Page 37 of The Beta: Part Three
Devon nods. “Yeah. I’m glad she’s checking in monthly, though.”
“So am I,” Jasper says. “Do we feel a little better now?”
I suppose we do because we all give him a nod.
“And I’m cleared to knock her up next week?”
Alex laughs. “Like you need our permission.”
Chapter fourteen
Nathan
I can't find anything in a week’s time. And a week's all I have before Talia and Jasper go into heat. I've got a few decent trails going, but I don't think I'll get anything solid before their heat comes. If I'm having this difficult of a time finding anything, I can't imagine the Dennison pack having any luck at all. I traced the omegas from the compound nearly to the northern territory before they just disappeared.
The digital logs are all over the place, too. I followed one trail down a very scientific path until that shit stopped making any sense at all to me. I called Thaddeus, that's more his speed. Strangely enough, he had me forward everything I found to Elizabet. Then he told me that it would be better if I didn't mention anything I saw in those records to anyone at all, ever. That should be easy because I don't know what the hell I saw, just a bunch of formulas and charts and words that probably mean something to somebody who isn't me.
I don't care about any of that science shit, all I care about is finding those omegas. I have thought about them every single day. Especially the girl who begged me to do whatever the rogues wanted. I've had so many nightmares about what could be happening to her.
The lead I'm currently chasing is interesting, though. It looks like a fuel log. Like what you'd find in a tour bus record. This has got to be important. It doesn't look like anything but stops on a road to refuel, but why would you try to make it look like a cargo van delivering furniture instead of a much larger vehicle that would need a lot more gas than a van would. Then there's the other record. It's a pet delivery service. Tails and Scales Pet Transport. It looks innocent enough until you look through the stops that the GPS recorded. I charted the course. The pet transport vehicle doesn't get as much gas as the other vehicle, but it consistently stops at every single place the other vehicle stops, only about ten minutes later. That's got to be something. If it's the omegas, I might not know where they're going, but I can find out where they've been. I'm digging into the security systems of each of the fueling stations; maybe I can catch sight of the omegas, maybe get a vehicle ID, maybe catch a glimpse of a driver. It shouldn't take too long, but it will take longer than a week to siphon through all those feeds.
It's so frustrating, but I refuse to let that frustration take away from my anticipation and excitement about my omegas' heats. I don't know if they're going to want two separate nests, or if they'll build one huge one. I have a secret hope that they'll use my room. Talia has built her nest in my room twice now at this point, and it might be one of my favorite things in the universe. I love that she feels like my room is the most comfortable and safe place in the manor. I hope every nest she ever builds for the rest of her life is in my room.
I look back to the monitors in front of me. I need to try to get into the system records for the stops the smaller vehicle made. It's just too strange that they're stopping behind the larger vehicle so consistently, and at such regular intervals. Either both vehicles are heading to the same place or the smaller one is following the larger one on purpose. The most recent stop was at a truck stop on a long stretch of road, it's not even part of a town. There are eleven minutes between the stops. Getting into the system is so much easier than it should be, but these types of places are usually only concerned about having camera systems in place as a theft deterrent. Half the time the ‘cameras’ are just hollow, plastic shells that are supposed to make someone think twice before snatching a bag of chips.
I've got the feed sped up a little so that I can work through it in less time and move on to the next. I started it about two minutes before the larger vehicle arrived. Jesus, it's going to take forever to work through all these stops. I'll have to work every second I'm not sleeping until next week.
A quick flash of something catches my eye in the window of time before the second vehicle's stop. What was that? I back the feed up and show it down so I don't miss whatever that was. I don't know why it caught my attention, but I've learned to trust my gut.
There!
I click pause and play it backwards one frame at a time until I see what caught my attention.
Fuck me! There they are!
A curvy little blonde with purple streaks in her hair, looking straight at me through the security camera in a shitty gas station two hundred miles away. There are a few more, but they're keeping their eyes on the ground as they file into the store. It's a short line of women and girls, most of them look to be teenagers or in their early twenties, being led through the store by one man and another guy closing them in at the rear. This little blonde is still fighting. Keep it up, baby. I'll find you. I get Marcus on the phone, and start yelling into it before he gets out his usual greeting.
“I got them. In a gas station. A couple hundred miles northwest. The feed is from this morning, around ten.”
Marcus lets out a long and very loud line of curses, then yells for Elizabet. “Nathan found the omegas,” he says, carefullynotcursing or screaming at his omega. “Two hundred miles away, this morning. Do we have anybody close?” I listen to her muffed answer while I save several copies of the security feed and location information so I can send them out. You can never have too many backup copies of something like this.
“Nobody close enough to catch up by morning, but if Nathan's got the projected course then we should be able to get some teams caught up with them soon enough. I hate to leave them with the rogues any longer than necessary if we know where they are, but it would be good to track them to whatever location they're being taken to. I want to find them and get them safe, but we need to find whoever is over all this mess.”
Marcus agrees with her, “I don't like it, but you're right. If we can catch up with them, we can follow for a bit to attempt to get them to lead us where they are heading. Then we'll get them out of there. There are probably more omegas to be found, as well. If we can just get our hands on one of the rogues who has them and get him nice and talkative...and where the fuck is Dennison? Shouldn't he be all over this?”
I cut in. “The Dennison pack's omega is coming off of her heat. I spoke to him last week. He feels like shit over it, but she was very insistent that she needed him home. I can't say anything bad about it, either. Talia and Jasper are both going into heat next week. I'm not going to be able to get shit done until it's over.”
“Excuse me?” Elizabet says very clearly. I must be on speaker now. “Both Talia and Jasper are going to go into heat next week? I thought we had more time to prepare?”
“Yes, ma'am.” I reply.
The line is very quiet for a moment, then she says, “where is she now?”
“Downstairs,” I answer, “it's movie night.”
“Please have her call me as soon as she can. It's important.”
“I'll tell her,” I say, but I don't get why she's so worked up about their heats syncing up. You'd think she'd be excited about that like she was excited when Talia had her second heat.
