Page 60 of The Devils They Are

"Absolutely," I agree. "But I have a weird question."

Tai chuckles. "Weird is my favorite. Hit me with it."

Taking a breath, I quickly get the words out before I can change my mind. "Total hypothetical, but do you know how one would go about hacking into some cameras if they wanted to,hypothetically, obtain footage from the hospital?"

Yeah—real smooth. Just dropping the old hypothetical mention twice… Not suspicious at all.

"A hypothetical, ay?"

"Yep."

There's a small pause before he says, "Nothing to do with your little trip to the hospital last night?"

My jaw tightens. I never relayed that information to him. But I know that he has trackers on our cells and vehicles. We agreed to it ages ago, so that we'd be able to locate each other in the event of an emergency. But I didn't share that little trip with them, which means he and Hunter were watching last night after they left us to negotiate.

And likely saw my truck parked at the warehouse for a questionable amount of time…

"Nope," I lie, not bothering to deny my spontaneous visit to the hospital entrance.

Tai chuckles down the other end of the line. "Right," he drawls out knowingly. "Also, nothing to do with the fact that her car wasn't at the warehouse last night. Or why you went to her house today?"

Motherfucker.

"Just how much do you stalk me, asshole?"

"It's a hobby—like bird watching."

I roll my eyes in annoyance. "And have you shared these updates with Hunter?"

I'm surprised when he answers, "Nope. It's our little secret, Brother."

"I appreciate you keeping it on the DL for now. I'm in Hunter's bad books," I murmur, rubbing my forehead. "So, about this hypothetical hospital…"

Tai hums thoughtfully. "Hypothetically, hospitals are easy. They don't bother with large and complex scale security—perks of being underfunded. And if someone has a father who works for the government and runs the town…"

My teeth grind at the idea. I really don't want to use that connection and bring this to his radar. Before I can think of a response as to why I don't want my father getting wind of this, Tai continues.

"But I could probably give it a shot. What am I looking for?"

Relief and appreciation fill me. "Find out where she went. A floor, a room… anything."

"Hypothetically," Tai starts, and I'm already sick of the word since we both know it's bullshit. "I think someone needs to watch himself. Anything you want to share with the class, Ry?"

"Just see what you can find," I growl, ending the call.

On the plus side, Tai will enjoy the task, and I know I can trust him. But I'll be hearing about this for days to come. After all, what are friends for if not to taunt the shit out of you?

About an hour after we ended our call, I received a text from Tai. When the notification first popped up, my heart raced momentarily, thinking there was a chance it could be Bexley—even if it was to chew me out about turning up.

It wasn't, of course, but at least I had some answers.

Tai was kind enough to obtain some grainy footage, sending it through with some basic notes—floor two.

The timestamp on the footage matched, and before I realized what I was doing, I was in the truck and driving to the hospital.

A few people linger around and give me passing glances as I stroll through the entrance. I take the elevator straight to floor two, heading to the nurses' station I see when I step onto the floor. I have no idea what to say or what to expect, but I'm on a mission to figure out why Bexley was suddenly cold as ice. Especially if there's a chance it could come back to bite us in the ass.

As I approach the desk, I spot a middle-aged nurse in scrubs, typing on a computer behind the desk. She looks up when I stop in front of her, offering a small smile.

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