Page 77 of The Geek and the Sheikh

He brushed his fingers along her flushed cheek. “I was worried.”

They both grew quiet when Coldhouse’s voice rang out again. The situation grew more tense when they heard gunfire erupt. Junebug gripped Jameel’s hand. She jerked forward when Midnight called her name.

“Whoa! Junebug, we’ve got a boomer,” Midnight said.

She unmuted the mic and spoke in what she hoped was a calm voice.

“Midnight, I need photos of the vest. I need to know what the detonation mechanism looks like.”

Katie spoke in the background. Junebug waited while Midnight spoke to her. Their voices were muffled.

“No worries. We’re covered.”Midnight reassured Junebug.

A second later, several images came through. Jameel cursed under his breath. Coldhouse had fittedKatie’s momwith the explosive vest.

“I’ll find Tarek,” Jameel said.

“Wait.”

She reached out and placed her hand on his arm.

“You want to cut the red wire—” Doubt filled her as she tried to remember for sure. “Hold on…”

“What are you doing?” Jameel asked.

"I’m checking with one of my friends. RITA, can you see if Nitro is online?” Junebug requested, giving RITA the name of the game and Nitro’s username.

She shook her head when Jameel mouthed ‘Who’s RITA?’

In seconds, she heard Nitro’s familiar voice. She scrunched her face when she realized that he wouldn’t recognize hers. She had always used the voice distorter.

“Hey, Nitro. I need your help,” she said.

“Who’s this?” Nitro asked.

“RITA, can you upload the pictures of the vest to Nitro for me?” Junebug requested.

“Holy shitty-pants. Who is this?” Nitro’s voice grew uneasy.

Junebug sighed. “Bugs.”

“I’ve talked to Bugs, and darling, he don’t sound nothin’ like you,” Nitro retorted.

“I used a voice distorter. Listen, I don’t have much time. This thing could go off any second,” she said.

“You mean… this is for real?” Nitro asked, his voice suddenly serious.

“Yeah, it’s real.”

“Tell her to cut the red wire, man. We’re losing the game,” a male voice called out behind Nitro.

“Shut up, Pug. You don’t know nothin’ about bombs. Listen, if you really are Bugs, this is a class-act. Whoever did this knows what they’re doing. Most of the time it would be the red wire, but look at the ends. Whoever put this together knows most experts would go for that, but he switched the wires. You gotta clip the green one first, then the red one on the left side,” Nitro explained.

Junebug rubbed her hands along her thighs and spoke into the mic. “He said you want to cut the green wire first, then the red one on the left side. Once you do that, you can remove the vest. It will still be active, but it won’t explode when you take it off.”

“Please tell me you aren’t getting this information from one of your gamer friends, sis?” Midnight begged.

“Nitro is not just a gamer. He’s also one of the military’s best explosive experts. We’re good,” she promised, reaching up and gripping Jameel’s hand.

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