Chapter 51 Ty
TY
After several hours and only one break, Dad called down to the kitchen and requested food for the entire room. We continued to work as the staff brought in food, drinks, and even painkillers for the people who, like me, had developed stress headaches.
As I chewed mindlessly on some chicken salad, I imagined Castro tracking our progress somehow—through our internet usage, perhaps. If I closed my eyes, I could see his ugly face jeering at me as he drew closer and closer to Liza’s side.
I didn’t consider myself to be psychotic like Castro, but I knew what it was like to be driven by one singular goal that wouldn’t allow you to focus on anything else.
Castro was coming at us from a place of longing. A lonesome existence where he wanted nothing more than to have Liza by his side. If I had to guess, I’d say it wasn’t all about a sexual relationship with Liza, though that was probably at the forefront of his twisted mind.
Instead, Castro wanted what was promised to him long ago when Liza’s parents had practically betrothed them to each other. Of course, they had no idea that Castro would show his true colors as he aged and start wreaking havoc on any child who so much as looked in Liza’s direction.
From a young age, he’d thought her to be his.
He wanted her full attention, and if he even thought for a second that her affections were given to someone else, he couldn’t stand it.
He lost his mind and chose to eliminate his own parents for standing in his way.
To Castro, Liza wasn’t a person to be cherished and loved. She was property that belonged to him.
Now, Liza was mine, and Castro refused to accept that.
The countdown continued on the screen, mocking us. It was as if the flashing numbers were laughing at our stupidity for not being able to figure it out.
It wasn’t that we’d given it a half-ass effort. In ten hours, we had disposed of multiple possibilities, discussing and jotting down any vapor of an idea that could pan out. Each time, though, we hit a dead end, and had no choice but to start back at the beginning of our search.
“Wait a second.” Nico jumped to his feet, his plate sliding to the floor, splattering food on the hardwood. He didn’t seem to care. “What if the times and dates are different coordinates in town?”
Brilliant. “That could be it.” I joined Nico at the temporary desk the house staff had rigged up in the corner of Dad’s office.
We plugged the numbers into our laptops, trying multiple combinations. All the coordinates led us to places entirely too far from Presley Acres, and we’d already determined during the hunt for the first clue that Castro was keeping things local.
“Damn. I thought I had it.” Nico sighed and stepped to the side as a maid cleaned his mess from the floor. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “The locations have no correlation—no common denominator. I’m out of ideas.”
Dominic slapped Nico on the back. “Don’t give up yet. We still have time.” He raised an eyebrow and looked at Liza. “Maybe we should use Liza’s tactic from last time.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Dominic moved to the whiteboard. “Remember how she took the first sentence from each sheet of paper and strung them together? It formed a riddle. What if the words for each disaster, their location, and the dates can be pieced together to form some kind of message, too?”
I stood and joined my father at the board. “You might be onto something.”
I pulled out my phone and opened the notes app, typing multiple combinations of the words, locations, and dates. Other members of the security team joined me while Liza scribbled on a notepad. We worked for a solid thirty minutes, but no combination created a coherent clue.
“Fuck.” I paced the room. The tension was so thick it was a struggle to breathe.
I threw open the window and gulped the fresh air into my lungs. My wolf stirred, recognizing my need to run and rid myself of the stress and anxiety.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be going on a run until we’d solved this puzzle.
I glanced down at my phone again, blinking hard as the words jumbled together. My eyes were tired—hell, I was tired—and I had to force myself to focus.
I scrolled and clicked, moving back through the videos I’d watched a hundred times. Suddenly, I noticed something I hadn’t before. “Wait.”
Everyone stopped and stared at me expectantly.
“I think I found something.” I cast my phone screen to the TV so they could see what I was looking at. “Look.”
I’d searched YouTube multiple times over the past several hours and had a tab open for each of the disasters.
“We’ve been focusing on the news stories that featured each individual disaster instead of the full thirty minutes of news coverage.
” I paused one of the videos just as the story about the flooding began. “Look at the timestamp.”
“What is it?” Nico took a step closer to the screen. “I’m not following you, Ty.”
I played each newscast, pausing the videos just as the full stories of the disasters began.
Pulling up the notes app on my phone again, I showed everyone the list of timestamps.
“I’ve added up the times and they equal these two numbers.
Nico had a point about the coordinates because when I put the two numbers into the map…
” I paused and everyone stared as the Presley Acres library popped onto the screen.
Dad leaned forward. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Nico jaw dropped. “How the hell did you figure that out?”
I shrugged. “Fuck knows.”
Dad glanced at the countdown on the screen, then at his watch. “We have to go. Now. Everyone, load up.”
Nico’s voice rose over the chaos in the room. “All right, team. You heard the boss. We’re leaving in three minutes. Pull the SUVs around the front. Load up your supplies and weapons. There’s no telling what we’re about to walk into.”
As everyone filed out of the room, Liza made her way to my side and wrapped her arms around me, her smiling lighting up her face. She planted a loud kiss on my lips. “I knew you were more than just bronze.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Can you handle this? Would you rather stay here?”
Her smile vanished. “I’m going with you.”
Fair enough. I could get on board with that, mostly because I wanted her by my side, no matter what.
Dad pulled on his jacket and walked out the door, giving us a moment of privacy.
“Do you think we’re walking into a trap?” She twined her fingers through mine. Her eyes were clouded with so much worry that I wanted to scoop her into my arms.
I shook the idea out of my head since we needed to leave. “Like you said, Castro’s going to give us a chance to figure out the clues. But we better go. Not making it in time could prove to be dire.”
Fingers laced, we rushed out of the house and joined Dad in the front SUV. As soon as we were in, the team rolled out, speeding toward town with the emergency lights on.
Liza couldn’t keep still, her leg bouncing so hard I thought she’d wear a hole through the floorboard. Adrenaline pumped through all of us as we wondered what we’d find at the library.
We finally pulled into the empty parking lot, and I checked the time. We had ninety minutes left before Castro told the whole world what Dad had done to the Wylder pack.
I envisioned swarms of angry shifters from different packs tearing down the stone wall that surrounded Keller Estate, kicking down the door and burning our house to the ground.
It’s what we deserved after all, wasn’t it?
Or had time forgiven my father’s sins? Could people look beyond the terrible act and see the reasoning behind it: the horrible leadership and disgusting dealings of the Wylder alpha, and how there was only one way to stop him?
Liza’s soft voice broke through my thoughts. “What exactly are we looking for?” Her face was pressed to the window, straining to see the library’s entrance.
I frowned and wiped my sweaty brow. “Honestly, I didn’t think that far ahead. I have no clue what we’re looking for.” I thought of the bell tower and how quickly we’d discovered the bomb taped to the wall just inside the entrance.
If I had learned anything about Castro up to this point, it was that he loved the element of surprise. There was no way in hell he’d make it that easy on us again. We had a long search ahead of us with only a very small amount of time left on the clock. The odds weren’t in our favor.
Everyone lined up and looked to me for instructions. I’d uncovered the clue and, of course, I was the future alpha. I wasn’t used to calling the shots when my father was around, but it was a welcome change to step into that leadership role, proving to myself that I could handle the stress.
I glanced at Dad. His nod gave me permission to take the reins. I would be calling all of the shots before long. Why not start now?
I scanned their faces, praying to the gods that I wasn’t leading everyone astray or right into Castro’s hands. “Let’s split up and search the entire library. Leave no book unturned since we have no idea what we’re looking for. It could be as obvious as the nose on your face, or it could be subtle.”
Everyone nodded, divided the library into sections, and entered once Dad used his key to unlock the main doors. At after midnight, the library was deserted, so we could move freely through the building.
Every second counted, and we didn’t have time for distractions.
When I walked through the door, I half-expected to see a bomb attached to the wall, but the only thing hanging above the checkout desk was a very large clock, reminding me of our time limit.
I ran down the steps to the basement, flicking the light switch as I passed.
Rows upon rows of books were shoved in so tightly that I wondered if we needed to look into upgrading the building.
The smell of musty books and dusty air made me sneeze, the sound reverberating off the walls of the empty basement.