Workstations ran across each row and were aimed at a variety of monitors on the front wall that someone watched 24/7.

And Auggie’s station was the one next to Axl’s.

Elvira, their operations manager, had an office on the first floor left, and there was a big conference room across the space opposite. A smaller conference room in the midsection left, with Hawk’s office at the top. Walls to all of that space were windows.

To the right, the side space on the upper levels was closed from view, secured with keypads and retinal scanners and held their gear, meaning tech stuff like listening, comms and tracking devices (as well as other), protective equipment like Kevlar vests and body armor, and some weapons and munitions.

Axl looked left, saw Elvira’s office empty, looked top left, saw Hawk’s office dark, and this didn’t make him happy because he really wanted to avoid the huddle and he had nowhere else to go.

He wanted to avoid it because first, he’d thrown down with Hattie the day before, and she was no longer tight with her girls, but he’d been such a dick, and that was something she might share.

And his brothers were not big on guys treating women like dicks generally (and the same with him, but when Hattie ran away from him after that dance, compounding it with dissing Lottie on her party—he was far from proud, but it couldn’t be undone—he’d lost it).

Definitely the men were not okay with someone being a dick to a woman in their crew.

Or second, he wanted to avoid them because this could be about the dirty cop situation they were investigating that Brett “Cisco” Rappaport dragged them into when he’d kidnapped the women, a situation that couldn’t be ignored, because…dirty cops.

Enough said.

And since there was absolutely zero movement on that, just like all the men, Axl was frustrated as fuck about how that was not going down.

And he wasn’t in the mood to talk about either, but his workstation was next to Auggie’s.

Fuck, Mag was standing right in front of it.

Axl was less in the mood when his friends caught his eye and he didn’t like the change that came over their faces.

Mo and Mag, concerned and alert.

Boone, annoyed.

Auggie, prepared.

Considering whatever it was, it was better to get it over with, but regardless, they all worked in one room, and it was a big room, but they were at his station, so there was no way to avoid it, he made his way to them.

“What’s up?” he asked when he got close.

The answer waited until he was there, standing among them.