Page 115 of Ravage
It was four people last I’d heard, but they hadn’t been recovered yet. I wonder idly if Aiden has slept at all while searching for them.
“I’m a good tracker. Not just because I’m a dog. Well, maybe because of that, but I’ve been able to pick up scents before that others like me haven’t. I thought I’d give it a go and see what happened.”
“And? Did you find them?”
“I couldn’t tell. There was no way I could get close enough to the building. But I was able to follow a trail from someone that smelled…wrong.” He maneuvers around me to slide the notepad in front of him and writes an address. “I can’t guarantee they’re still there or not, but I would bet a peanut butter rawhide that they’d at least been there.”
I can’t put all of my hope that they haven’t been moved already, but there could be more clues inside. Or, if the building is cleared out, Kit could sniff for another trail.
Next comes the hard part.
Telling Aiden.
As much as I’d like to do this on my own to help others like me, there’s no way I can take on an entire building of GE goons. It’s likely to have a security system in place too. Even if I could take out a decent amount of them before the alarm is raised, I’d still be outmanned and outgunned if any of them have non-tactile gifts.
“Thank you for doing that.”
Kit grins at me and shrugs. “I’m glad I could help. Let me know if you need any more sniffing done. As long as there’s no fighting involved. I don’t do fighting. Just sniffing and pets.”
I laugh, feeling lighter from the good news he's brought me. “Got it. I’ll let you know.”
He shifts back and rubs against my shins and waits. I give him the pets he’s looking for with a smile. He’s not just soft. He’s like baby blanket soft that you want to rub your face in. I stroke his fur a few more times and then pull back. He licks my hand and trots to the door, which I open to let him out, and he runs out of view.
I head out immediately to give the news to the others. We may not be on the best of terms, but I’d never withhold information that could save people over personal grudges.
There’s an eerie quiet on the streets as I take the quickest shortcut I know to the safe house. It’s normal this time of night for the activity to have slowed down, but it’s never empty like this.
It feels like the city is holding its breath.
My hands fist as unease settles in my gut. I wore a hoodie before I left with the cooler chill in the air tonight. I’m grateful for the small temperature drop so I can tuck my hair back and pull the hood over my head.
I scan the street, checking around the corner before I move in case I’m being followed again.
I make it to the safe house without incident, which should tell me that I’m being paranoid, but I still can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. I head inside, using the combination Jackson gave me to gain access without having to knock and hope that they’ll let me in when they see it’s me.
I walk right in and close the door behind me.
A chair crashes against a desk as Dane rushes upright. He has a gun in his hand, which I’d take personally if their last home hadn’t just been attacked. I see when he realizes it’s just me. And when he still doesn’t drop the gun.
Okay. I take it personally now too.
“How did you get in here? You can’t just waltz in any time you fucking please.”
Aiden’s standing behind him in his little circle of monitors. His face is drawn in concentration as he studies the screens. At Dane’s reaction, he doesn’t even bother looking at me. It’s like he doesn’t register me as a threat worth watching. Even though I walked right into their current home.
I bristle at being ignored, but then his hand flies out and smacks Dane in the back of the head. “Quit whining and keep working, Dane,” he demands without breaking eye contact with the screens. “Raegan, if you’re here to tell me that you’ve reconsidered joining us, then this may be a bad time.”
Dane sends me another death glare warning and then sets his gun down within reach on the desk. He returns to his seat and the keyboard and starts clicking through cameras around the city. He has apparently tapped into every store, ATM, and even traffic light camera in this city for his personal viewing.
The monitors all shift with each click, each displaying a different camera and moving across the screens as he works through them.
I should just hand them the address and leave. Because I’m not joining them.
But curiosity gets the better of my pride.
“What’s going on?”
Aiden’s dark brown eyes finally deign to flick my way, then return to the screen nearest him when a new camera view appears. “Is that a yes? That you’ve changed your mind? That you’ll take orders from me without complaint?”
