Treasure
Hostage Situation

Oxbow Lake Pack House

As soon as the door was closed, Sawyer looked to Chairman Coffey. “Where are Daniel and Craig Forrest right now?”

Alpha Michael answered instead. “They were dropped off at a hotel by the Mall of America yesterday.”

“It’s right next to an international airport,” Sawyer said. “We need to know where they are NOW, not where we left them. I don’t believe in coincidence; someone kidnaps Rori’s mother the day after they leave here with a grudge?”

“You’re right,” the Chairman said. “Do we have anyone in the Twin Cities right now?”

Everyone shook their heads no. “Our men returned here after dropping them off, and everyone else was in on the search for Gruber.”

“Call the hotel and replace out if they are still registered there. Does anyone have assets who work for the airlines?”

“I have one who works for the Transportation Security Administration,” Alpha Mitch said. “I can have her search the security records out of Minneapolis.”

“Good. I’m going to give Alpha Malloy a call, see what he can replace out from his end.” He was the Alpha who had been put in temporary charge of the Donner Pack until the challenge between Sawyer and Daniel could happen.

“Sir, ask him to check Pack records for any land, people, or assets in Florida. I would also request that we get any computer hackers in our Packs involved. We need to look for car rentals, Uber drives, credit cards, and hotel registrations. I’d like to have some leads for Rori by the time they land.” Sawyer’s nervousness was evident. He would do anything for the Pack his younger brother and sister led, and he loved Rori like a sister already. “I feel in my gut those guys are behind this.”

“Good idea. Sawyer, don’t forget you have to train. After all this, I can’t afford to see you lose your challenge and end up with Daniel back at his Pack, that would be a nightmare.”

“I understand, Mr. Chairman.” The meeting went another ten minutes, and an update meeting was set just after lunch. Sawyer left the Alphas called for his mate through their bond. ”Where are you?”

“Beta’s office.” With the Council taking over the Alpha’s office and conference room, Alpha Michael and his mate used the Beta’s office. It didn’t have a separate room, but it did have a smaller table and lots of whiteboards around. Three laptops got set up, and Ashley was busy dividing the whiteboard into sections labeled Tracking, Assets, and Leads. “Hi baby,” she said as he pulled her into his arms.

“Setting up the command center?”

“Working room. Too many Alphas around in the conference room.” They had drafted a few Enforcers and Warriors with law enforcement experience to help out. It would take them most of the day to get organized, and information was slow coming in.

At the lunch meeting, they confirmed that Craig and Daniel still had a room at the Mall of America hotel, and that was about it. By evening they had people in place, and some more information came in. A cleaning lady reported the beds were unused, and there were no room charges. They were working on getting access to hotel security camera video.

Just after dinner, they got a call from their TSA insider. “Both men checked through security last night at the Minneapolis airport, boarding a flight to Atlanta that connected to Orlando. They arrived at five this morning.”

“MOTHERFUCKER, I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM,” Sawyer yelled as he jumped to his feet.

“Get in line,” Alpha Michael said as he pushed him back into the chair. Sawyer may be an Alpha heir, but he didn’t have the Alpha position, and this wasn’t his land. Sawyer’s wolf backed down. “Keep your emotions in check, boy. Getting mad won’t help Rori replace her Mom. Ashley, give them a call and let them know we’ve confirmed they are in Orlando.”

“Yes, Alpha.” She pulled out her cellphone and started talking. Sawyer told everyone he was going to take a walk and calm down. He pulled on a jacket and walked out the back door into the fall air.

His emotions were all over the place as he entered the woods, so he muted his mate bond so Ashley wouldn’t be distracted while working. His heart went out to his family, and he had to make sure they were all right. He called his youngest brother.

“Sawyer?”

“Yeah. You heard, right?”

“Rori is still talking to Ashley about it. We’re set up in a condo down here, but right now, we don’t have any leads to go on. The cops won’t take a Missing Person for 24 hours as there was no sign of a struggle. Your news doesn’t change anything since we figured those bastards were behind it. I just don’t know what the end game is.”

Sawyer racked his brain. “Money? Revenge, maybe? Rori inherited the fortune that was coming to the old Council. We get her back, and we worry about these guys later. I’ll go to war with you if we have to.”

“I doubt that will be necessary. Those two don’t have much of a following right now.”

“What else are you doing?”

“Rori’s already been to the Steel Brotherhood. They’ve called in reinforcements from all over the Southeast. She said they would have two hundred members looking for Possum by tonight.”

“How’s Roadkill?” Sawyer chuckled a little, not being from a biker culture, the nicknames amused him.

“Distraught. If Craig is lucky, we get the bastards before the Brotherhood does. Those guys will take them to the swamps and make it last for weeks if they get them.”

Sawyer was deep into the woods now. “I’ll call you back later, Chase. I just wanted to tell you I’m here for you, all of you. I love you, Chase. Let Coral and Rori know I love them so much. Hell, tell Keith I love him like a brother too.”

“I will. Thanks for everything, Sawyer.” He hung up and was about to put it back into his pocket when it vibrated. A text message was coming in. He glanced down at it and froze.

It was a picture of a bound and naked Donna in a concrete room, one ankle chained to the wall.

“DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? SHOW THIS TO NO ONE OR SHE DIES.”

His hands shook as he typed a response. “What do you want.”

“YOU WILL NOT TAKE DANIEL FROM US. WHEN THE CHALLENGE COMES, YOU WITHDRAW. MAKE UP A REASON, BUT IF WE FIND OUT YOU TOLD ANYONE ABOUT THIS, SHE DIES. TAKE A HONEYMOON WITH ASHLEY, AND TWO WEEKS LATER WE WILL TELL YOU WHERE TO FIND HER. IF YOU COOPERATE, SHE WILL BE GIVEN FOOD AND WATER AND A BLANKET. IF NOT, HER BODY WILL NEVER BE FOUND. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

He didn’t have a choice, not now. He couldn’t do this to his brother’s mate. “I understand. I’ll do what you say.”

“GOOD. WE HAVE SPIES EVERYWHERE, WE WILL KNOW IF YOU DON’T. YOU CAN’T TRUST ALL THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE SURROUNDED YOURSELF WITH.”

Another photo came through. This time there were some bottles of water, a blanket, and some food bars by Donna. “HER LIFE IS UP TO YOU.”

Sawyer was shaking; he leaned back against a tree trunk and slumped to the ground. The text was right about one thing.

He couldn’t trust the Council or the Alphas.

Sawyer looked back at the text messages from the unknown number; he could have someone check it out, but who could he trust to do that? If the wrong person found out, it was over, and he’d be responsible for Donna’s death.

He sat in the snow, staring at the phone, wondering what to do. Who could he trust? The first person he thought of was his mate. After a hundred and thirty-two years of living, he had one now, and he needed her like he needed air. He couldn’t imagine withholding such a secret from her, and she would be able to help. He opened up the bond, trying to keep his feelings out of it. ”Ashley? I need you to come outside with me now.”

“Sawyer, we’re busy, I don’t have time to play around now no matter how horny your wolf is right now.”

“Honey, I need you outside. I know what you are doing, and I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important. I need you to make an excuse and leave. Don’t tell them you’re coming to see me. I’ll explain later.”

He knew she would feel his fear and anger through the bond, as he couldn’t hold it back anymore. There was a pause before she replied to him. ”I’m in the hall, where are you?”

“Grab a coat and boots and head out the back. I’m about six hundred yards straight back.” Ten minutes later, she was sliding down the tree to sit in his lap; he might be dumb enough to get his jeans soaked in the snow, but she knew better. “What I’m about to show you, you cannot tell ANYONE. No linking, it has to be our secret until we agree on how to proceed. Do you understand, baby?”

“What’s happened,” she said as she brought her hand up to his cheek. “Why do you look scared?”

“Promise me no one else will know.”

“I promise.” He brought out the phone and unlocked it; he had already moved to the first picture he received. Her mouth hung open, and the mate bond surged with the emotions she was feeling. She read the messages, then went back and looked at the whole string again. She stared at the photos and carefully read texts he’d already read fifty times. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

Ashley sagged against him, needing the contact to ground herself as she tried to make sense of it all. It took a few minutes before she sat up and was ready to talk. “It’s not his Pack doing this, we know they are down there.”

“He doesn’t want us to think it’s him.”

He nodded. “Daniel has to come back for the challenge, and his father will be with him. If I withdraw, under the rules he automatically becomes the Alpha. As a sovereign Alpha, he cannot be attacked or interfered with. Craig figures that if I do what I’m told, they’ll think I chickened out and by the time I can say anything, it’s too late.”

“But why? Two weeks later they are still exposed.”

His eyes suddenly got wide as he realized what they were planning. “True, unless they kill me too. The only way they get away with this is by killing me AND Donna, since she will point to them if she is released.” He pushed her up and scrambled to his feet. “We don’t have a choice, we have to bring others in.”

“The messages warned us about that, said they had spies all around. You think they mean the Council?” She couldn’t believe the new one was corrupt too.

“I don’t know. Right now, if they aren’t blood or mate, I don’t trust them.” She took his hand as they started to walk back towards the Pack House. “I’d trust Chase, Rori, Coral and Keith.”

“You can trust Charles and Martin, they are blood and I trust both of them with my life,” she said. “I don’t know the others here enough to trust them. Nobody else down in Florida.”

“Rori is going to want to bring in the Brotherhood.” She grew up with them, she trusted them more than werewolves with good reason.

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. We have to let them know what to look for.”

“We need to do this from our room, I can use the cellphone connection on my iPad to talk to them. I don’t want to take any chances they’ve got an IT guy feeding them information.” Ashley texted Charlie and asked him to get Rori, Chase, Coral and Keith into a private room with him and Skype him when they were ready.

It was good they had sent the others out of the house, because Rori’s scream damn near broke his screen when he shared the messages.