Chapter 779 Chapter 779
Calla couldn’t pick up anything from Ellery. His expression was always the same. His voice never altered. The only thing she knew was that he wasn’t from a bear clan. He was very slight and so nervous; she wanted to say his animal was a smaller-sized one because he was very jumpy and paranoid. Each time there was a sound in the house or outside of it, he jolted and had to look. She’d been standing here for roughly fifteen minutes trying to strike up some kind of conversation, but so far, all he’d done was ask her questions. What her size was, did she have food preferences, and what her helpful skills were. That one amused her that he’d added the word helpful.
His phone pinged and he jumped a few inches off the chair before he grabbed it and looked at it. He stood up quickly. “I’ll-I’ll be right back.” His tone definitely changed that time. He hurried from the room.
Calla stood there for a few minutes. When he didn’t come back, she went over to the switch on the wall with the tape above it. She looked at it and then shook her head. She couldn’t even figure out how to change the clock in a car. Thinking she was going to figure out the switch was pure fantasy.
Turning away from the door, she wandered toward the entrance. She looked around like she was going to find a list of all the answers she needed. She heard voices and stopped. Where had Ellery rushed to? The door to the basement was opened. Going over, she paused and listened. One was Leon’s, but she didn’t recognize the other one.
“Hold on. Ellery, go get her. She can confirm some of them.” Leon said.
Calla rushed back to the dining room. When he came up behind her, she was standing where he’d left her.
“Boss needs you downstairs. Hurry.” He spun back around and went back into the basement doorway.
Calla schooled her expression. She needed to convey indifference. She didn’t know who was in the basement with Leon or what they wanted her to confirm, but she may have to think fast to give them viable answers.
When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw that the entire basement was an office. There were a few computers and monitors. Ellery was sitting at one of them, typing quickly. No one else was down here.
“Missy.” Leon waved her to come over to his desk. He had a laptop opened in front of him.
She went over.
“Come around.” He pointed to beside where he sat. “This is Kenric. He’s out in B.C.”
She tucked her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and glanced at the screen like it was no big deal. “Hey.” She nodded once.
“Tell him about Allen and the others you tried to find.”
“Oh.” She shrugged. Shit. Others. She needed names. “Yeah.” She leaned on the corner of the desk, so she was visible to the man on the screen. “I went to where Allen lives. It’s empty. No one is there.”
The man brought the camera closer. “At his place or the building?”
“The building.” She needed to think of others they’d gotten. She usually transported collared men or frightened women and children, but she knew a few they had taken into custody. “I figured they just relocated—” She shrugged again. “So, I headed to Chicago. I know a few places some of the others were. They’re gone, too. All of them.” Hopefully, they didn’t ask for names.
He studied her for a moment and then got up. He had to be on a phone or tablet because he was moving around too much for a laptop.
She stood up and looked around the office as he did that.
Leon leaned closer to the screen. “Liora came back this morning. She couldn’t find a single rogue camp.”
“That’s not uncommon in the winter months, Leon. They hunker down and stay put through the cold months. We should be able to find them in a month.”
“Yeah.” Leon sat back.
Above the computer Ellery was on, there was a black button. The kind you’d see at a factory. Like a kill switch that shuts everything off. Wires ran from it to a box in the corner. Was that to the light switches? She was going to have to tell Dane.
“Listen,” Kenric said.
Calla looked back at the screen. He’d sat down somewhere. Her mouth dropped open, and she had to react fast, pretending to yawn. Crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to look bored. Behind Kenric was a tank. Not a little fish tank filled with pretty tropical fish. A face was close to the glass on the inside. A woman was looking out at the back of his head. She had pale eyes, and her hair was so fair in color that Calla thought she looked like an angel. He had someone from a water clan in a tank like a pet fish.
“I’m going to send Taran and Siana to Maine. The last time Aiden needed to lay low, that’s where he went.” He moved closer to the camera, taking up the entire screen and blocking out the woman in the tank. “Wherever he is, you know he’ll keep Shepard Addison close. We’ll get answers.”
Leon nodded.
“I’ll call Preston and Waylon and update them. Waylon should shut down the location in Minnesota. If Aiden left Chicago, he’s located too close down there.
Leon nodded again, and Calla realized that he wasn’t in charge of any of this; he was a lackey. Kenric had a tone of leadership in his voice. Calla stared at the screen, hoping to see the woman again.
“Preston should be all right up in Yellowknife for now, but if we can’t find out what’s going on, we should move operations to Panama.”
Leon sighed. “I hate it there.”
“I know, it’s not my favorite place either.”
“I’d rather wait it out in Louisianna, Kenric until we know more.”
Kenric nodded. “We’ll give it a few more weeks and see if we can make contact, but have everything ready to move in the meantime.”
Leon bobbed his head once more. He looked like a bobblehead that sat on a dash. “Do we have anyone left inside the Alliance that can get us current information?”
“Not that I’m aware of. I have the same as you, lists and data that we managed to get until they found the backdoor our guys used to get in.”
Calla felt relief wash over her. They didn’t have anyone at headquarters now.
“Syrus is missing.” Leon opened a drawer and pulled out a file. He flipped it open.
Calla clamped her teeth together when she saw a photo of Zain and Oaklyn standing in the snow.
Leon stabbed his finger on Zain’s face. “He was tracking Zain, the king’s assistant and then nothing.”
“He could be in silent mode because he’s tailing him. You know he becomes hyper-focused on a task.”
“It’s been two months.” Leon slapped the folder closed. “He was the only one with the software to link into the Alliance communications.”
Kenric sighed and sat back. “I knew that was a bad plan—letting him control it.”
“He made it.” Leon shrugged. “He got us far…”
“Yes, but now he’s in the wind, and we’re blind.” Kenric picked up the camera and was on the move again. “Let’s not panic until it’s time to.”
Leon leaned back in his chair again. “I’ll get in touch with the others and talk to them. I know you’re busy.”
“Call me tomorrow and let me know if you find out anything.” He grinned. “We’re going fishing.” He winked.
They were going to hunt more water clan. She felt it in her gut.
“You do the same.” Leon closed the laptop and then looked at Calla.
“Should I be freaking out?” She was inside. She really needed to contact the team.
Leon shook his head. “No. There’s too many of us spread out that there’s no way the Alliance will find us.” He turned in his chair and looked at Ellery. “Anything?”
Ellery shook his head. “I tried all the chat rooms and emails. There’s no word.”
Calla was going to need a notebook soon to keep track of everything they were saying.
Leon studied him for a moment. “If they’d been compromised, someone would have got the word out.” He got up. “Thanks for coming down. Kenric thought I was just being paranoid, but it seems like the Alliance has gotten Allen and some of the others.” He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “We’re going to have to recruit faster. I do not want to end up in Panama again.” He held her look. “Later, we’ll work on you reaching out to the ones you say you know. See if we can get them here without too much fuss.”
Calla nodded. “They’ll be relieved to be somewhere safe.” She had to get in touch with Eaton. If they handed her a phone, she had no one to fake a call to. “Hey, if I get a vote, I’m all for Louisiana.” She grinned. “New Orleans is on my bucket list.”
He looked around the office and then back at her. “Can you tell Edda we need to have a meeting—everyone.”
Calla nodded. “Sure.” She turned to Ellery. “You wrote down my size, right? I don’t want to be caught in a snowstorm with leather boots on.”
Ellery nodded. “Finlay is going for supplies tomorrow morning. He will get the boots.”
“Great. Thanks.” She turned toward the stairs and then paused. “What time do I tell Edda the meeting is?”
“Make it for before dinner. I have calls to make.”
“Okay. See you then.” She ran up the stairs. Her mind was going a thousand miles an hour. She had to get everything she’d just learned to Eaton.