Chapter 336 Chapter 336
Pouring the powder into the bottle, he put the cap back on and gave it a vigorous shake. He closed the van walked over to the edge of the drive and looked down at the lake. It was a lovely lake. He debated for a moment getting the binoculars out of the van and trying to see if her could see her but didn’t want to look like some kind of creep to anyone standing there.
His mind was buzzing. So much to take in at once. Tomas was breeding shifters and selling them. He scowled at the ground; had he figured out how to do that with the water clan? Nodding to the dirt beneath his feet, he turned and pulled out his phone. Scrolling through the contacts, he brought up one that had been detrimental in him achieving the safety of his kind. What did he want her to actually do though? He needed to figure that out before calling and sounding like a rambling idiot.
He looked over at the guard, “can you tell the prince I’m just going for a walk down to the water when he comes out?” The man barely moved his head to acknowledge he’d spoken. Konner debated for a moment whether to just go down the embankment, then decided a long walk would help him get his head together.
Starting back down the worn narrow road he’d driven to get to the house, he tried to force his muscles to relax. Lifting the phone, he stared at the screen, would she still use this number? She worked for the Alliance and after the changes the past few weeks many weren’t using their regular phones now. Shaking his head, he smirked at the phone, she’d secured this very phone, so the chances her own was that way were high. He hit send and lifted it to his ear. She answered on the third ring. “Fallan, it’s Konner Flores.”
“Konner, it’s been a while.”
He turned to take the path to his left. “It has. I know you’re busy, so I’ll get right to it.”
“I’m very good at multi-tasking.” She chuckled.
“I’m sure you are.” He watched two young boys, probably no older than seven dart out of the trees and run along the path for a few feet before racing back in. “I need you to do some digging for me.”
“If you’re calling me, it must be something you want to be kept quiet.”
He smiled, “it is.” He could smell the water now, even with everything between here and the beach.
“Our you scratch my back, I scratch yours relationship has been fruitful up to now, so how can I help?” He could hear her typing on a keyboard while she talked. “I don’t know if you’ve been brought into the loop, but the last raid the teams did—” he paused and thought about the folder he’d left in the van, would Reeves be able to help decipher the information, “but they found records of sales—”
“Oh, I’m privy to that sick shit.”
He inclined his head, “how would they go about something like that? They can’t exactly advertise by conventional methods.”
“Your timing is top-notch, Konner, the big man just issued a request that my team works with some of the others to see if we can decipher it.” She snorted, “while we’re still tracking down the breach.”
“How is that going?”
“Whoever is on the other end of the keyboard for Mister Tomas has some mad skills, but we’re getting closer.”
He nodded and then stopped to look at several small new buildings that lined the one side of the dirt path. They weren’t from his company, but he had been consulted on the fastest way to construct them. He recalled something about it giving some of the refugees something to do. “So obviously Tomas has some high-tech friends.”
“Yeah, but the thing is, the system we set up,” she mumbled something, and he heard more keystrokes, “there’s no way it was done completely from the outside.”
He looked at the bottle in his other hand and moved it to watch the liquid swirl inside it. “I’m sure your team will ferret out the traitor.”
“Oh, for sure.” She chuckled, “the dark web.”
He frowned and started walking again.
“They have to be using some board on the dark web, highly encrypted, hard to get into if you’re not looking for it—to sell our kind to the highest bidder.”
He didn’t know what that was but felt some hope that she did. “Can you find this dark web?”
She laughed, “of course, I can, all of us on the team can, with our skills there’s nothing on the planet we can’t get into.”
Konner stopped at the end of the trail and looked in the two directions it branched off into. If he reached the water too soon, it would be too tempting to swim to the other side and find Terah on his own. He turned in the other direction. “Is there any way to find out details of previous sales?”
“That’s,” she blew out a loud breath into the phone, “going to be a challenge, but I might find some trails to follow if I dig deep enough.”
A woman with a small child froze on the edge of the path and watched him with fear in their eyes. Konner slowed his stride and smiled at her, not wanting to alarm her. She turned with her child and went back in the direction they had come from. This entire camp would be filled with scared, unsure members of their community. He waited until they were out of sight before walking again. “I know you’re looking for the Alliance as well, but if you come across any information that I’d be particularly interested in, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“You know I would anyways, Konner, you don’t even have to ask. Your contacts have gotten several of mine out of that country to the safety of here, I’ll always owe you for that.”
He paused to look at a large building, a newly painted sign that said showers stood out against the old structure. A woman came out of the door and then stopped and looked at him. She clutched the items in her hands tighter against his chest. He gave her a nod and smile, hoping to put her at ease. When she scurried off in the other direction, he looked down at what he was wearing and realized the last time they’d probably seen someone in gear like he was wearing would have been when they were rescued from hell. He hadn’t even considered it earlier and should have been more sensitive to the injured souls seeking safety and refuge here. “I’m just glad to help, any from our world.”
“I got,” she stopped abruptly, then it sounded like she was walking somewhere, he heard a door, “I got wind of something earlier,” her voice echoed now like she was standing in an empty room, “and I think it will matter to you.”
He turned off the marked path, afraid to alarm any more survivors by strolling past them, and walked through the trees. “Like what?”
“Dane was contacted by the princess a few days ago and was asked to look into locations in all of North America that had large tanks installed or where they were purchased. Like big fish tanks.” She clarified. “That’s got to be for your kind, right? I mean why else would the princess want to know something like that.”
Konner turned and looked back in the direction of the house. Rayne was looking for more of his kind. He closed his eyes and settled his thoughts before replying. “Yes. New information has been discovered regarding that.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I asked Dane to share if he found any.”
Looking around, he continued moving through the trees. “Thank you.”
“Look, you know the Alliance will do anything to help, all of us, well, except sneaking clans across the ocean, so if there’s any of yours out there, we’re going to find them.” He heard the door again and heels on the hard surface.
“I know, it’s just—hard.”
“I hear that.” The echoing stopped telling him she’d gone back to where she had been before. “I better go, Illias is messaging for me to stop doing my nails and pick up the pace.” She laughed.
“Yes, I’ll let you get back to it and hopefully I’ll hear from you soon.”
“You know it.” The sound of keys was moving fast now. “Later.”
Konner hung up and looked at the phone. He was still shocked the princess had them looking for tanks installed across the country. He knew it would lead to a lot of dead ends, but if there was a chance that even one of them found a member of the water clan, he’d exhaust himself traveling to every location. He stepped out of the trees to find he was looking at the lake. His gut tightened again.
Walking slowly toward the water’s edge, his heart felt lighter to see several children running along the shore chasing a ball. Two women stood off to the side, tracking their every move. Other than guards, he hadn’t seen any males since arriving. He supposed he shouldn’t find that surprising, really, considering their captors used men of their own kind to keep them in line.
Turning, he walked to the opposite side of the beach area, giving the woman a wide berth so his presence wouldn’t startle them. There were old wooden beach chairs sitting off to the one side, so he headed toward them.
Sitting on one, he opened the bottle and took a long drink. He shouldn’t need to put anything in his system after the fish he’d eaten on that stop, but his nerves were shaking, and he was sure his body was burning through them fast.