A bitter laugh scraped out of me.“Of course he did.”
“He wants to talk to his people,” Wrecker said.“He wants to find out what’s going on.”
“Or give them time to clean it up,” I shot back.
Dad’s chair scraped loudly as he leaned forward.“That’s enough.”
I turned my head toward him, anger flaring hot and immediate.“You think I’m wrong?”
“I think you’re letting this get personal,” he said.
I stared at him, incredulous.“She’s missing.”
“We know,” he countered.“We all want to find her, but you need to chill out before you go off half-cocked.”
Freak spoke up then, his voice low and steady but vibrating with restrained fury.“Ender’s right.”
Every eye in the room shifted to him.
“We’ve been sitting on our hands,” Freak said.“Talking.Waiting.My daughter is out there, and whoever took her hasn’t said a damn word.”
“That’s what worries me,” Arlo said, frowning.“Why kidnap her and not ask for anything?What do they want?”
Silence followed.
Basil cleared his throat.“What if it’s not Northbound?”
Heads turned again.
“What if it’s someone else?”Basil continued, his voice tight but controlled.“Someone who has something against Clove.”
That earned him a few looks of disbelief.
“Against Clove?”Thorn scoffed.“Who the hell would hate her?”
“Yeah,” Jude added.“She’s the nicest person in this club.And that’s saying something.”
Fox leaned back in his chair, shaking his head slowly.“I remember when we were kids, Clove used to cry if someone scraped their knee.She’d try to give them her own Band-Aid even if she needed it.”
A faint, painful smile tugged at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it.
That was Clove.
Sweet.Quiet.Always thinking of everyone else.
Wrecker held up a hand.“Whether this is Northbound or someone else entirely, we’re going to find out.”
He looked around the table, meeting each man’s gaze in turn.“Yogi has twenty-four hours to get back to me.If he doesn’t, or if we don’t like what he has to say, we go to Northbound territory and get our answers face-to-face.”
A low murmur of approval rolled through the room.
That was the line.
That was the promise.
Wrecker straightened.“Until then, we keep digging.We don’t do anything that forces this early.”
Early.