floor, I jog across the lobby and push my way through the glass doors into the cool night air and head across the road to the all-night cafe I saw as we pulled up. It’s a known fact that luck is never really on my side but seeing this place when we got here had me feeling like maybe, just for once, my luck would change.
I pull open the door and head over to the counter, where a lone girl with rainbow-colored hair sits flicking through a magazine.
At my approach, she lifts her head and adopts a fake smile.
“Welcome to Beans & Co, what can I get you?”
I look around the row of computers at the far end of the cafe by the windows and nod in the direction.
“I need to use one of those and I’ll take a large latte, please.”
“The computers are all shut down now—” she starts, but I stop her, leaning over the counter with my hand on her wrist.
“The new Gemini has been appointed and I have been tasked with a few jobs. I don’t want him to get mad at me, and I really don’t want them to be mad at you when I know you’re just doing your job,” I whisper, glazing over the threat by adding a little sweetness to my voice. Her face pales at the name Gemini. She lifts a set of keys and practically shoves them at me.
“Sorry, of course, you can use them anytime. This key opens the cafe, it’s the spare. You can come here whenever,” she offers.
Jesus girl, you wouldn’t survive a second on the streets. I want to snap at her for giving in so quickly but shut the thought down. She doesn’t need me to be a bitch to her when she is only doing her job.
I place the keys on the counter before looking back up at her. “Thank you, but that’s not necessary. I just want to use one of the computers, that’s all. I’ll be ten minutes, tops,” I promise her.
“Yes, no problem.” She turns as I make my way over to the first computer and turn it on. I wait for it to boot up and decide to text Reid in the hope of distracting him so he doesn’t hurry back.
Me: Hey, can you grab me some tampons, some Twix, and some Coke?
I press send before placing my phone on the table and concentrating on the whole reason I came here to begin with.
I slip the memory stick I stole from Reid’s jacket pocket and slide it into the computer and wait for it to reveal whatever Reid is trying to keep hidden from me. As the data appears on the screen, I hear footsteps approach. Looking up, I see the girl with my coffee in her shaking hands.
“Here you go,” she offers.
“Thanks, how much do I owe you?”
“It’s on the house.” She smiles timidly.
“Wow. That is so nice of you. I won’t forget this kindness, Shelly,” I tell her, glancing at the name badge on her left pocket.
Her smile grows bigger now and she starts to relax a little.
“Hey, I don’t suppose you have a spare memory stick I could use, do you?” I ask her softly, not wanting to spook her any more than I already have tonight.
“Oh, um, yes, actually. We have a box of spares. People forget them all the time, so we keep them for a month then toss them in the spares box if they go unclaimed,” she rambles.
“That’s perfect.”
She scuffles off to fetch one as my phone chimes with an incoming message.
Reid: Tampons? Seriously? Can I just kill someone for you instead?
Me: Funny, but unless you are sacrificing someone to the period gods, that won’t help.
I scan over the information on the computer screen, only understanding parts of it because I have no clue who a lot of these people are, but that will come. What I don’t understand is why Reid would take this, it’s just— and then I see it.
I sit for a moment, just staring at the screen until the words blur.
“Balls,” I mutter as Shelly comes back with the memory stick.
I thank her and download everything from one stick to the other before wiping the computer, shoving the memory sticks into separate pockets, and sipping my hot coffee. Once I’m finished, I head to the door and call out a goodbye to Shelly before hurrying across the road. I head straight up to the penthouse, my mind swirling around