Chapter 18

The search around town and the bus station turned up nothing. We returned home, hoping the others had better news. As they started trickling in, it became apparent from their moods that they weren’t successful either.

I lean on the island, trying to control my breathing. I’m too worked up to think about anything beyond the danger that Lara has put herself in. With a roar, I swipe my arm out, flinging everything off the counter and making it crash to the floor. Jagger comes up to me and grabs my arms, pinning me in place.

“That’s enough,” he says quietly.

My eyes are burning. “It’s far from enough. Lara is out there. God knows where, and?—”

“And she’s smart. I know how you feel because Astrid did the same thing.”

I shrug him off. “It’s not the same, Jagger, and you know it. Astrid had a fuck-ton of money and a mansion to hide out in. Lara has nothing. Greg said she took his camping backpack and sleeping bag, and that one of the small kitchen knives is missing. But do you know what she didn’t take? Money. Not one single cent is missing from Greg’s wallet.” My chest is heaving by the time I’ve finished yelling at him. It’s not his fault, but he has no fucking clue what I’m feeling right now. None.

“I’ve got it.” Ev comes running into the room.

Jagger lets me go as Crew steps up beside me. He’s been quiet, deeply so, and nobody can seem to get through to him.

I take a quick look around and see that all the men are here. The women are still outside with the kids, though the shine of the playground has worn off with Lara’s disappearance.

“What did you find?” Zig asks, taking the paper from his hand and scanning it over as Ev answers for the rest of us.

“I found Lara’s file. When I found out what her gift was and that she’d been born and bred at the Division, I was able to narrow it down to just one file.

“We know who her father is, but he is only recorded as a number. Same with the mother. I’m trying to match her number to the other files, but that will take time. It doesn’t matter, though, mom never carried Lara. A surrogate did. She’s also referred to a number, but the file says she died due to complications during childbirth. It doesn’t say specifically what went wrong, but given the circumstances, I don’t think it would have mattered. She would have served her purpose, and Lara would have been the priority.”

“Is there a point to all this? Because as fun as it is standing here listening to you talk, she’s still out there, getting farther and farther away.”

“Calm the fuck down and hear him out,” Oz snarls at me.

I take a step toward him, but Crew yanks me back. “Enough,” he says quietly.

I shrug him off, but I stay where I am and turn back to Ev.

“Her telekinetic powers manifested when she was three, but they never increased in strength, according to the multitude of tests and examinations. She was declared a dud. For the last five years, she was given a yearly physical, but that was it.”

“It sounds like they wiped their hands off her,” Creed says, and I notice Greg shaking his head, a look of disgust and sadness on his face.

“Not quite. There’s a letter in the file that says she’s to be entered into the breeding program once she turns eighteen. They hope she’ll produce offspring stronger than she is.”

The room goes silent at that. I’m not sure I’m even breathing.

“What the fuck?” Crew curses.

“There’s more. A contraceptive implant was recommended when she turned sixteen.”

“Well, they wouldn’t want her to get pregnant by just anyone, now, would they?” Slade huffs in disgust.

“Yeah, well, maybe they decided to take that risk. The implant was scheduled but not inserted. A tracking device was placed in her arm a year ago instead.”

“So not only does she think she’s protected, but they also knew exactly where she was at all times?” I snap.

“Holy fuck, that’s it.” Greg stumbles.

“Whoa, easy there.” Jagger grabs him before he loses his balance.

“What’s it? What are you thinking?” Zig questions him.

“She figured it out. You didn’t really think she’d just leave the kids, did you? There had to have been something huge happen to make her leave.”

“Like the kids being in danger,” Oz says.

“But why not just tell us about it? We could have had it removed, but she didn’t—” I cut myself off with a curse. “She led them away. That fucking reckless girl,” I growl, but I keep it together for the most part.

“She would have anticipated us removing it. And she knew the second we did; her father would have this place surrounded. So she did the only thing she thought she could,” Zig says thoughtfully.

“But at what cost, Zig?” Crew grounds out. “Do you think she has any idea what her father has planned for her? And once he has her, there will be nothing stopping him from coming here.”

“I’m not sure, Crew, but she’s smart,” Zig replies. “She’s also bought us time to prepare ourselves for war. Let’s not let her sacrifice be made in vain.”

“So that’s it. We’re just going to let her dangle herself out there as bait?” I fist my hands at my sides.

“Fuck no. I’m sending you and Crew after her.”

“You want them to bring her back?” Jagger asks. I’m about to punch the asshole when Zig shakes his head.

“Not until we’re ready. But Crew and Wilder can protect Lara, and they know a thing or two about evading their enemies and causing chaos.”

Something settles inside me at that. “Done. We’ll leave now.”

“You’ll eat, spend time with the kids, and make sure you have all the supplies you need first. Use your fucking brain, soldier,” he orders.

I stand down, knowing he’s right.

“One more thing you should know,” Ev starts again, looking from me to Crew. “According to her file, she turns eighteen in three days.”

“And that makes her an even bigger target,” Greg complains. But when Crew and I look at each other, I can see my thoughts reflected back at me.

“No, that means in three days, Lara is ours.”

Oz looks like he wants to say something sarcastic, but he stops and frowns, cocking his head in thought.

“What is it?”

“Why now?”

“Because she’ll be eighteen?—”

“Not you, dumbass. Why did Lara wait until now to run? If she knew about the tracking device, she would have left days ago.”

“Maybe she just figured it out?” Slade frowns. “But that makes no sense. No seventeen-year-old girl is going to wake up one day after having what she thought was the implant implanted and then, nearly a year later, think it’s a tracking device.”

Ev’s head whips up. “Unless they somehow made contact.”

We all freeze at the thought, but it makes sense.

“She had no phone and no access to the internet.” I shake my head.

“What about Alfie’s iPad?” Crew asks.

Ev shakes his head. “I’ve got it locked down tight.”

Zig taps his chin. “Greg, take Wilder and check out her room at your place. Slade and Jagger, check the cabin she was originally staying in. And Crew, start getting together what you need to find our girl.”

Greg heads for the door, and I follow after him. We don’t speak—both of us too consumed with worry, aware of the kind of danger she’ll face out there.

He opens the door, and we head straight for her room. Greg pauses in the doorway, a shaky breath escaping as he looks at me over his shoulder. “She left her stuff here like she plans to come back. At first, I thought she just couldn’t fit it all in her pack with the sleeping bag. But look at how neatly she has the books arranged and the way she made her bed. It’s like?—”

“It’s her home. And she didn’t want to run. She wants to be here. That’s because of the kids and how Oz and Zig have accepted her as family. But it’s also because of you, Greg. She adores you. We saw that yesterday when she…” My voice trails off as Greg sighs.

“When she hugged me, she was saying goodbye.”

He walks into the room, and I follow. For a moment, we do nothing, not wanting to touch anything to disturb Lara’s memory.

“Come on. The sooner we look, the sooner Crew and I can go find her.”

So that’s what we do. We quietly and methodically move around the room, checking all the places she might have hidden something. After an hour, I stand back and scan the room, frustrated as fuck.

“Anything?” I ask Greg, but he shakes his head.

“It would help if we thought like teenage girls.”

“Well, then we’re both fucked. I could ask one of the women to come look. Maybe they’d have an idea.”

“Or maybe there just isn’t anything here. Teenage girl, teenage girl,” he mutters to himself as he looks around the room.

“I dated one girl all through high school, and the only thing I can remember her hiding was her lipstick in her bra and her diary under her pillow.”

He turns and yanks the pillow off the bed. And there, as if by magic, is a fucking piece of paper.

“You’re a fucking genius. What’s it say?”

“Time to come home, Lara.”

“How can one sentence cause so much trouble?”

He flips the paper over before lifting the pillow again. “There’s no envelope, which means someone hand-delivered it.”

“Fuck. That’s why she ran.”

He nods. “Yeah, looks that way.”

“But how? How did someone hand-deliver it without being seen?”

“I’m not sure, but it looks like we have to face the fact that there’s a fault in our security. Because someone walked into our fucking home and left again without being detected.”

I rub my hand over my face. “We need to let the others know what’s going on.”

“Let’s head back to the main house, the others are probably done by now.”

This time, I lead but stop at the door when I see Greg wince. The man is trying to hide the fact that he’s overdoing it, but he’s not fooling me. Still, I know better than to tell him to sit down and rest. I’m not sure any of us will rest until Lara is back home.

“Do you need your painkillers?”

“I’m fine,” he answers too quickly.

“How about you take a couple anyway, and I won’t tell the others dick about you hurting? I know you want to be a part of this, but you’ll break Lara’s heart if she comes back to find you in the hospital.”

He glares at me before stomping over to the kitchen. He yanks open one of the drawers and pulls out a bottle of prescription pills before swallowing a couple with a mouthful of water from the faucet.

“Happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

He straightens his shoulders and walks toward me and out the door, leaving me to lock up.

I don’t take his attitude personally. We’ve all been injured, and none of us make very good patients.

I follow behind him as we make our way back to the main house.

“Did you find anything?” Zig asks as soon as we walk through the doors.

Greg waves the paper at him, and Oz grabs it. “Found it under her pillow.”

Zig leans over Oz and reads the words, his face turning red as he fights to keep his temper in check. “Some motherfucker came into our home?” he all but roars.

He spins and glares at Ev, who holds his hands up. “I’ll go check the feeds again, see if I missed something,” he jogs off before anyone can stop him.

“It’s not Ev’s fault,” Creed starts. “He’s just one person, and we ask too fucking much of him.”

Zig runs his hands through his hair, frustrated. “I’m not blaming Ev. I just need to know where the problem is so we can fix it. They came into our home, Creed. Walked right into Lara’s bedroom like they had every fucking right to. And if they hadn’t left this note, we’d be none the wiser. What happens if they do it again, only this time they take Salem or one of the kids with them?”

A lot of angry growls fill the room now as they realize how much worse it could have been.

“We need to lock this place down.”

“Me, Hawk, and Slade can do a supply run. I’ll find the women and ask them what they want. If you guys need anything, write it fucking down because if it’s not on the list, I won’t remember,” Creed orders.

“I’ll take Oz and check the perimeter,” Jagger volunteers, and Zig nods.

“Where’s Crew?” I question Zig.

“Still getting your stuff together. You might want to pack a few more things for Lara, too. I’m not sure how long you guys will be gone for. I want you to check in every day. Your truck and phones are tagged so Ev can track you guys on our end. Hit the SOS, and we’ll come to the rescue. Just because we’re not with you doesn’t mean you’re alone.”

“Thanks, Zig.”

I turn to Greg, who’s been quiet. “Can you help Ev? Crew and I were going to help him go through the files on the flash drive, but now…” I shake my head. “Anyway, he needs a second set of eyes. And we’re also gonna need help finding Lara.”

He nods, looking relieved to have something to do.

“Yeah, I can do that. Boy Wonder is getting a sidekick whether he likes it or not.” He strolls out of the kitchen to catch up with Ev.

“He’s hiding how much pain he’s in. So while he helps Ev, one of you needs to watch him.”

“Don’t worry about shit here. We have it covered,” Slade says, and the others nod.

“Good. I’m going to help Crew finish packing and fill him in on the note. Once we’re done, we’ll say our goodbyes so we can leave as soon as Ev has something for us to go on. The longer we take to leave, the farther away Lara gets.”

Zig nods. “I get it, but going out there half-cocked won’t help. You have no idea which way she went or if she has a destination in mind. Do what you need to do while Ev works his magic. It’s better for you to leave later with a plan in place then to wing it now only to have to back up if Ev picks up her trail going in the opposite direction. I’ll go talk to the women and fill them in. I am not looking forward to telling them they’re being locked down again.”

“Once they realize how easy it was for someone to get in and what that could mean for the kids, I think they’ll understand. No, what I’d be worried about is them going mama bear on your ass and wanting to go into attack mode.” I grin.

Jagger chuckles as Zig groans and looks to the ceiling as if he is sending up a silent prayer.

“Next time, I’m going to do the supply run, and someone else can go brief the coven.”

“Coven? What coven?” I turn at the sound of Salem’s voice. She’s standing just inside the door with her arms crossed and her eyes glaring at Zig.

“Good luck with that, man.” I slap him on the shoulder and take that as my cue to leave. The rest of the guys follow suit.

“Whatever happened to never leaving a man behind?” Zig mumbles to himself, making me laugh.

I head home to find Crew, bracing myself for his reaction to the note.

As scared as everyone is for the kids, it’s the thought of someone being in Lara’s room, potentially while she was there, that’s fucking with me. She could have been sleeping or showering or any number of things that weren’t meant for anyone to see. She was supposed to be safe here. And yet, somehow, her father managed to find a way to get to her.

Logically speaking, nothing I could have said or done would have changed things. So why do I feel like somehow I’ve let her down?