All of that stalling and practice seemed to pay off as Ashton called the team to a meeting that very night. Summer wasn’t sure what to expect, but based on Ashton’s expression something big had happened. He waited to speak until everyone had moved their devices out of range and reassembled.

  “I made contact with Claudia Jones,” Ashton revealed.

  That shocking revelation was followed by a stunned silence. Summer, who had been part of planning every step of the way, was probably more confused than any of them. How did someone accidentally contact a missing reporter? Last she knew he was going to look into that address that Maskz had given them. Unless, was that it?

  "Do you know where she is?" Summer asked.

  "I know where she might be," Ashton corrected, "We have to consider the possibility of this being another elaborate trap."

  "That address was too convenient," Summer agreed, "But if we ask for backup we will have to confess what we did."

  "We were going to have to do that at some point regardless," Ashton pointed out.

  "Hold on," Derrick broke in, "We seem to be missing some key info. What address?"

  His sudden addition to the conversation made Summer realize that the rest of the team was still in the dark. It had all been part of the plan, but that plan had all but fallen apart when Untouchable failed to work. How much was she even allowed to say? Would Ashton want to keep that from the rest of the team?

  “MysteriousMaskz discovered that I intended to smuggle some Untouchable outside and gave me an address,” Ashton explained, “When I got in contact with the person at that address, they introduced themselves as Claudia Jones, but warned that Maskz was likely controlling what information was given and gained during our conversation.”

  “And you just sent Untouchable there?” Derrick asked in disbelief.

  “If you were going to waste it, you should have given it to us instead,” Kai muttered bitterly.

  “It wasn’t wasted,” Ashton denied, “Claudia claims to have given it to the real MysteriousMaskz.”

  “The real one?” Levi asked, catching onto the strange wording right away, “Does that mean there is a fake?”

  “According to her, yes,” Ashton confirmed, “She claims that the MysteriousMaskz we have met is likely a fake.”

  “Fake?” Summer asked in shock. She had been the one to meet Ned the most out of anyone, so it was crazy to think he was fake. “Does that mean Ned is just a stand in?”

  “I don’t know,” Ashton admitted.

  “We need to tell them,” Kayla said, “This isn’t something we can hide.”

  There was silence for a few moments as everyone, including Summer, turned to look at Ashton. As the leader it would normally be his responsibility, but Summer was worried. After witnessing him at his weakest, she didn’t want him to have to expose that to his superiors. On the other hand, none of them had communicated with Claudia.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “I needed to talk to Ms. Gale anyway,” Ashton told them finally, “Now I just have another topic.”

  “What do we do in the meantime?” Summer asked.

  “We need to give another look into the investigation records of MysteriousMaskz,” Ashton said, pulling out the printed records he had prepared, “Look for anything we might have dismissed because it didn’t match, Ned who Summer met.”

  There were a lot of records to look through. If this many people had been suspected and dismissed, it was easy to imagine the real Maskz might be among them. Summer picked up a file researching those related to the Golden Club. It made sense someone would have already looked into the connection.

  “Are you going right away?” Summer asked, noticing that Ashton had mentioned that they would be looking through the records, not him.

  “Yes. I need to get this conversation over with as soon as possible,” Ashton confirmed.

  He was probably going to talk about it after all. Summer couldn’t, and probably shouldn’t stop him. In that case, she gathered the files on the Golden Club from the stack. It felt like the best place to start.

  “Take your time and get the answers you need,” she encouraged, “We have things handled here.”

  At least she hoped they had things handled. It seemed good enough for Ashton as he left them with the files. Levi and Kai took some off of the stack, quickly followed by Kayla and Derrick. None of them said a word as they looked them over. Honestly, it was a lot. Summer’s began with the owner of the Golden Club and his hospitalized son, then went in depth to the records of every investor, employee, and even VIP members.

  Summer had a feeling that one of these people was definitely the real one, but now they couldn’t even be certain the real Maskz was male. Ned could just be a stand in who wasn’t related at all. That only left her with over a hundred suspects, including the middle aged owner of the Golden Club himself.

  She took another glance at the hospitalized son’s profile. Paralyzed and isolated for years despite his early success in the technical field. His name was Edmund Gould. So that was why it had been called The Golden Club. No picture was attached due to patient privacy, but the father reminded her of Ned a little. Summer knew she was reaching, but her gut told her that they needed to look into Edmund. Just in case, she kept searching and picked out a few more suspicious people.

  There was a very elegant looking man who was probably born with a golden spoon named Gilbert Rook who was definitely suspicious. He was just a member of the Golden Club, but he practically lived there and was close friends with the owner. Not only that, this friendship began right around the time MysteriousMaskz had reached out to Summer.

  Summer paused as she spotted a familiar name on the list of investors in the Golden Club. Amos Wyndart? She hadn’t heard any news about him since SI crumbled, as if he had fallen off the face of the earth. Why, of all places, would his name be coming out here? Had he been investigating the Golden Club personally before everything went completely downhill? Summer checked to see if there was any record of who created these investigation records. Just a name, and not a familiar one. She would have to ask Ashton about it later.

  “Find any good suspects?” Summer asked the others.

  “The only one who really stands out to me is Gilbert Rook,” Derrick said, sorting through his papers, “He is everywhere.”

  “Really? He was in mine too,” Summer reported.

  “Mine as well,” Kayla confirmed, “but I don’t think he is Maskz. I think he is more likely to be Checkmate.”

  “Why do you say that?” Summer asked.

  Kayla was about to answer when she looked at Derrick and paused. “Do you know about the Facilities?”

  “I was briefed,” Derrick confirmed.

  “Checkmate was taken to one of them,” Kayla informed them, “Gilbert Rook has a strange gap in his history, as if he completely vanished for years. The only problem with my theory is that if they know Gilbert is Checkmate’s real name why haven’t they caught him yet? He hasn’t exactly been hiding.”

  “So he might be Maskz, or he is at least heavily involved,” Levi reasoned, “I am personally suspicious of Gerald Moore, the founder of Heroix.”

  “What about Claudia?” Kai brought up, “We don’t know for sure that Maskz is a guy. Everything seems too convenient. What if she was the one behind this all along?”