ELIANO
I head inside, passing the cafeteria where people are already starting to gather, but that is not where I am going. Behind the recreational building lies the administrative area, and I know exactly where the beta guards’ station is.
Before I go to the warden, assuming there even is a warden right now, I should talk to Harvey Bram first.
I knock on the door. One of the beta guards opens it, eyeing me with open surprise and barely concealed hostility.
"I need to speak with Mr. Bram."
"About what?"
"You will find out in a second," I snap.
"What is going on?" a voice calls from deeper inside the room.
I push past the beta without waiting for permission and step inside.
"We have a problem."
"And what kind of problem could someone have," Bram says dryly, "when he himself is the problem?"
"Ha. Ha. You are so funny," I say dryly. "But seriously, I woke up this morning after last night. I drank way too much, and when I came to, Salt was gone from our unit."
Silence settles over the room. Bram studies me closely, the way the other betas do.
"And what do you expect us to do about that?"
This answer takes me by surprise. I suddenly feel stupid, standing there under their stares.
"I don’t think you understand how this island works," Bram continues. "If someone escapes, they fall under police jurisdiction. They get tracked down, detained, locked up. End of story. Their contract with the program is terminated. Not our problem."
An idea comes to me.
"Listen. Just listen to me," I say, forcing myself to stay focused.
"Salt ran because…" My thoughts are racing, my head still foggy, but I push through it. "After what happened yesterday, he panicked. He’s terrified he’ll get raped here. He freaked out. Let me go with you to the coast. I’ll talk to him.
I can calm him down." Yeah, I make this story up on the spot, hoping it sounds convincing.
Bram lets out a short laugh.
"We don’t even have a speedboat. The ferry left at 5:30. Drax, Miller, and Sidorov were on it. There is no warden on the island right now."
"Perfect," I say. "Then no one needs to know. Nothing official. Nothing on paper. We find him, we bring him back."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that, considering we don’t have a way to reach the mainland?"
"You call the harbor master and have the ferry sent back. Say it’s urgent. Say a family member of one of the residents is critically ill and needs to be taken to the mainland to say goodbye."
Bram narrows his eyes.
"And why would I do that for you? You’re directly responsible for the chaos on this island right now."
"What chaos?" I snap. "You mean it would’ve been better if everyone had just kept quiet and the betas kept getting raped?"
For a split second, his expression falters.
"I didn’t say that," he says carefully. "But they agreed to it. They had a choice. They could’ve gone back to prison."
"Choice?! Do you even hear yourself?"
He snorts. "You don’t get it. Our facility was leading in the stats!"
"Yeah! You convinced me. That makes it okay to threaten people and to shove a purple alpha’s twelve-incher into a young, scared beta’s ass. For the stats!"
Bram curses and closes his eyes for a brief second.
"Again. I’m not saying this. But at least they left pregnant. Just like Shane. He got through a brutal month, but now he’s happy, living with Jeff, expecting a child. It was a hard price, but it was his choice."
"You really don’t see the problem?" I growl. "They didn’t really have a choice. They were threatened with being kicked off the island."
Bram takes a slow breath.
"I do see a problem. To an extent, I agree with you. Sidorov went too far with the blackmail. He lied to them. That part didn’t sit right with me either. He should’ve made it clear it was optional. That if they refused, they could stay on the island and continue the program as before."
I exhale, some of the tension draining from me.
"I’m glad you still have enough of a moral compass to understand that coercion and rape aren’t tools a government program should be using," I say coldly.
He frowns. "I already said that. Three times. Let’s get to the point."
"Fine! The point is this. Salt panicked and ran last night while we were drinking. He wasn’t thinking straight. No one has to know. It doesn’t need to end up in a report. We can still find him."
"And how exactly?"
"The ferry route. That’s where we start."
"You’ve lost your mind. After four hours, he could be anywhere. Hell, he could be close to the state line by now."
"Please. I know he’s not far. I feel it."
"Oh, I see," Bram says dryly. "So you feel it. And based on that, I’m supposed to call a ferry and drag half my staff into this?" He folds his arms. "I’m sorry. I’m not doing it."
"Please, believe me," I say quietly. "I can find him. I know how he thinks. Trust me."
"Trust you?" He snorts. "We don’t know each other. All I know is that you’re trouble. You’re not convincing me."
"Fine," I say flatly. "I didn’t want to do this the ugly way, but you’re forcing me."
I pull my phone out and start the video from the breakfast room, turning the screen toward him right as the tasers come out.
"I can post this on my blog in minutes. It gets millions of views a month.
And when that happens, this place gets torn apart.
Organizations like Beta Empowerment will swarm it.
This is exactly the kind of thing they live for.
So either you call the ferry, or I burn this place down with publicity. Right now."
I’m bluffing, but it’s all I’ve got.
Bram’s jaw tightens. His nostrils flare.
"Let’s think," I add coldly. "Head of security. Raped betas. I wonder how the oversight board would feel about someone who knew and didn’t report it."
"You son of a bitch," he growls. "Didn’t I tell you you’re a fucking problem? You really think blackmail is the answer?"
"Blackmail is how this island operates," I shoot back. "Or am I wrong?"
His face turns red with rage.
"If you ever doubted whether this was the right method, just think about what they went through."
He looks away, silent for a long moment.
"Fine," he finally says. "The ferry’s at the small harbor anyway. I can call it back. You get three hours from the moment we reach shore. If you don’t find him, I turn around and leave you there. Officially, you both escaped. Understood?"
"Understood."
He makes the call.
All the other betas are standing around us, listening to our exchange and staring at us with intensity. I can feel their hostility, but what’s new? Besides Bashir and Fred, there’s no one on this island who looks at me favorably. Oh well.
Bram talks on the phone for a moment. The captain complains loudly, but eventually agrees.
"To be clear. I’m not doing this because I’m afraid of your video," Bram adds. "I’m doing it because I didn’t like how Sidorov handled things either. And maybe it’s time this place changed. Let’s move. The ferry will be here in fifty minutes."
"Is it just you and me going?"
"And two of my people."
A moment later, Bram, the two betas, and I leave the building together and head toward their internal parking area, where three quads are waiting. We climb onto one of them without exchanging a word.
I can feel the tension humming through my system. I stay on high alert the entire time, half-expecting them to try to restrain me or take my phone, but nothing like that happens. We reach the dock and remain seated on the quad, waiting for the ferry to arrive.
The betas chat among themselves for a short while, exchanging comments about something that actually catches my attention.
It turns out that a politician I personally knew, due to his connections with the Ferro family, Mark Ferguson, is in serious trouble. He has been accused of rape and workplace harassment, and his run for state senator is officially over.
I feel a quiet surge of satisfaction hearing that. From my brothers, I know Ferguson was a first-class piece of shit, and even though he stayed close to Anzo and constantly sucked up to him, he never deserved to win.
Before long, the ferry appears.
With nervous shivers running through my entire body, I board along with the betas. Bram exchanges a few words with the captain. I catch the man giving me a crooked look, but soon enough, we pull away from the dock.
Bram steps closer to me and says,
"I am almost certain Salt left the island using the ferry.
He probably clung to the hull somewhere," he adds, leaning slightly and gesturing toward the side of the vessel.
"If that’s the case, he most likely got off near the small harbor we use.
The problem is that the road from there does not lead directly toward the city.
It first heads toward the state road and only then loops back toward the city.
Salt might have gotten confused, especially since you didn't originally arrive from that direction. The question is whether you will be able to guess which way he went. I doubt that even with an alpha’s sense of smell you can handle this. You are not bloodhounds."
"Some of us have even better senses," I reply calmly. "And I have my own methods. Give me those three hours."
"As agreed," he says. "Not a minute more."
As we sail, I get lost in my thoughts.
For some time now, I’ve had this conviction growing inside me, with an increasing sense that Salt and I are not just random mates, but…
True Mates. Though I rarely let myself dwell on it.
It comes in brief flashes, sudden bursts of "yeah, we are," and then I go back to living like nothing’s happening.
Today, this quiet voice in my head whispers that I will be able to find him. In a way, I can already feel him at the edge of my awareness, a faint, delicate thread of energy that seems to point the way.
They say True Mates always know where their other half is and can find each other unerringly, even from the other side of the world. I choose to believe that somehow this will be true for us.