Adam is starting to feel like the dunce at the back of the class. All he’s hearing is that they had a close shave. The walk has also taken it out of his leg. Another five minutes of standing under this tree and he’s going to need to sit down again.
Showing weakness in front of allies is as bad as showing it in front of enemies. Dad used to say that. Adam has come to realize over the years that a lot of what Dad said was rubbish, but some of it has a grain of truth.
Admit to being an idiot or admit to not being able to stand up straight, and Barbara already thinks he’s an idiot.
“I don’t get it,” he admits.
“That’s because I haven’t told you the whole story,” she says, rolling her eyes. Adam lets it pass.
Before, he did it because she is Thomas’ mother. Now he’s going to let it pass because she’s Ivan’s grandmother.
He realizes he is going to be letting Barbara Warwick talk down to him for the rest of his life. He doesn’t have a chance to analyze that thought before she continues.
“One safehouse. One set of keycodes. Ronmin’s men used them to get in. We don’t know how he got them.”
“Who had access?” Adam asks.
“Thomas. Lex,” Barbara says. “My niece and nephew who were running the other place. Maybe some of the omegas who came through if they were paying attention although anyone using them is supposed to hide the code when they put it in. We don’t exactly hand them out.”
It wouldn’t have been Thomas or Lex, Adam thinks. “Your niece and nephew?”
“Warwicks.”
Well, that was obvious. Adam resists the urge to roll his own eyes. It’s always about keeping it in the family with the Warwicks. Outsiders are never trusted. He’s learned that the hard way.
Barbara puts her hands on her hips and lowers her voice further, even though there is no one in sight.
“It wasn’t them. At least I don’t think so. They’re hiding out in Button Oak and I have someone watching them.”
“So, who was it then?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got someone looking into the omegas who left there: Shannon Mills and Cameron Roth,” she shakes her head. “I’m not having a lot of luck. The whole system is set up to protect the people in it. It’s not that people don’t want to help. Most of the time they can’t. Everything is strictly need-to-know.”
The names trigger a tsunami of emotion. Adam starts walking. “I left them with Thomas. You should have told me. I need to get back.”
“It’s probably not them,” Barbara calls.
“Who then? Just spit it out.” Adam is getting sick of all this drip feeding. If Barbara thinks Thomas or Lex has betrayed everyone, she should just say so, then Adam can tell her she is wrong and they can start looking for the real culprits.
“Someone accessed Lex and Thomas’ safehouse this morning. I got an alert on my phone. That rules out the Warwicks now in Button Oak. Cameron and Shannon would been there when the codes were entered once, but neither of them has a phone and they’ve either been in the car with Lex and Thomas, or in that cabin of yours ever since. It has to be Thomas or Lex.”
Adam feels like he’s been punched in the stomach. It has to be Lex. It can’t be Thomas. Thomas would never risk his son. He knows that much.
He remembers Lex waving hello at them just a few minutes earlier, and Barbara’s wave off. “Why is Lex still here then?”
“So, I can keep an eye on him. I don’t have proof of anything. It might not even be him.”
“It’s not Thomas,” Adam says firmly.
Barbara shrugs. The shadows dip and fall on her face. She looks tired, and there’s a deep sadness in her eyes when she meets Adam’s eyes. “We both know how Ronmin operates. It’s all payoffs and blackmail. Thomas wouldn’t do it for money. We both know that. He would for Ivan. He’d do anything for that boy. If he thought Ronmin would hurt that kid, he would do anything at all and betray anyone.”
“He wouldn’t betray his own family,” Adam insists.
Barbara meets his eyes again. “I would. Parents will do anything for their children.”
“What do you want me to do?” Adam asks.
THOMAS
babbling and a modesty towel
Thomas is panting by the time he gets to the bottom of the track. He can just about pick up Ivan’s scent but it’s getting weaker.
The falling rain is fast washing away the scent. He needs to move fast.
What is the boy thinking? Ivan knows to not answer the door to strangers or to wander off without telling anyone where he’s going. He’s always been a sensible kid. What if someone took him? There’s no other scent accompanying Ivan’s but that would mean nothing if the kidnapper were on strong blockers.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Thomas is starting to panic. This is completely out of character. This isn’t Ivan making an impulse decision to run after Adam’s truck, even if that made sense. There’s something else going on. Thomas just has no idea what it is.
He’s just about to shift back into human form so he can scream out Ivan’s name again, when a truck rounds the corner.
Before Thomas can dip into the trees, hoping that he hasn’t been spotted, it slows down and stops beside him.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” Gregor says, winding down the window.
Thomas shifts and tells him, babbling fast enough that Gregor has to tell him to slow down twice.
When he finishes, Gregor says, “Get in. Which way was the scent trail going?”
Thomas points up the road towards Aylewood. “But I don’t know where he’s going. I don’t even know why.”
He climbs into the truck, body shaking. Gregor nods towards the back, “There’s a towel in the back if you want it. Or not. I’m not bothered either way.”
Oh right. He grabs the towel and drapes it over his lap. He’s been living in the city for too long for casual nudity.
They drive slowly along the road, Thomas shouting out Ivan’s name until they’re approaching the town, then Gregor turns around and goes back.
“I’ll handle this. You need to go back to the cabin.”
“But—”
“He’s not along the road. He could be anywhere by now, and we can’t have your scent all over the place. Not you nor anyone who came with you. It’s bad enough that we’ve got Ivan out there, but we can explain that if Ronmin’s men pick up his scent. He’s just a kid. We can say he’s been staying with his grandma and got lost. No one knows where you are.”
“No. I need to find him.”
“We will. Grab my phone, will you?”
Thomas glances around the truck and grabs the phone from where it’s stuck in between the seats. Gregor gives him the PIN, then says, “I really need to get one of those handsfree thingies. Look for Gray in my contacts. The wild wolves will pick him up in a jiffy. Their noses are pure magic.”
Thomas thinks of Ivan out there alone in the woods, and the terror he’d feel suddenly surrounded by enormous wolves. “Absolutely not. He’d be terrified.”
Gregor frowns. “Just call the number and put it on speaker.”
“There must be a better way.”
“Like what? The wildlings might scare him but they’ll keep him safe. That’s the important thing.”
“What if he’s with someone?”
Gregor gives him a quizzical look. Thomas explains his theory that someone without a scent might have taken him. It sounds ridiculous even to him as he says it out loud.
“That’s an even better reason to get the wild wolves involved. They’re not fond of city folk, and they’ll be even less fond of one of the city wolves stealing one of our cubs. Just call the number, Thomas. We need to get them out there immediately.”
Thomas dials. He listens as Gregor explains the situation and Gray promises to ask Ash and the wild wolves to look for the boy.
Thomas digs his fingers into the leather of the seat until it hurts. He scans the trees for even the slighte
st flash of movement or glint of color as they pass.
There’s nothing.
“What about Adam?” Gregor says as soon as Gray hangs up. “Ivan’s definitely not with him. You sure the scent wasn’t from the truck?”
Thomas shakes his head. “No. He was on foot. Adam... we had a fight and he took off. I think Ivan overheard it”
“Does Adam know Ivan is missing?”
“How could he?” Thomas snaps. “No one will give me a phone. I can’t call anyone. We’re completely cut off from everything. Maybe if I could have phoned earlier, we’d have found him earlier.”
Gregor flinches, and Thomas feels immediately guilty. This isn’t Gregor’s fault.
“I’m sorry,” Thomas says.
“Don’t worry about it. Just call Adam. He needs to know. I got a real cryptic message from him which is why I was coming up here.”
Thomas takes the phone again and dials. It goes to voice message so he leaves a message, trying not to let the panic sound in his voice.
Gregor turns the truck back onto the track towards the cabin. He glances at Thomas, sympathy in his eyes. “He’ll find him. I’d trust Gray with my own son. Hell, I’d trust him with my nephew.”
“I want to look for him.”
“I know but the best thing you can do is wait here. You know that. Besides, there’s every chance he’s already turned for home. Kids run off sometimes. Hell, I used to do it every second Sunday.”
Thomas smiles, despite himself. “I remember that. I also remember the thrashing your dad used to give you for it.”
“Didn’t do me any good,” Gregor says. “I used to like going out for a wander. Maybe Ivan takes after his Uncle Gregor. Now that would do him good.”
Gregor gives him a wide grin and Thomas knows what he’s doing. Gregor is trying to distract him.
It’s working a little, but his stomach is still in knots. He wants to urge Gregor to drive faster. The sooner he gets back to the cabin, the sooner he’ll know if Ivan came back.
The truck takes an age, but it can’t go any faster. Not without risking a flat tire.
Thomas has the door open and his leg out before it’s even stopped completely.
He races, legs pumping to the cabin calling out his son’s name.
Cam appears on the porch. He shakes his head, but the moment he sees Gregor behind Thomas, his eyes widen and he disappears back into the cabin door slamming.
Thomas runs up to the porch and knocks on the door. “Cam? Is he back?”
The young omega’s voice sounds through the wood. “No. Jacob and Shannon are looking for him.”
“Oh shit,” Gregor exclaims. “Thomas, stay here. I need to get them back here. Here...” He hands Thomas his phone. “In case Adam calls. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He shifts, puts his nose down and follows the trail into the forest.
Thomas watches him go with an increasing sense of helplessness.
ADAM
terrible parking and hidden photos
It’s almost noon when Adam finally finds a parking space within walking distance of the Fort Gosford branch of The Warwick Taproom.
He’s driven to the city perhaps a dozen times in his life and never in rush hour. He finally pulls the truck into a spare space just as someone else is pulling out and ignores the honk from the car behind him.
He has no idea what they’re even cross about. It seems like every single driver in the city feels the need to assert their dominance at every opportunity.
Relief hits the moment his feet hit the sidewalk and he can stretch his legs again. Or at least his leg. It’s been cramping solidly for the last hour.
He stretches it out and gives it a good shake to get the blood flowing, ignoring the raised eyebrows of a pair of beta passersby.
It’s a relief to get the cane out of the truck, knowing that no one he knows is likely to see him with it.
You’re being an idiot. No one thinks less of you for using it. No one decent anyway.
He passed the Warwick Taproom four times while looking for a space so he doesn’t need to check for directions.
It only takes him a couple of minutes before he’s standing outside. The lights inside are off and there’s a CLOSED sign on the door. He cups his hands and peers in through the glass.
It’s clear that the place was locked up in a hurry. The chairs stand at untidy angles by the tables where the last inhabitant left them instead of on top of them. Glasses – not all of them empty – dot the bar counter and tables.
He looks up. For a city building, it’s not large: only a couple of stories: enough to house the Taproom and a couple of apartments.
The double doors are locked with a single padlock. It doesn’t appear to have been forced or disturbed. If anyone got in and out again, they either had a key or went in a via a different route.
Adam ignores the weight of Barbara’s keys in his pocket and follows her directions around the side of the building into the alleyway.
It stinks of urine, fresh and new. It’s just one more reason out of about thirty that Adam keeps away from the city. The mountain doesn’t stink of humanity like this.
The alleyway is deserted. There’s not much there, other than a few large garbage containers and the usual city litter blown in by the wind.
Adam leans closer and sniffs at the doors. He picks up a myriad of scents: Ronmin’s, the faded scent of Thomas, someone he thinks is Lex, and a handful of softer but undiscernible scents, but it’s hard to distinguish them under the reek of urine.
He looks both ways, then enters the code into the keypad. The door unlocks with a click.
It opens onto a ramp leading down into the dark. Adam leans over and flicks the light switch.
He closes the door carefully behind him, making sure it locks, then makes his way down the ramp.
He finds himself in a cellar filled with Warwick-stamped barrels, and bottle crates.
It smells of nothing at all: a fully scent-blocked safe room. Stairs lead up on one side. From Barbara’s description, that’s likely the kitchen. The door he is looking for is less obvious, but he finds it after a moment’s search hidden behind the barrels.
He puts a different code in and it clicks open.
The apartment at the top of the stairs is filled with scents: Cam and Shannon, Lex and Thomas as expected, but there are others too: the faded scents of unfamiliar omegas long departed for the next stop on the railroad.
There’s also the distinct and recent scent of Aidan Ronmin.
Barbara was right, Adam thinks. The only question is how he knew the codes to get in.
The apartment is clean and tidy: completely so. There is no sign that it has been recently occupied, or that anyone has lived in it recently. The cushions on the sofa are freshly plumped and the bed linen is perfectly made. The bathroom smells of cleaning products.
Adam opens the fridge to find nothing more than a couple of bottles of milk, still within their expiry date.
Cam and Shannon scents are only discernable in the living room. There’s nothing in the other rooms, which makes sense if they’d just arrived.
Thomas’ scent, however, is everywhere. He’s the one who’s tidied and cleaned, getting the place ready for the new inhabitants.
Lex’s scent is vaguely discernable and only at the entrance. Ronmin is everywhere. He’s the only one that is recent.
It doesn’t smell like anyone else has been in here in days.
Adam searches the place quickly and efficiently, taking care to try leave everything where he finds it.
He finds nothing. Either there is nothing to find, or Ronmin took it with him.
He repeats the process in the Taproom bar area, kitchen and bathrooms. He doesn’t expect to find anything and he doesn’t.
The main entrance to the two ‘official’ apartments on top of the Taprooms are accessed via a door to the side of the main Taproom entrance, but Adam doesn’t have a key for that.
Ins
tead, he uses another secret door, this one hidden at the back of a store cupboard in the kitchen.
He wonders if every one of the Warwick Taprooms have this many secret doors, and whether Barbara Warwick holds the knowledge of every single of them in her head.
The stairs leading up from the store cupboard are old and musty. No one has been up them in a long time.
They open into another store cupboard on a landing: this one ostensibly something of a janitor’s closest going by the cleaning materials and the mop that he knocks over when he opens the door.
The scent of Ronmin is heavy on the landing. He’s been here too, and Adam feels a flush of anger at the thought.
He didn’t need to be here. He could have sent one of his men. This wasn’t about wanting information. It was an invasion of privacy.
He checks Lex’s apartment first, moving quickly. He’s not sure what he’s looking for, but Barbara said he’d know it if he saw it.
Anything that shouldn’t be there, Barbara said. They write nothing down and don’t keep any records. All their plans and movements are discussed verbally and in person. There shouldn’t be any indication in anyone’s apartment that there is anything untoward going on.
You find any names or addresses or phone numbers, that’ll be it.
Lex’s apartment comes up clean, even if Ronmin has been there first too. One thing Adam can say for the man, in contrast to his behavior at the farm, he hadn’t left a mess behind.
He hesitates at the door to Thomas’ apartment. It feels like an intrusion, especially after the fight they just had.
It is an intrusion. A necessary one, he tells himself.
The place smells like Thomas and Ivan. Adam feels an unexpected tug at his heart.
This is where Thomas Warwick has been all these years. Every single time Adam thought of him in the last ten years and wondered where Thomas was, this was it.
It seems too ordinary. There’s a single living room with wide windows overlooking the street, a small kitchenette, bathroom with a shower in the tub, and two bedrooms.
It’s tidy but not spotless. It’s clear that Thomas left in the morning, expecting to be back by evening.
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