CHAPTER 24
Mason
That feeling won’t let me be. It’s like eating some bad meat, which doesn’t sit right. Only you know you ate no meat. It’s more than that. It’s an ancient calling that only a few of us share. It’s the ability to call upon a member of your pack with just the strength of your mind. Nothing else.
I enter Violet’s shack. Adrian’s been watching Dominick. They’re sitting on the sofa, with a movie on. They both jump up when they see me. I guess they recognize the look on my face.
“What’s wrong?” Dominick asks first.
“We need to go,” I pretend like I didn’t hear the question.
How do I tell the kid that I think, no, I know that his mother is in danger and we need to get there fast?
Hearing me say that, Adrian recognizes the urgency of the situation. He gets up, and puts the popcorn bowl down on the table.
“I’m ready,” he says.
“I wanna come, too!” Dominick shouts after us.
“It’s too dangerous, kid,” I tell him.
“She’s my mom!”
“And that’s why you need to let us handle this, so no one gets hurt, alright?” I’m not good at explaining things to kids, especially when the situation calls for urgency.
“If he says you need to stay, then stay. I would trust Mason with my life,” Adrian interferes, just in time.
Dominick sits back on the couch, feeling stupefied. I remember that feeling. That horrible feeling of knowing someone you love is in danger, but there is jack shit you can do about it.
“I promise we’ll bring her back, OK?” I add. He doesn’t reply.
On the way out, we stumble onto Rock. I instruct him to keep an eye on Dominick until we get back. In the meantime, Adrian and I jump on our motorbikes and rush over to Danica’s place. When we approach the house, I notice the door is ajar.
“They were here,” Adrian tells me.
He has his nose up in the air, like a hound dog. If anyone can find a lost person, it’s Adrian. Especially if it’s someone he spent time with. I shouldn’t be worried. But, I am. The open door confuses me. Why would they leave it like that? Unless they left in a hurry? And, if they left in a hurry, why weren’t they back at the house?
Adrian goes in first. I watch his back. He looks around, as if he’s here for the first time. Anything might be a clue for him.
“Anything?” I ask, impatient. He just shakes his head. Can’t rush a genius. I know that. But, the clock is ticking.
He starts climbing the stairs, and I follow. We try to switch on the lights. But, nothing works. He takes me to what seems to be Dominick’s room. A bra is left on the floor. A sweatshirt on the bed. The window is open. We both try to listen, to hear something, but there is only silence. Oppressive silence. Silence which mocks your inability to do something.
“She was here,” Adrian finally tells me.
“OK, we know that, but where is she now? And, where’s W?”
Adrian lifts his index finger in the air. I know it takes him time to do his magic, but this is taking too fucking long.
“He left,” he whispers.
“Who? W?”
“Yes,” Adrian nods.
“She was taken by someone else.”
“What!?” His words sear my brain in two. “Are you sure?? Are you fucking sure of what you’re saying??”
“Of course,” he nods again, calmly.
“So, where the Hell are they!?”
“He…” he pauses again, his nose making loud noises, breathing in deeply then exhaling, “smells like gas. Evap canister is defective.” He quickly turns back to the door. “He’s locked in a car trunk!”
I don’t say anything to that. The fact that one of my closest friends, someone I consider a brother, is in danger and I have no idea where he is, is killing me. My fists clench in anger. I feel like punching the fucking wall, but that’ll do no good. I’ll leave the punching for the bastard that caused all this. I’ll clean the fucking floor with him.
“Follow me,” Adrian tells me.
I do it, without a single doubt in my mind that he knows where he’s going, that he knows where Wagner is. If anyone can find him, it’s Adrian. Ever since the three of us got together, I’ve felt like we’re more than friends. We’re brothers in other ways than just what is considered by the term brother. I would lay my life down for either of them, and I know they would do the same. No holding back.
Adrian rushes out of the house, and I follow. His body is slim, moving through the darkness easily. You’d think you’d beat him easily in a fight, but you’d be wrong. He might not look strong, but he’s feisty and wiry, even though he doesn’t look it. He can take a punch better than many men out there, and still keep on his feet. You just can’t keep him down. To have that outlook on life, after everything he’s been through… I can’t even imagine. But, I consider myself goddamn lucky to have him on my side.
I try to keep up as he swerves and makes sudden turns. I know he’s not purposefully making it look more complicated. He’s following Wagner’s smell. I’ve tried it so many times. It’s like I can catch a whiff, and I recognize who it belongs to, but I lose it as quickly as I found it. And, it’s gone. Just like that. Adrian seems to be able to keep it. He doesn’t lose it. He owns it.
It’s the animal in him. The animal in all of us. But, despite the fact that we change into the same animal, we all seem to have different senses heightened. Adrian’s sense of smell is unparalleled. Wagner has the strength of ten men. That’s why I’m surprised that he went down. I’m guessing whoever attacked him, was a fucking coward. He attacked him by surprise, or from behind. Wagner couldn’t react properly. He was too focused on Danica. As we all are. We all care about her so deeply, we’d rather die than let anything happen to either her or Dominick. They’ve become family. And, you keep family safe. No matter what.
Adrian turns into a small alley. This town’s full of those. But, we’re not scared. If anything, whoever’s there, should be scared of us. After a quick glance, we see it’s empty. The street is calm. Free from strife. But, the night isn’t. It’s a night of battle. My nose isn’t as good as Adrian’s, but even I can smell that.
He points to a car at the end, hidden from plain sight by a huge trash container. We both rush over there. It’s an old Mustang, still in good condition. Under the light of the streetlamps, I can’t tell if it’s blood red or wine red. Not that it matters. Adrian puts his palm on the trunk, then tries to jiggle it open. Immediately after, someone bangs loudly from the inside.
“Get me the fuck outta here!!!”
We hear muffled sounds, but we both recognize who the voice belongs to.
“Move back!” I shout.
Adrian moves as well. I lift my leg and kick the lock of the trunk as hard as I can with the wooden sole of my boot. That always comes in handy. Wagner kicks it from the inside. Once. Twice. That does the job, and the trunk pops open like a firecracker.
We help him out. He looks like shit. His nose is busted, and his lip’s bleeding. I see a cut to the side of his temple. That must be where the guy hit him and knocked him out. I couldn’t see Wagner going down any other way.
“Fucking asshole caught me by surprise,” Wagner grunts, trying to find his balance. He looks like he’s having some trouble with it. “Where’s Danica? Is she with you?”
Neither me nor Adrian reply. The answer is written on our faces. We failed. We failed her miserably. We promised we would keep her safe and we couldn’t do it.
“We need to find her,” he says what we’re all thinking.
“He went in the house to get her,” Adrian reveals, but I’m sure Wagner already figured that out. “He took her with him.”
“Can you find her?” Wagner growls.
“I can try,” Adrian replies.
“You can’t just try, Ade,” I mumble. “We have to find her. We just have to.”