✨Her Essence✨

25. Back to Sil-Cres

I knew who the note was from, but I needed to be sure. I didn't want the FBI involved in this, so I kept this far from them. There was only one way...

***

A tall guy dressed in all black stopped me at the gate. He walked around the car to my side. "Who are you and why are you coming to Silver-Crescent town?"

I observed him closely. He wore dark shades and a military haircut. He's taking this job way too seriously, just as I remember him. "Jack Deckerson?"

He paused and took off his shades revealing his greenish-blue orbs. "You are?"

"Don't tell me you're still wearing that vest? It's been ages!!"

He paused. "Peter". I nodded. "Peter Wade?" I nodded my head again. "Peter Wade, the alpha's son?"

"I think you've gotten enough info, dude."

His shocked look turned into a bright smile. He pulled open the car door and dragged me out.

He embraced me tight. "My man! Peter! I can't believe this is you. It's been forever"

"I know right? So many things went down, bro"

"You messed up, Dawg. You up and left, and now the pack isn't what it used to be"

"What?"

"Basset. He took over after your dad fell sick, and now the bastard is running down the town."

"My dad is sick?"

"After Luna died, he wasn't himself again, and he fell ill. Basset thought that just 'cause he's been around the alpha for so long, he could do what the alpha does. He is just a beta who doesn't have the town's best interest at heart. But thank God you're home bro"

"Yeah. The thing is, I need help from y'all"

"What do you need bro?"

"Let's go somewhere, I'll tell you everything"

"Cool". He turned to his colleague standing at the side of the road. "Hey, Jeff, the road's all yours." We got in my car and I drove us off.

After several glasses of scotch and our three friends joining us at Jack's house, the gang was back together. I told them everything.

Jack puffed out another cloud of smoke into the air. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you, bro. I understand now why you were away for so long."

Darrell picked up His drink. "So, How are we gonna find your mate?"

"I was hoping Vince still had access to CCTV cameras all over America... I need to confirm who took her"

Vince who was sitting right across the table from me, stared at me wide-eyed. "You insult me, Pete, is there anything else I know how to do?"

We follow him home that night and sat in front of his computer. We watched him search for the CCTV camera covering my home in Ontario. I told him the date and he typed it in.

It was a normal day, pedestrians walked past one another. Nothing stood out until a bearded man walked into the building. Half a minute later, he came out with Lana. He zoomed in on the man's face.

"That's fucking Adriano Beltran! How is he walking around like a free man? Can you trace where he went?"

"No problem". Replied Vince. I always thought he could work well with the FBI, he is far better than most of the tech guys there combined. Sometimes, I'd be tempted to call him on missions. That's how good he is. "Found him!"

"Where is this?"

"New Mexico"

"How did he get there so darn fast?"

"He boarded a flight using his actual name"

"Hold up. The authorities would've caught him at the airport. What about Lana?"

"I can't find her. It's like she didn't move at all"

"Knowing Adriano, he definitely took her with him. Something's not right"

"Let me check again". Vince backtracked to the front of the apartment building, then inputted another command. "He stopped at a shipping company."

"What shipping company?"

"Hexportation"

"That's how he transported Lana, through a darn shipping company?"

"Calm down bro, let's follow the route." A few keyboard punches later, he continued. "Their most recent stop is at an abandoned warehouse in New Mexico."

"Bingo!" Sam chimed.

They turned to me. "So, how are we gonna do this?" Asked Jack.

"I don't wanna put you all in danger"

"Boy are you crazy? We are your friends, don't abandon us again, cause we won't abandon you" Jack has always been so loyal, that's one of the things I love about him. "But when we get back, you're going to get rid of Basset and become our new alpha... deal?"

"Deal, bro". I hugged them.

Later that night, I placed a call to a friend of mine in the FBI. Though I wouldn't call her a friend exactly, I'd call her someone who was there on cold nights if you know what I mean.

Her smooth voice came from the other side of the line. "What do you want, Faceless?"

"How did you know it was me?" A rather dumb question knowing that she is one of the best at digging out people's real identities.

"I don't mess around. What do you want?"

"I want to ask you about Adriano Beltran."

She sighed out loud. "What about him?"

"Is he out?"

"His records have been wiped clean"

"What? Seven years of my hard work wiped clean?"

"President Tegar seems to be a 'forgive and forget' kinda man. But I know stuff... those two, they go way back."

"You've gotta be kidding me"

"I wish I was. They both have the same tattoo on their backs, that ain't no coincidence. And I did a little snooping around, and found out that one of Adriano's former accounts had President Tegar as its beneficiary long before he ran for office."

"You know better than to snoop around, Tracy. You could get yourself killed"

"I'm not like you, faceless. I don't have a family to protect, if they wanna kill me, they can go ahead."

"Just be careful. I'm going to hang up the call. Destroy your SIM card, now"

"Why?"

"Just do it"

"Fine". She grunted.

I hung up and destroyed my SIM card. If what Tracy says is true, then I have to get Lana out of there really fast, or else, she'll pay for something she knows nothing about.

The next morning, the boys and I got into a car and drove to the airport. I didn't tell them about my call with Tracy, maybe I was being selfish. Thankfully, we took the initiative to use fake IDs courtesy of Vince.

We flew down to New Mexico and began our plan to get my woman out of the claws of Adriano Beltran. The bastard has no darn right to steal her away from me. I always have my ways to get my enemies on their knees, let's just hope that this one works.

Don't worry, Lana, I'm coming to get you out of that place.