Gage was tempted to argue with her. He really would have preferred that she stay put in the apartment where he knew she would be safe, but somehow, he knew that she wasn’t going to listen to him, at least not right now. “Well, let’s head back to the compound, then,” he said, getting to his feet and going over to his dresser to pull out a shirt to wear. “Take a change of clothes with you,” he instructed her, knowing that her bag full of supplies was still in the other bedroom. “We might be there a while.”
Fiona rushed into the other room to do as she was told. “We’re going to get him,” she yelled over her shoulder, returning a minute later with an overstuffed purse under her arm. “Okay, let’s go.”
Gage led them back across town to the Bandits’ compound, where his contact Jack usually stayed. Gage slipped into the side entrance of the compound rather than going through the front, wanting to avoid waking up any unnecessary people that could distract them from the matter at hand. He walked into Jack’s room without invitation or warning, allowing Fiona to wait outside the door while he jostled his friend awake.
“Jack, come on, I’ve got a job for you to do,” Gage said as he shook Jack by the shoulder.
“What the hell, man? Can’t it wait till morning?” Jack asked, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed even as Gage switched on the light.
“No. No way. It’s got to be done as soon as possible. There’s no time to waste. It’s a location tracing job, Jack. You’re the only one that can help us.”
Jack sighed, slowly blinking his eyes open and grimacing at the brightness of the light beside his bed. “Jesus, okay. Fine. Just…give me a minute, alright?”
“Nope, come on,” Gage said, pulling the blanket out from under Jack, despite the latter’s protests, practically dragging him out of the bed himself.
“Fine, fuck, fuck! Just let me get my gear together. Christ,” Jack said as he finally got to his feet, stumbling over to a desk filled with computers and advanced equipment that Gage didn’t recognize or understand. Jack sighed as he pulled out a small laptop computer from inside of his desk, clicked it open, and typed in a complex password to unlock the screen. “Do you at least have the cell phone in question?”
“Yes,” Fiona said, finally stepping into the room. “It’s mine. Here.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and placed it down on the desk next to Jack. “There you go.” If Gage had any doubts that Fiona meant business, they officially evaporated that moment. Back in the day, Fiona used to never let him look at her phone, let alone hold it himself. He used to be suspicious that she had something going on the side, but he finally just realized that she was an incredibly private person. She guarded her space and personal property fiercely, probably as a result of the trauma she endured as a teenager. But she was willing to sacrifice it in an instant if it meant saving another girl.
“Alright, now leave me alone,” Jack said grumpily.
“What?” Fiona asked incredulously.
Jack sighed again, deep and drawn-out, sounding about seventy years older than he actually was. “I can’t work well with people looking over my shoulder. Get out of the room and give me an hour, maybe two. I’ll get an approximate address for you, okay?”
Gage could tell Fiona was hesitant to leave Jack alone with such a crucial piece of evidence, but after he nodded at her, wordlessly telling her to trust his friend, she relented, backing out of the room and closing the door behind Gage after he walked out.
They stood silently for several long moments, propped up against opposite walls, listening to Jack’s non-melodic humming from inside his bedroom. But there was something nagging at Gage—actually, there were several things nagging at him, given the whole fiancé fiasco. But there was one thing in particular that he needed to say, even if it hurt to push the words out.
“I never talked to you about what you did earlier,” Gage said, biting down on his bottom lip in nervousness.
“What did I do?” Fiona asked, and judging from her tone, it was clear that she felt as anxious about this topic of conversation as Gage did, which somehow helped him calm down a little bit.
“With the girl. Tori. You…you did really well. I think I never really understood what it is you do before right then,” he said, referring to her victim advocacy work.
“Oh. Well, thank you,” Fiona said a little stiffly, like she was uncomfortable or didn’t know what to say.
“Yeah,” Gage said, thinking back to how he felt when he saw Fiona grab the younger girl’s hands. “Yeah, it was really special, watching you do that.” He cleared his throat, suddenly overcome with emotion. “I was thinking, maybe Abby is looking down and sees this, you know? I guess I always thought that there was some part of her still hanging around, not moving on. And maybe she needed to hear what you said to Tori today. Maybe then she could let go.”