“I’ll bet he did,” Connor said.
“You seriously want to go break into a random storage facility?” Julian asked.
“It’s not random, we have a tip. And I wouldn’t say break in,” Grayson said. “Explore the area. Maybe stumble across an unlocked door. Or a mostly unlocked door.” He grinned.
“I’ve been a bad influence on you,” Edan said with a laugh.
“We’re not here to chase after MDG,” Julian said. “We’re supposed to be helping people.”
“We are helping people. By figuring out what MDG is doing with those trained scrabs,” Grayson said.
Julian’s jaw twitched. “I’m not getting arrested for breaking into a storage facility. That’s stupid.”
“Tell us how you really feel, Julian,” Edan said dryly. Julian shot him a contemptuous glare.
Grayson and Madison exchanged a look I couldn’t read. They could communicate with just their eyes, apparently. I couldn’t imagine having a relationship like that with my brother.
“It takes the police at least an hour to respond to calls in that area, if they come at all,” Saira said. “Trust me, you’re not getting arrested.”
“And you’re free to go back to your hotel, if you want,” Grayson said calmly. “Any of you can opt out of this assignment.” He pointed at the end of the street. “Vans should be waiting. Let’s go.”
The team began to move in that direction, but fingers closed around my wrist, keeping me in place. I looked at Julian curiously.
“Let’s get out of here.” He said the words softly, but Noah and Madison obviously heard them as they walked by. They both shot us disapproving looks. I’d never seen such scorn on Noah’s face, actually.
“Great team leadership as usual, Julian,” Noah said. My eyebrows shot up. Did Noah dislike Julian? Maybe Madison had been badmouthing him to Noah.
“Sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong as usual, Noah,” Julian snapped back. “I told you that if I wanted your opinion on my training methods, I’d ask for it.”
Or maybe Julian totally deserved that look Noah was giving him.
I drew my arm from Julian’s grasp as Madison and Noah walked away.
“This isn’t what we signed up for,” Julian said, returning his attention to me. “Let’s get out of here and let Grayson be an idiot by himself.”
“We can’t abandon the team,” I said, exasperation in my voice.
He shrugged. “It’s their choice to go.”
“Julian . . .” I frowned at him. It wouldn’t kill him to show a little concern for his team. “I’m going. I’ve seen an MDG facility before, maybe I can help. And I think you should go too.”
He let out a deeply annoyed sigh. “Fine.” He looked like he was going to reach for my hand, but I really didn’t want to hold his hand right now. I turned and quickly walked away.
33
The ride across London was tense, and silent. Julian scowled the whole way, and I didn’t think that Grayson was accustomed to driving on the left side of the road, or to driving a standard, because the trip was full of jerks and sudden stops. Edan practically fell out of the car when we finally stopped.
“Oh god,” he said, bracing his hands against his thighs and doubling over like he was going to puke. Gage and Zoe edged away from him.
We were on a street corner between an apartment building and a wall covered in graffiti. The street was mostly empty, except for two men in the distance. They turned a corner and disappeared.
“The storage facility is two blocks that way,” Grayson said, pointing. “Saira’s taking her team to Connor’s friend’s apartment first. Apparently he has a pretty good view. I’m going to get closer with Edan and Noah. Everyone else stick with the teammate I assigned you.”
Madison appeared beside me. “We’re together,” she said with a sigh, probably to let me know just how much she appreciated that. “Grayson put us into teams of two while you were talking to Julian.”
“Maddie and Clara, you guys follow me for about a block and then wait. Patrick and Dorsey, go one street over and wait there. Laila and Gage, you do the same,” Grayson said. “And everyone remember to stick close to your teammate. No splitting up. Julian, stay here with the rest of your team. I’ll text you a position when I get closer.”
Julian’s eyes darted to me, and then to Madison. He looked like he might say something, so I quickly walked away. I didn’t want Julian suggesting we desert the team again, especially in front of everyone.
We followed Grayson until he made a motion for us to stop, and then watched as he continued down the street with Edan and Noah. I could see the storage facility now, a green and white building next door to what was left of an apartment complex. The entire building had cratered in, probably after an underground scrab attack damaged the structure.
We stood in silence for so long that I began to hope that a scrab would shoot up from the ground. I always ended up hoping for that when I was alone with Madison.
“This is why Grayson made the rule about not dating team leaders,” she said suddenly.
I looked at her, surprised. “What?”
She gestured between us. “This. The weirdness. That’s why he made the rule.”
“So the weirdness is all my fault, and not because you’ve been super rude to both of us?”
“I mean . . .” She twirled her hair around her finger as she considered. “Maybe.” She paused again and then shook her head. “Nah, it’s all your fault.”
I was pretty sure she was kidding, but it was hard to tell, and my eyes caught movement behind her suddenly. It was a black van at the end of the road, a block away, driving in the direction of the storage facility.
“Madison.” I pointed. “That looks like an MDG van.”
She turned, but it had disappeared.
“Let’s go see,” I said.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll text Gray.”
We jogged to the end of the block. The van had pulled into an open garage door at the back of
