“Did you ever consider partnering with them?” Mike asked.
“We did. They turned us down. They have no interest in fighting scrabs outside the US, except while protecting their wealthy clients.”
Another hand shot up. “What do you think about the consumer-grade scrab sensors? Like the Apple Watch? Are they any good?”
“Eh, they’re fine,” he said. “The Apple Watch detects scrabs about fifty percent of the time, which is better than nothing. Feel free to use one if you want, but we’ll always be relying on my tech first.”
The image behind Grayson changed again. It was a city grid, yellow lines like a bus map squiggled all over it.
“This is Paris,” Grayson said. “The yellow lines are the scrab tunnels we know about, or suspect to be there. They are often dug out again as soon as workers can fill them in. Pay attention to the signs announcing subway closures when you’re out and about. The scrabs will often use the existing tunnels, which, I’m sure you can imagine, causes some problems. Also, be cautious of any red signs you see in front of buildings—it means that a scrab dug a tunnel underneath it and they’re still checking structural integrity.” The image changed again, the yellow lines at least doubled, so thick in places they all seemed to run together.
“This is London,” Grayson said.
“Damn,” Noah breathed.
“Some of you will go to London after training,” Grayson said. “If we think you’re ready. As you can see, London is no joke.”
“I hope we go,” Noah whispered.
Priya craned her neck to give him a truly baffled look. “Do you see that map? I want to stay here. Where there are fewer scrabs. And lots of croissants.”
“The croissants are good,” Noah conceded. “But London! They have . . . What do they have in London?”
“Death,” Edan said. He had one elbow propped up on his knee, his chin cupped in his hand. “And fish and chips.”
“And rain,” Laila added.
“Death, rain, and fish,” Noah said with a grin. “I’m in.”
20
Two weeks of training went by quickly, and without another attack in our area. We spent twelve-hour days sparring, mastering weapon techniques, and doing physical conditioning, but I still wasn’t sure I was ready to go looking for scrabs to fight.
Julian disagreed. He said we were ready. We were joining some teams today in hot spots. Part of me hoped that Grayson’s software wasn’t as “scarily accurate” as he claimed it to be.
I put my arms through my new sports bra and tugged it down. We’d been given uniforms, and they included a plain black sports bra for the women.
I pulled down harder on the bra. It didn’t help. I had a serious underboob problem.
“Is it just me, or are my boobs trying to escape?”
Priya bounded across the room, clapping a hand over her mouth when she caught sight of my chest. She giggled. “They’re totally trying to escape.”
Zoe stood up from her cot, completely dressed. She’d easily slipped on the sports bra a few minutes ago.
Our uniform consisted of black cargo pants, an optional lightweight black jacket, and a gray T-shirt with a small emblem on the left side. It was the St. John Technologies logo—an interlocking S and J that looked a little like a broken infinity symbol.
“OK, I have to ask,” Zoe said. “Are those things real?”
“You think I would do this to myself on purpose?” I exclaimed.
“I mean, they’re really nice, so yes,” Priya said. “But I assumed they were real. They suit your body type.”
“They don’t suit this sports bra, that’s for sure.”
“Do you want me to go grab you a bigger size?” Priya asked.
“This was the biggest one they had.”
The door opened, and Madison stepped inside, her eyes flicking to me and then to my boobs. “This is why men shouldn’t be in charge of ordering bras.”
“Did Grayson do this to me?” I asked.
“He sure did.” She tugged the neck of her shirt aside, showing the strap of a pink sports bra that definitely wasn’t part of our uniform. “Just wear your own. They don’t fit my boobs right either.”
“Why do they care what bra we wear anyway?” Priya asked.
“Grayson was trying to be helpful, believe it or not. He thought that if the women on the teams had to wear a bra to fight, he should issue them one.”
“I mean, that’s nice, but . . .” I gestured to my breasts.
“Yeah,” Madison said dryly. “He ordered them before I had a chance to give some input. At least I caught him before he ordered tampons. You should have seen the horrible generic ones he chose.”
I pulled off the too-small bra and put on my own. At least the rest of the uniform fit well.
Zoe opened our door to reveal Patrick, hand poised to knock.
“Good timing,” he said, lowering his hand. “Are you guys ready? I’m supposed to deliver the message that the Australian teams have arrived.”
“Are we supposed to go say hi to the Australian teams or something?” Priya asked.
“You should at least go take a look at them,” Patrick said. A smile twitched at his lips. “Trust me.”
Priya and Zoe giggled and quickly scurried out of the room. I stepped into the hall with Patrick.
“Lots of good-looking guys on the Australian teams?” I asked.
“Oh yes. And women. Most of the guys on team seven are already down there.” He raised an eyebrow at me as we walked to the stairwell. “No interest?”
“I’ll say hi later.” I tried to keep my voice casual. Julian and I might have only stolen a few moments together the past couple weeks, but we were definitely . . . something. Something that made it weird to go gawk at hot Australians.
We walked into the big gym to find only Edan with Julian. They both sat on the floor, a bit apart from each other, not speaking.
Julian’s face lit up when he spotted me. “Hey. The uniforms look great. Is the rest of the team dressed?”
“Yes,
