Standing in the misty street, Mitch stared hungrily at the number that had popped up on his phone. Only a few minutes prior, he had received a different text, one that had altered all of his plans. Senator Connors had assured Mitch that there was nothing to worry about, that with Tarin Trevino’s arrest, Mitch’s problems would evaporate. But Tarin Trevino had not been arrested yet. In fact, Mitch had received the text from Tarin while Mitch sat at a high-dollar dinner with his high-dollar friends. Mitch had received a text from a barrio thug.

Tarin had been looking for a character reference – ironic from a drug dealer. Without a word to his friends, Mitch had stepped outside the restaurant and dialed Tarin. The man’s words had terrified Mitch. Apparently, a Rhode Island state senator had contacted Tarin about a potential hit, one Tarin had already handed off to a compatriot. The senator wanted to pay double for Tarin to follow through. Since the hit had come from Mitch’s request for help, Tarin thought it necessary to contact his known associate to confirm.

When Mitch tried to cancel the hit, Tarin laughed at him. “I’m not stopping this. There is way more money in this than you can pay me to stop. I just thought I would let you know – as a professional courtesy.

Mitch’s stomach dropped. He had always minimized the similarities between himself and the gangster dealers, but at the end of the day, they played the same game. Maybe the only difference was that Mitch would likely go away for a few months in a white-collar prison, and Tarin would do hard time in a penitentiary. Hardly a distinction of essence; just a distinction of privilege.

Though the realization urged Mitch toward change, his fear of immediate consequences pulled harder on his will. Sure, he wanted to be a good guy, but if he got caught now, he would never have the chance.

Not thirty seconds after he had hung up with Tarin, the new text arrived. A text from the most dangerous person he knew. If the senator had just put Tarin away, then maybe Mitch could have stepped back, stopped dealing, turned over a new leaf. If those people died, though, Mitch would be some sort of accessory to murder. Mitch had hundreds of texts with Tarin, and the chances of someone connecting the two was pretty high. When that was just about drug stuff? Mitch didn’t love it, but it didn’t terrify him. For conspiracy to commit murder? That was not something Mitch was prepared to take on. And the person who had just texted him could make that connection. Where one connection was dangerous, two was deadly.

Declan had been the one to break the news to him, that someone had associated him with the targeted couple. Honestly, Mitch hadn’t known anything about the couple – the Prados. But by some stroke of fate, Mitch was only two degrees of separation from them. The girl, Piper, who had irritated him at the party, who had played nice and then made a fool of him: she knew the Prados. And now she was the only non-complicit person who could connect Mitch with them. When the phone buzzed its second reminder, he picked it up, read the request to talk, and pressed the dial button. He would not leave a text record of this conversation.

“Mitch,” came the familiar, friendly – deceptive – voice. “I don’t know if you remember me.”

You grabbed me by the hair, he shrieked silently.

“But maybe Declan has told you, I recently made some friends who have a connection with you.”

You mean the one that will send me to prison? Aloud, he only said, “Really? What is that?”

“I think Declan talked to you about them: the Prados? I just found out that they work at your company, Pharmacan.”

“Right. Declan had me look them up for Molly. They’re from Peru, or something.”

“They work there; they live here. Was it dangerous where they were working? In the Amazon?”

Mitch had to tread carefully, craft the right story to deflect blame off of him. Still, he had to be believable. “I don’t really know anything about where they worked. I mean, I’ve never been to South America.”

“Makes sense,” Piper agreed. “I don’t either. I just thought maybe with your job…”

“I just peddle a product. That stuff is all way before it gets to me.”

“What about the drug they were working on? Was it dangerous maybe? Controversial or something? We talked about activists last time.”

“Well,” Mitch grasped onto the opportunity for deflection, “I don’t know specifically about their drug, but they were in the Amazon. A lot of the environmental activists are really upset about anyone messing with the Amazon. Why all these questions?”

Piper blew out a breath. She didn’t want to confide in a virtual stranger, a man who had not shown a lot of character in her previous interaction with him, but she needed more information. Something – anything – she could use to find things out. “The Prados are missing,” she finally offered. It was close enough to the truth.

“Missing?” Mitch hedged. “And if your questions mean anything, you think they’re in danger.”

“I mean, I don’t want to be melodramatic. Maybe they’re fine. But I’ve been trying to contact them, and they haven’t responded. I was supposed to do some work for them, and they’ve just gone MIA.” She struck upon an idea. “Would you have access to their personal information? Could you look up their contact info? An address, maybe? Not one in Providence – I have that one. Maybe an alternate address or something?”

“I could try.” Mitch felt suddenly ill. He just wanted so badly to erase this inconvenient connection between him and a couple who were slated for murder. A murder he had inadvertently instigated. And Piper had just dropped the answer in his lap. “Give me five minutes and call me back.”

As soon as the phone went silent, he called Tarin back. Thankfully, Tarin answered.

“I want some information. It’s simple, just a question. Nothing that will cause you problems.”

“Shoot,” Tarin agreed.

“Not a word I want to hear from a gangbanger.”

Tarin laughed.

“If you could think of one neighborhood,” Mitch continued, “where you wouldn’t send your little sister, day or night, what would that be? Somewhere a lily-white college coed would stick out like a sore thumb. Or even better, a neighborhood where you would send your worst enemy…”

“College coed. Sounds serious,” Tarin probed.

“It is. Maybe somewhere that sounds like it would be a family neighborhood.”

“So, no NYC projects…”

“Exactly.” It bothered Mitch how simple the process sounded coming out of Tarin’s mouth.

“Have to say I’m surprised you’re after this. We could take care of her here.”

“Too easy to trace back to me,” Mitch found himself saying, surprised at how cold he could be.

“Nah, man. I could hide it.”

“Just, no. I can’t have this anywhere near me for a lot of reasons. It needs to be somewhere out

of Providence. Besides, she’s expecting it to be out of town.”

“Aright, chill. I got you.” He paused, then continued. “There’s New Haven. I mean, parts of it

are high dollar, but there are neighborhoods I wouldn’t walk into without my people. Some of the worst in the country, really. She could think she’s walked into Yale and end up in the middle of a gunfight. Just text me once you have the details.”

Forcing down the breaths that threatened to erupt in a panic, Mitch made his mind focus on strategy. He was stepping over all sorts of personal boundaries he hadn’t even known existed, but he had set his course, and he made himself keep his eye on the goal. D. Freaking. C. Before talking to Tarin, Mitch had just planned on sending her into some dangerous area and letting the chips fall where they might. Tarin seemed to have a much more focused plan, and Mitch didn’t know if he could stomach it even for his own protection. For now, though, he would go forward.

He hung up his phone and switch the screen to maps. Tarin had given him a general idea of the area that would work best, and Mitch searched some residential addresses within that perimeter. Once he had made his choice, he dialed Piper.

“I have something for you,” he leveled calmly. “First of all, there was a writeup attached to the drug funding that talked about the death of four researchers at the hands of some Peruvian natives. There was a big internal debate about whether or not to continue the project because of how much it would cost to make sure the researchers are safe down there. Since they’re almost done with that portion of the project, they’re going to try to finish up. Also, according to records, the Prados had a house in New Haven, near Yale. It’s still listed on their file, though there’s also one in Rhode Island.”

“I’ve been to the one in Rhode Island,” she interrupted. “It’s hard to believe they could afford two houses, but if they did, it would make sense to have one near another Ivy League school.”

“I happen to know that Pharmacan pays pretty well relative to other pharma companies. They are probably making upwards of $200k combined. Not insanely wealthy, but enough for two moderate houses. So, I’ll text you the address.” He paused, wondering just how personally involved he would let himself be in this whole fiasco. Still, if he wanted to be sure she followed through… “Why don’t you let me come with you. I know the area pretty well.”

“Oh, um, I appreciate the offer Mitch, but-”

“Look,” he cut her off. “I’m sorry about the party. I’d had a lot to drink, and you embarrassed the hell out of me. I was a total jerk. I’m at my dad’s house in Mystic for the next few days; I could be there in under an hour.”

“I’ll think about it,” Piper hedged, certain that she would do no such thing. Hanging up the phone, she leaned back on her bed.

She had not even seen Sebastian since she had kissed him, actually hiding from him in her room like he had joked. The whole thing had been so impulsive. When she had realized her hypocrisy, guilt had suppressed all her usual reserve. She had seen Sebastian’s pain, and she had just wanted to stop it. Now, though? Now she wanted to hide forever, an impossibility since she had to rescue her sister from the permanent babysitting job.

At least now she had an idea about the Prados. She had worried that she would need to visit some sinister hideout, somewhere no one would think to look for two doctorate-level researches. Visiting Yale almost seemed like a treat.

The big question was, would she invite Sebastian? Would she even tell him? First, she would have to face him. There was no reason she should have jumped immediately from “I can forgive him for freaking out and keeping me from rushing into danger” to “kiss me, you fool.” She wanted to bury her head under her pillow like a thirteen-year-old girl who had tripped in front of her crush.

Instead, Piper steeled herself and let herself out of the room. Not fully brave yet – she had peeked into the hallway to make sure she didn’t have a repeat of the earlier moment – she managed to head downstairs with a moderate expression, making sure to make and keep eye contact with Lily. Piper couldn’t stop the blush when she felt Sebastian’s eyes on her.

“Did you have a nice nap?” Jennie prompted, and Piper managed to look at her sister with decent equanimity. She guessed Bash had supplied the excuse.

“I did, thanks,” Piper smiled – mostly sincere. “I left my laptop down here, though. I need to check my email to see if the Prados responded.” She moved swiftly across the span of the kitchen and hid herself in the corner of the breakfast room. To her horror, Sebastian followed a moment later.

“Are you okay?” he wondered, obviously concerned.

Piper steadied her voice, managing to turn a placid smile to him despite the tempest in her mind. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“So, we’re doing that, are we?” he wondered, lowering his tone so the others in the room couldn’t hear.

With a deep breath, Piper kept herself from responding. Her first instinct had told her to take his hand, to tell him she didn’t mean anything by it, to peer into his eyes so he could see how much she wanted to let him in. Her second instinct had been to stand to her feet, tell him she didn’t know what he meant before rushing to the living room to join the rest of the group. That she managed to do neither seemed to her quite a feat.

“Look,” Sebastian offered, placing his hand on the table near hers. He had apparently decided to let it go. Maybe someday she would thank him. “It’s okay. Did the Prados answer you?”

Flipping open the laptop, Piper opened her email. When she saw the unopened message, butterflies danced in her stomach. Once she opened it, all it said was the very anticlimactic phrase, “Two more days.” It was worthless. It meant nothing to Piper. How was she supposed to know what to do in response?

“What does it mean?” Sebastian plucked the thought from her mind.

“I have no idea, other than maybe how long they think it will be until they come back. How long until nuclear war? How long until dinner is ready? How long until that spider finally finishes its web? It means nothing. It doesn’t help us.” A moment later, her mind started buzzing. Maybe the text gave her nothing, but maybe the message had given her something. Her earlier nerves evaporated, she turned to Sebastian with a smile. Bash felt himself breathe for the first time since she had told him she was “fine.” “Do you think Luke could help us with a computer thing?” she requested.

“Maybe,” Sebastian allowed. “What do you need?”

“I think it’s actually pretty easy; I just don’t remember how to do it myself. I know there is a way to find the IP address that an email was sent from, and there’s also a way to trace an IP address.”

“Depending on whether or not the sender is trying to mask their location with a VPN.”

Piper raised one eyebrow at him. “But if Luke could use his resources, I bet he could find out the location even with a VPN.”

With a shrug, Sebastian allowed the possibility. “All I can do is ask. All he can do is say no.”

“Would it help if I asked him?” Piper queried innocently, and Bash found himself troubled by the idea. Still, she might have a point – Bash had seen the way Luke responded to Piper.

“Maybe. Let me give you his number.”

“Oh, I have it,” she interrupted. “He gave it to me before he left with Molly, in case I needed to get ahold of them on the way.”

Waking up her phone, Piper thumbed down to the name “Luke Lopez” and pressed it. A moment later, she adopted an odd expression that troubled Bash. Before the kiss, Bash had explained away his jealousy of Luke. After the kiss, he couldn’t fool himself anymore. For her to flirt with Luciano after that kiss was cruel.

“Hello,” she began. “Yeah, it’s nice to hear your voice, too.” After a moment’s silence, she bubbled a low laugh, and Sebastian wanted to wrench the phone away and tell his cousin to stick to business. “You have? I really appreciate that. I appreciate everything you did for Molly. I did have a question,” she urged. “I got an email from the Prados, and I’m wondering if there’s a way to find out where it was sent from.” A moment of silence. “Right, yeah. Sebastian and I discussed that. We could probably find something on the internet to trace a normal IP, but I have no idea how to follow a VPN. I thought maybe you had some resources.

Bash watched her eyes light up.

“Thank you so much!” she gushed. “Call me back when you have something.”

Turning back to Sebastian, Piper managed to soften her expression a little. It was not exactly in her normal repertoire to “flirt” information out of someone, and while it had brought on a little nausea, it had also stirred a strange exhilaration. Still, her ridiculous moral center balked at what she had done. When she registered Sebastian’s mood, she realized she must have managed a pretty good flirtation with Luke. She wanted to slap herself for enjoying Sebastian’s apparent jealousy.

“Well,” she offered a bit breathless, “it’s not a definite thing, but it’s more than I had. The Prados said two days when this all started, and Lily has been away from her parents too long. It’s been almost a week, and they just said two days more? If they really mean it, it’s still too long. And two days may pass again with nothing. Since Luke hasn’t heard back from the police or FBI, I have to assume they haven’t found anything.”

“Did it ever occur to you,” Sebastian pressed, “that the reason the Prados haven’t answered you is because they’re in danger.”

“Or they think they’re in danger. I mean, we haven’t seen any sign of those men in days, the ones who took Molly. Maybe we lost them, or maybe they’ve backed off.”

Sebastian shook his head. “You can’t know that. It’s fine that Luciano look for this stuff and find it, but what do you plan to do once you have it?”

“I mean, at first I thought I would take them Lily.”

Flustered, Bash started to protest.

“I figured out immediately, though…” Piper stopped him. “That it was a horrible idea. Lily had to stay safe here, until I could find out if the Prados are safe there.”

Bash rubbed his hand through his hair. “Don’t give me a heart attack next time. Okay, so why don’t Luke and I check it out? There is no reason for you to go down there.”

“I don’t need you protecting me!” she complained in a hushed tone, back to her consistent theme.

“Of course not,” Bash leveled flatly, but then his voice sped as he recognized his anxious need to convince her to stay. “But that’s not the only reason you should stay here: you’ve hardly seen Lily, and she has to be stressed. I think she would feel better if you stayed with her. Plus, you need to keep an eye on the email. And what if Molly needed you? You don’t even know where the Prados are yet, but you’re going to drop everything to go on a hunt? You don’t want to be in Pennsylvania when Molly needs you in Rhode Island or the Prados contact you from New York.”

“Okay, Sebastian, okay.” She rested her hand on his arm. Though she wanted to resent the implied suppression, she couldn’t ignore his anxiety. Molly’s words came back to Piper: He didn’t want anyone to hurt you…he cares what happens to you. “You want me to stay here. I will stay here. I don’t even know if you’re going to find anything there, so I won’t insist.”

Sebastian seemed to start breathing again once she had reassured him. It was hard not to find his concern endearing – if a bit smothering. Still, it wasn’t controlling, like he was stopping her from going shopping with her friends or some other benign activity. He didn’t want her encountering a very real danger. It was sweet.

When he turned his smile on her, she had a sudden flash of memory. She remembered their first meeting on the beach, his face half in shadow and half in light. Warm, but guarded. Somehow, she had seen his true nature the first time she had met him: a study in contrasts.

Removing her hand from Sebastian’s arm, Piper stood to her feet. Once Luke had the Prado’s information, Sebastian would finally leave, and maybe she could have some room to figure out what insanity had unleashed itself in her brain.