickly on the way. “I’ll see you later. Text me”—he glanced at me—“after.”
She smiled and nodded. He glanced at me again with an expression I couldn’t quite identify—suspicion? curiosity?—and then walked out of the apartment.
“Your boyfriend?” I asked stupidly. Obviously.
“Yes.”
She sat down on the couch, and I lowered into one of the chairs. I glanced back at where Dan had been. I didn’t know why I was surprised that she had a boyfriend, but I was.
“You and Maddie have gotten yourselves into some deep shit here,” she said.
I looked at her quickly. “Yeah? What did you find out?”
“I know where that facility is.”
“Seriously?”
“The city, not the precise location. Lubbock, Texas.”
I screwed up my face. “Lubbock?”
“What’s that look for? What’s wrong with Lubbock?”
“I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never been. It’s just random. There’s nothing there, except a university.”
“Well, you did mention that Julian said it was in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
“Good point. Brian got you this information?”
“Yes. Also, this is interesting—Julian told Brian that he’s no longer employed by MDG,” Scarlett said.
“Really?” I asked.
“That’s what he said. Apparently, he screamed something at Brian about MDG being a bunch of ungrateful bastards. And Brian heard from a friend about Julian stomping around the MDG offices right before Christmas, yelling at people.”
“That does sound like Julian.”
Scarlett leaned back with a snort. “It does.”
“Did you call the FBI about any of this? Maddie gave you Agent Simmons’s card, right?”
“She did, but I didn’t call them. I don’t really want to get involved with any of this. Neither of us do. Brian never invested, and he doesn’t have any information that would be useful to authorities, as far as we know. Julian told Brian that the Dust Storm facility doesn’t house scrabs. He claims it’s just a research facility, and perfectly legal.”
“We’d be happy to go confirm that.”
“My point is, we have no knowledge of any crimes being committed by Julian or MDG. Just, for the record.”
“Got it. If anyone ever asks, I will tell them that.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention our names in the future, unless you absolutely have to. I really don’t want to have anything to do with Julian, ever again.”
