I don’t know if it’s evident to him that we’re talking about a girl that we’re all… dating? In a relationship with? Whatever we want to call it. In any case, he doesn’t seem bothered by it.
Shutting the door behind me, I pull up another chair to the table where Archer is poking around Royal’s laptop.
He studies things for a while, before he nods toward the screen. “You said it was that folder in particular, the files in it, that you want access to, right?”
Royal lets out an irritated sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah. A thing pops up that says they need some sort of passcode.”
“Correct.” He selects the folder, then pulls open a window with information about it, quickly scanning before he picks a file contained within. “Yeah. So, that means they’re encrypted files.”
I lean forward, trying to see how he knows any of this from what’s on the screen and come up empty. “What’s that mean, exactly?”
“Simply that it’s going to take some doing to gain access to them, but it’s not impossible. For me, anyway.” Archer’s eyes twinkle. “I’ll need to download the right tools to make it happen. And work on it for a while. It’ll take some time. Possibly a long time. Hard to say until I really start working on it.”
I sense the excitement that it can be done permeating the room, followed immediately by the letdown that we won’t have access to it today.And do we want this guy messing with files that have our shit on them, anyway?
As if he read my mind, he offers, “If what’s on here is something you don’t want me to have access to without you being right there, we should probably choose a date when we all have more time to do this.” His lips twitch. “I’m curious as hell to give it a go, but I understand if there’s legal or financial stuff on there or… something confidential, maybe?” His brow hikes up when he catches me flinching.Dammit.His mouth curves into a playful smirk as he holds up his hands. “I don’t need to know.” Then more cautiously, he nods. “We all have our secrets.”
Wilder meets my eyes, and I give him a nearly imperceptible shake of my head, then he swivels to look at Royal. I don’t know what he sees in his eyes, but he turns back to Archer, clearly his throat. “I think we’d prefer it if we were there.”
He nods. “No problem at all. I’ll do a little research in the meantime.” He closes the laptop, then pushes his chair back. Eyeing the three of us, he slides his thumbs behind his suspenders. “I really do want to help you out. I’m happy to. Just let me know. I’ve got a couple of nasty tests coming up and a project due Friday, but I should have more time next week, I think.”
Royal shoots him a smile. “Thanks, Archer. We’ll be in touch.”
“Yep, I’ll send you a text, or maybe we can figure it out after class on Thursday.”
Archer winks, then holds his fist out for a bump, and Wilder obliges him with one. “No problem.” He turns to me. “Beckham. Nice to meet you, too, man.” Waving, he opens the door and departs, leaving us with Royal’s computer and a bunch of files still locked up tight.
As soon as the door swings shut, I bite out, “Well, fuck.”
Wilder blows out a long breath, gripping the back of his neck with both hands. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
“Yeah. But he said he can do it.” Royal runs a hand over his stubble, and it’s clear he’s mulling something over in his head. “I think we should give him a shot when he’s available. You know, if shit hasn’t hit the fan by then.”
Wilder and I both nod our agreement, and all three of us are quiet for a few moments while Royal stuffs his laptop into his bag.
The Sin Keeper is trying to tell us something with that folder of secrets. At first, it felt like a taunt. Now, warning bells are going off in my head. And, unfortunately, the only real conclusion I’ve come to is that whoever is behind SIN and all that they ask of us—I don’t believe they are out to get us. Someone else is. And shit’s going to go sideways if we don’t figure it out. And soon.
TWENTY-NINE
WILDER
“Fucking finally!”Beckham chuckles as he tosses his phone onto the beach towel beside him.
As soon as we got home, Echo decided she wanted to have a blow-up kiddie pool set up for Chase to play in after daycare. We helped her inflate and fill it in the backyard before pulling out what felt like a million water toys.
The look on Chase’s face was worth it. He’s an excitable kid, but this reaction had taken the cake. It’d been all Echo and Kara could do to stop him from jumping in fully clothed. But now, he’s happily splashing about with Echo wading in there with him. Chase thinks it’s hilarious when we shoot at his mommy with the water guns we’d confiscated, and I’ve gotta say, I’m enjoying her reaction, too. We all are. The woman outright squeals with every stream of water we send in her direction.
I turn, staring at Beckham from behind my aviator sunglasses. “What?”
Huffing out a laugh, Royal nods as he holds up his new phone. “I just got it, too. We’re allowed to return to SIN at our convenience.”
“What’s going on?” Echo calls to us, bringing her hand up to shield her eyes.
I pick up my phone, open it without paying attention, then glance down. I don’t have just one text notification. The number six stares back at me.Huh.I’d put my phone on silent when we came outside earlier, not wanting it to interrupt our afternoon. I guess I missed other messages, in addition to the ones from the school.
“You probably have a message from Dean Franklin saying you can return to TZE, princess.”
Chase scoops water with his hands and throws it up into the air. “Pwincess. Dat’s funny, Mama.” Echo leans down, tickling his sides, and he shrieks with laughter.
