23. Jared

23

JARED

I t was well into the early morning hours by the time Jared and the boys had finished fixing up the gardens. Who knew that a rampant tiger and twenty scared men could cause such a mess?

Jared chuckled as he pictured a bunch of rich older men running around, arms flailing, doing their best not to be the slowest in the bunch.

What was the saying? When being chased by a bear, you don't have to be the fastest; you just have to beat the guy running next to you.

Reaching the top of the staircase, Jared made a left, then headed toward Isaac's room. He hadn't seen him all night, which was kind of strange, to say the least. He wanted to check on him and make sure that everything was alright.

Jared hoped that he wasn't still sulking from the other night. They would find Isaac's brother and take down his evil operation.

He couldn't imagine how Isaac must be feeling knowing that his own family could be responsible for such atrocious acts.

Stopping in front of Isaac's bedroom door, he knocked twice, then waited.

No answer.

Perhaps the punk was sleeping.

Jared pulled his cell phone out of the side of his underwear—because, yes, that's where all dancers kept their cell phones when walking around in their underwear. Matteo had a strict "no cellphones in the theatre" rule, but technically, he had been in the gardens… not the theatre.

3:25 a.m.

Maybe he was sleeping after all.

Jared pressed his ear up against the door, feeling like every little bit the perve that he was, and listened.

Nothing.

No snoring, no noises from video games, no sound of Isaac beating his meat as he no doubt did whenever he hadn't blown his load.

Still, something didn't feel right.

Jared tried the doorknob, and to his surprise, it turned.

"Iss?" Jared called, pushing the door open ever so gently.

Light from the hallway spilled into the bedroom, casting a beam across a bed that had not been disturbed.

"Isaac?" Jared asked a little louder this time. He walked into the room and flipped on the bedroom light.

Empty.

There was no one in the room.

"Where the fuck are you?" Jared asked out loud, wondering if perhaps Isaac had snuck into his room and was fast asleep in Jared's warm bed.

Yes, that had to be it.

He would probably find the blue-haired ball of energy sprawled out on his bed, naked, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and his boner in the other.

That was pure seduction in Isaac's books.

Jared smiled at the thought, then stepped out of Isaac's room.

Throwing open his own bedroom door, he was met with nothing but disappointment. There was no naked, horned up, annoying as fuck, skater boy waiting, boner in hand on his bed.

"Where the fuck?"

Okay, now Jared was starting to get concerned. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Isaac's number.

The damn thing went right to voicemail.

An uneasy, sinking feeling played games with his gut.

Something was wrong.

Jared turned, ready to go find Matteo, but was nearly knocked over by the man himself.

"Isaac was taken."

Those three little words shot like a cannon into his chest. All of his fears suddenly came to life.

His mind separated from his body. He felt like he was standing outside himself, watching Matteo talk to him, but wasn't hearing any of it.

Taken.

Someone had taken Isaac.

His cheery, sweet-faced, pain-in-the-ass little ball of energy had been kidnapped.

Then, a more terrifying thought entered his mind.

What if they hurt him? What if they killed him? What if he never got to see that mischievous smiling face ever again?

Who? Who would do such a thing?

From a distance, he heard someone speak his name.

"Jared?"

It was Matteo's voice.

"Jared!" Matteo said with much more force this time, grabbing him by the arms and giving him a shake.

Jared finally snapped out of it. His mind rejoined his body, and his senses began to fire once again.

"Taken? By whom?" Jared asked, still in shock and unable to process what was going on around him.

"It was a large man in a ski mask. I think it was his brother or one of his goons."

That got Jared's full attention.

"His brother? Here?" Anger flared inside Jared's belly.

How dare that fucker!

"That explains why Raj went all ape-shit. He was trying to protect his family," Matteo added.

Anger and love flooded Jared's body. Anger at the ballsy fucker who broke into their home and kidnapped his man; love at the loyal beast who broke out of his cage in an attempt to protect the person they all loved.

Raj was getting a lifetime of treats and belly rubs once they rescued Isaac.

"I'm going to kill that fucker when I find him. If he so much as touches a hair on Isaac's head…" He was too riled up to finish his sentence.

"I know. Trust me, that piece of shit is going to suffer. Let's go to my office. Chase and the others are already there discussing strategy."

Jared nodded, darting quickly into his room to throw on some joggers and a T-shirt.

When they entered Matteo's office, Chase was huddled over a tablet while Levi paced around the room like a madman.

"Jared!" Levi shouted, then ran over to him once he entered the room. "They… they took him!" Levi sobbed into his shoulder.

Feeling Levi's pain, Jared wrapped an arm around his friend and tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry, we're going to get our boy back." He hoped his words were true.

He didn't know much about Isaac's brother other than the fact that he was a sick bastard who kidnapped and raped women. Oh yeah, then held them captive for nine months until they gave birth, at which point he would steal their baby and sell it to the highest bidder.

Talk about Satan reincarnate.

A man with morals like that was capable of anything, including hurting his own brother. That was what really scared Jared. The unpredictability of the guy.

"What do we got so far?" Matteo asked, circling his desk and standing over Chase's shoulder.

"Well, it looks like the guy came in over the southwest wall, ambushed Isaac, then used the same point of exit. This other security camera shows another man waiting in a getaway car. They throw Isaac's unconscious body into their trunk, then speed off heading east," Chase explained, flipping through images on his tablet.

Watching that man work was intense. Chase was focused, to the point, and backed everything up with facts.

"Did you get any images of their faces?" Jared asked, stepping up next to Matteo.

"No, they both wore masks," Chase mumbled. "I've got Marc running searches on private plane manifests and trains scheduled out of Paris over the past few hours."

"Why private plane?" Jared asked, unable to see the connection.

"Our assumption is that Declan is operating somewhere in the Netherlands, considering that is where our favorite lawyer is located. If so, they have two most viable modes of transportation; by car, it's only a six-hour drive, or by plane. But by plane, considering Isaac is an unwilling traveler, it would probably be hard to get him to board a regular flight. A private plane is a bit easier, especially if they pay off security. Trains… it's a method of transportation, but not very convenient when travelling with a hostage."

Jared saw his point.

"What can I do?" Jared asked, growing impatient and wanting to get this chase moving.

"At this point, we need to figure out where they are going. Then we can devise a plan of attack," Chase noted as he flipped through video footage surrounding the estate. He was trying to track Isaac's movements, hoping to get something… anything, that might help them locate their boy.

"I got my security team reaching out to my contacts with the city to try and get us access to their traffic cam feeds. Hopefully, we can track them that way as well," Matteo added, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. When the person answered, Matteo stepped out into the hallway.

"There's got to be something else we can do?" Levi asked, still pacing and growing more distraught by the minute. "What about roadblocks? Can we get the police to set up checkpoints at every intersection or even at the airports?"

God bless his heart for trying.

Chase glanced up at the love of his life with annoyance in his eyes. "Don't think the police give a shit about one man who was kidnapped by his brother."

"Yeah, well… what about Track My Phone ? Can't we track Isaac by his cell phone?" Levi asked, searching for anything that would help get his best friend back.

"Tried that. His cell phone is off," Chase huffed, eyes still locked on his tablet as he scrolled through footage.

Fuck, Jared hated feeling so helpless. There had to be something that they could do. Something that they could try.

Wait!

"Tracking," Jared whispered, excitement flooding his body.

"Hmm?" Chase asked, glancing up from his screen.

"Tracking!" Jared shouted, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"What? I don't get it?" Chase mumbled, lost.

Jared flipped through his apps until he found it.

"Here!" Jared shouted, shoving his phone in Chase's face. "Trackers! I slipped one into Isaac's jeans when we were in Ireland so that I could keep tabs on him. Look! He's in Belgium right now, still on the move!"

They all stared at Jared's phone, watching the little indicator continue its journey across Europe.

"They must not know that he has a tag on him," Chase said with a smile that reached his ears.

"Thank fuck. He must be wearing the same jeans he wore when we were in Ireland," Jared added.

"When Sonic gets back, I'm having a little chat about personal hygiene. We don't wear jeans multiple days in a row." Then he paused to think about his words. "Or any article of clothing, for that matter." He raised an eyebrow at Chase, which made Jared wonder what offense Chase had committed.

"Don't be a bitch," Chase shot at his love. "Go tell Matteo that we have a lock on our boy."

They all exchanged excited smiles before Levi darted from the office.

Finally! They had something to go on!