12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

I rang Steve Marley. We'd gone to school together back in the good old days when Jess and I had been completely ignorant of the Other realm. Since then he'd shown he was in my corner by helping me out when I'd investigated the murder of my third, Mark Oates. He was good people and I trusted him to help me in this. He was also the soul of discretion.

‘Lucy,' he answered warmly. ‘Dead bodies or kidnapping today?' His tone was jovial.

I winced a little. Like Amber, I guess I needed to ring him sometime just to chat, but for today… ‘Kidnapping, actually.'

‘Damn.' He whistled.

‘Yeah. Though technically that's better than a dead body, right?'

‘Certainly for the person kidnapped,' he quipped. Cops tended towards black humour; it was a coping mechanism for the grimy underbelly of humanity that they had to witness and deal with every day.

‘Definitely,' I agreed drily. Better Daniella was kidnapped than dead.

‘What happened?' Steve turned brisk and professional.

I matched his tone, keeping emotion out of my voice as I recounted the grim tale. ‘One of my wolves got kidnapped from her place of work. She finished her shift, stayed a little late to help someone, then was kidnapped as she walked out to her car. A white transit van came by, someone got out, used some kind of net on her as she was shifting and hustled her into the vehicle.'

There was a beat of silence. ‘Well, I can tell you something that Manners can verify – the net sounds like something the brethren use. Supposedly they developed the nets with the seers' help to confine and subdue a violent dragon shifter.'

Brethren. Damn. I worried at my lip. Had Geneve somehow got wind of our heist plans? Was she behind the kidnapping? But why kidnap Daniella of all people? Why not aim for me or Greg? Daniella was only twelfth in our pack and though she was in our battle core thirteen, she wasn't exactly up there in the ranks. Nor had there been a ransom demand. I was missing something, but what?

‘What's her name?' Steve asked .

‘Daniella Hardcrest.'

‘Age?'

‘Thirty-five.'

‘Address?'

I rattled off the mansion's address.

‘Occupation?'

‘Nurse. She works as a locum, picking up shifts as and when she wants to. She was working at Wexham Park Hospital last night until 1am. She was snatched at 1.49am.'

‘She was taken from Wexham Park Hospital?'

‘Yeah. I've already spoken to one of their security team, Dwayne Brown. We isolated the relevant CCTV footage but I couldn't read the vehicle's registration number because the footage was too grainy to make out the plates in the dark. I'm hoping you can use local surveillance cameras to track down a clearer image of the licence plates if you follow the van from the hospital.'

‘Okay, I'm on it. Leave it with me, Lucy.' His tone was faintly warning.

‘Yeah, yeah,' I muttered, not intending to do so in the slightest.

We rang off, both determined to find Daniella – one way or another.

David was sitting at the security console looking morose, not that I blamed him in the slightest considering the circumstances. He was wearing neat slacks and a shirt, but the buttons were done up wrongly and his tortoiseshell glasses were resting askew on his nose. He was flustered; whatever was or wasn't between him and Daniella romantically, they were certainly friends.

He looked up when I walked in, his eyes hopeful. I hated that I had to quash that hope. ‘Sorry,' I said. I'd tell him quickly, like ripping off a plaster. ‘She's definitely been kidnapped, and it looks like some brethren may have taken her – or at least someone using brethren methods of extraction. They used a magical net to subdue her.'

His jaw clenched. ‘Fuck,' he said tightly.

I think that was the first time I'd ever heard the reserved man swear. ‘Yeah,' I agreed. ‘I'm sorry it's not better news. I've got a friend on the case, Inspector Steve Marley.'

He looked at me in surprise. ‘You involved the Connection?'

I shrugged. ‘They have access to resources I don't have. I promise you I'll use everything at my disposal to get her back home and safe. You have my word. '

He nodded, his eyes dull. ‘So are you going to call off the heist tonight?'

I grimaced. I didn't want to be insensitive but I had no further leads on Daniella until Steve got back to me with a plate number for the white van. There were thousands of brethren – and white vans – which made it really tricky to move the case forward.

Accountancy had taught me excellent time management and task prioritisation. Whilst I was stalled with finding Daniella, I'd move something else forward instead, but it felt indelicate to say that to David when he was clearly desperate. I couldn't even imagine how I'd feel if Greg got snatched; it didn't bear thinking about.

‘No,' I said finally. ‘Plans are in motion that can't be stopped.'

He sighed. ‘Indeed.'

‘It's not because I don't care about Daniella,' I insisted. ‘But until I hear further from Steve…' I trailed off and rubbed David's arm. ‘Stay strong. I promise I'll find her.'

We will find her. Esme's voice was reassuring; she had no doubt we'd find Daniella.

A small smile lifted the corners of David's lips. ‘You know what, Alpha? I believe that you will.'

I was grateful for the vote of confidence, but his faith made me feel worse about my decision to barrel ahead with the heist. I hadn't been lying, though: things were in motion. We were speeding towards our goal of retrieving the orb, and I was certain that acquiring it could change everything, not just for me but for wolves everywhere.

Maybe getting it would even give Daniella the advantage she needed to rescue herself.