Chapter 29 #2
Abbott floors the SUV, and I exhale in relief that we’re finally moving. I direct him in where to go, and the tracker takes us out of town. Ansel takes over tracking while I open an app I have on my phone to find this vehicle based on the traffic cameras.
I’m a suspicious person, and I always had the feeling that the time would come during an emergency where I wouldn’t have my computer. This app allows me to access back doors I’ve already created for myself, and I use the tracker to pinpoint the vehicle’s location.
“It’s a black panel van,” I say softly. I know pretty soon we’re going to be out of the city and I’ll lose my current eyes on this vehicle. All I can do is follow them until that happens.
The van stops at a streetlight, and I take the opportunity to use the traffic light camera here to zoom in to see who’s driving. Sighing, I shake my head as I see Jake’s face. He doesn’t even try to hide himself, instead glaring dispassionately at the camera as if telling me to fuck myself.
Everyone in our organization knows I’m proficient with computers. Will Jake tell the person who took her this? I’ll have to cross that bridge when I get to it, but for now, no one can stop me from following the breadcrumbs of their digital footprints.
I can’t see anyone in the passenger seat, but that doesn’t mean anything. I doubt he’d have taken Cass and my omegas of his own volition.
“Jake’s driving the car. Madam Clara has to be pulling his strings, right?” I rasp, feeling as if I can’t get enough air into my lungs.
“I don’t want to close any options by making assumptions, but that’s what I’m thinking,” Abbott growls as he blows through a red light.
Our next turn takes us out of Savannah and onto the highway, and my stomach clenches. I can feel the glimmer of my pack bond with Cassidy and my bond with Winter. They’re simply too far away for me to be able to feel emotions or how they are.
“They’re still on the highway,” I murmur, sending a pin of their location in a text to Greig.
He wouldn’t be playing us and still be helping.
That’s the best way to die painfully and without mercy, and he was too panicked when he realized Cass, Bellamy, and Winter were missing, likely at Jake’s hands.
That emotion was real, and Greig isn’t that good of an actor.
“There’s obviously a plan in place,” Ansel mutters. “I wonder how far they’re going to drive?”
“I don’t know, but I let Greig know so that he can get people mobilized,” I grunt. “Fuck. It’s the waiting that is killing me. I want to know if they’re okay. Why didn’t I install video on Winter and Bellamy’s bracelets?”
“I didn’t know that was an option, creeper,” Ansel says, his lips twitching.
“I don’t think I care much about autonomy and permission at the moment,” Abbott breathes, attempting to hold onto his sanity with an iron grip. “I’m ready to hole up in our house forever once we find them and never come out.”
“They’re only fifteen minutes ahead of us,” I mutter. “We’ll get them. They obviously don’t know about the trackers, Abbott.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he says.
My foot bounces as I watch the traffic cameras on the highway, worried I’m going to lose visual contact with the van. The cameras are further between, and I hiss as I catch the van turning off onto what looks like a smaller road.
The back roads are going to be fucking dicey for finding cameras to follow them. Few big roads mean there’s no reason for them.
“They’re turning off,” I mutter. “It’s going to be harder for me to track them on the traffic cameras.”
“I guess sometimes it’s really nice to have a stalker like you with us,” Ansel says, sounding stressed as I find a way to watch both apps at the same time.
The windows are small, but it does the job for now. I don’t want to miss anything.
“They’re moving further into the country,” I say, ignoring Ansel. This is how he’s handling things, I’ll gladly let him poke fun at me.
“Yep.” Ansel swallows hard as he watches, while Abbott drives.
“Don’t let me miss the turn,” he growls.
Glancing up, I nod. “Next exit.”
“Thanks,” Abbott sighs, turning when he needs to. “Wow. It’s like going back in time. I always forget how isolated this area is.”
“There’s clearly a plan in place here,” I say.
We’re going north and not toward the coast, so I’m not sure what their plan is. I simply know that they wouldn’t be headed this way if they didn’t have one.
That makes things feel even worse, and a kaleidoscope of questions run through my mind. Does Madam Clara have buyers for our omegas? What does she want with Cassidy? Is she going to kill her?
I know that she’s with them because of the tracker, but even that thin amount of information is grating. Jake expected to simply disappear without a trace. No one knows we have trackers implanted under our skin, not even our closest employees.
Greig didn’t ask how we knew where to find our packmates, he simply went with it. It’s a testament to how long he’s been with us that he’d simply trust that we know what we’re doing.
Fuck, do I hope that we do.
“They’re stopping,” Ansel says, his voice a touch too loud. It’s a testament to his worry, and shows exactly how under our skin this kidnapping is.
These are our people, our mates. They’ve taken our sun and two of the moons that circle her. We’re just the males who bask in their light.
This is unacceptable.
Glancing up, I click on the tracker and widen the space on the map to see what’s around them. It’s miles and miles of land, with a house here and there.
What the fuck are they doing?
“There’s nothing there,” I whisper. I wish that I could use satellites to see more on this app, but I can’t.
It’s very frustrating to be flying blind. Fuck!
“There has to be something where they stopped,” Abbott says, his brows pulled down as he takes deep breaths to keep from hulking out.
We’re all bonded to him as a pack, which means as our alpha, he gets hit with all of our emotions with our close proximity. Ansel and I both mimic his deep breaths to get our shit together for him.
We have to keep it together.
“The dots all disappeared,” I report, struggling to shut everything down.
Calm, uncaring, disassociation, come on now. Something has to kick in!
“It’s like they’re just gone, but I can still feel my bond with Bellamy and Cass,” Ansel says. “They couldn’t have disappeared. I have their last known location pinned. I’ll tell you when to turn.”
Forcing air into my lungs as my chest collapses in on itself, I hold onto what I know. People don’t just disappear, and my lights are alive.
I can feel Winter and Cassidy inside of me. I know they haven’t left the world entirely.
Everything around us is dark, with the occasional cheery home brightly lit with light. It’s so at odds with the rage and desolation I feel, but I’m shoving those feelings deep inside, until my face is stony and neutral.
I’ll take those feelings out later to process, but for now, they have to hide away so I can do my job.
“I trust you,” Abbott says, continuing on until we get to a closed gate.
“Turn here,” I say, eyes narrowing. Getting out as he stops, I walk up to the gate and stare at it.
There’s a padlock on it, but when I pull on it, the fucker opens as if it was replaced in a hurry.
The ground under my feet has displaced gravel and deep depressions from a recent vehicle, but there’s no signs of it now.
There’s nothing on this property, despite it being fenced in. It’s abandoned and undeveloped.
So why are we here?
“This is where they were. Let’s get out and start walking,” I decide, glancing at Abbott to make sure he’s on board.
It’s dark, and it might be impossible to find anything, but we have to try.
“Let’s go,” he agrees, turning off the vehicle and getting out of the car. “Something stinks here, and we’re fucking going to find out what it is. Update Greig, please, Shi.”
Doing as I’m told, I shoot Greig a text with our exact coordinates, knowing they’re following us.
We all begin walking the property in different directions, using our phone lights to look for any kind of indentation that’ll signal a storm shelter or some kind of underground hatch.
There’s no moon today, which means our visibility is shit outside of the twinkle of the stars. They seem way too happy for what’s happening right now.
Nothing makes sense, and I am finding I need my fucking laptop. Maybe I can find building contracts, something to tell me what's underneath my feet. There’s open space for miles, but even if it was all trees, that wouldn’t explain why the trackers crapped out.
“Boss!” Greig yells, getting out of his vehicle as others pull into the lot. “What do you need?”
“Our pack is here, somewhere,” Abbott says, walking over to him. “It sounds insane, but the trackers they were all wearing disappeared. The trackers are undetectable to the eye, and can not be destroyed. Why would it stop transmitting a signal?”
Greig is smart. He used to work for the Russians overseas and has seen a lot of shit in his fifty years of life.
“Being underground,” he whispers, stomping on the ground as he looks down.
“Yes. We’ve looked everywhere for an entrance or something, but can’t find it,” Abbott explains.
“Blueprints will need a computer to pull up. Ground radar is difficult to find as a civilian,” Greig mutters.
“We look for pipes that are out of place, and anywhere that might have an entrance hidden under brush,” Greig mutters.
“It’s too dark now though, Boss. Even if we spread out, it’ll be difficult to find them before the sun rises. ”
“Dammit. I hate that you’re right. Everything is fucking level here! Or at least, that’s how it feels,” Abbott says.
“Are we leaving?” I ask, feeling like my stomach just dropped out of my ass.
I have so many racing thoughts going on in my head, but one of them tells me he’s right. I need to get home so I can research what we’re up against. As much as I want to stay where I know Bellamy, Winter, and Cassidy have to be, I can’t.
“If there’s an auction being set up, I want to find out. There’s no way they can turn one around in such a short time,” I finally say.
Swallowing hard at the implications of my words, Abbott nods.
“Whatever it takes to find them, we’ll do it. It looks like we’re not going to be able to find the clues we need in the dark, though,” Abbott says, his emotions tumbling over each other until it settles on something.
Determination.
“We are not accepting defeat, we are simply using our resources differently,” he says. “While my pack heads home, I want you to keep your ear to the ground, everyone.”
“Yes, sir,” our men say, turning toward the vehicles they brought with them.
“Jake is also a traitor!” Ansel says, raising his voice. “I want to know if he reaches out to anyone. Not telling us is an act of treachery. He helped in this kidnapping.”
“We know,” Henri says sadly. “I never saw it coming, boss. I swear it.”
“I know,” Abbott sighs, heading back to our SUV. “I know. Have three of our men stay and watch in case Jake comes back or anyone leaves?”
“Yes, boss,” Henri says with a nod. “Roy, Tomas, and Draco! Keep watch, please. When the sun comes up, we’ll come back to walk the area and see if we can find anything.”
“We’ll be here,” Draco promises with a nod. “At first light, we’ll start to look for any openings or piping that’ll show there’s an underground shelter or facility. We’ll find them, boss.”
It feels as if we’re admitting defeat as I walk back to the car. Stopping, I watch as the other vehicles back away, their headlights leaving me in a pool of darkness as they leave a vehicle for our men in case of emergency.
Safe to allow the illusion that I’m in control drop, I lean over and press two of my fingers to my lips before pressing it against the grass in front of me.
“We’ll be back,” I whisper. “I swear it.”
Straightening, I walk to the SUV and get in without a backward glance, ready to be a soulless demon if it means getting my loves back.