Page 55 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Lachlan

B en and I raced back to the house and arrived before Lucas and Soren.

“You’re sure about this?” Ben asked.

I nodded.

My company contracted with some of the best white hat hackers in the world.

People that could find vulnerabilities in any system and help our clients improve their cybersecurity.

But ethical and nonethical hacking was essentially the same skillset, and I hoped someone could uncover information that would help us find Maggie.

I’d never bribed anyone before, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

I pulled up the number for one of our best contractors and dialed it with shaking hands on the burner phone we’d picked up on the way home. Ben hovered over my shoulder but didn’t say anything.

The call went to voicemail, which I’d been expecting. I took a deep breath after the beep. “Julian. This is… well you probably recognize my voice. I need your help. I’ll make it worth your while, just please call me back.”

I hung up and faced Ben. His face was pale with worry, and his freckles stood out in the dim light. “I’m giving him ten minutes before I call the next one on the list,” I said. We couldn’t waste time.

We waited on the couch in the living room, tense and silent, Ben gripping my hand tightly in the dark.

He was rocking slightly back and forth, as if his body could barely contain his anxiety.

Maggie’s scent lingered on the fabric of the couch, trapped in the fibers. I tried to breathe through my panic.

Lucas and Soren arrived. Lucas collapsed on the couch beside us and put his face in his hands. Ben squeezed his shoulder in commiseration.

Soren paced, unable to sit still. He rubbed his chest intermittently and I knew he was checking in on his bond with Maggie.

“If they don’t call back soon, I’m going door to door looking for her,” Soren said. “I’ll call the Captain, get some backup. She’ll give me hell, probably report me for gross misconduct, but I’ll deal with it.”

I nodded. Time was running out.

The phone vibrated in my hand. I flipped it open.

“Hello?”

“What was the point of using a burner phone if you were just going to basically tell me who you are?” Julian asked sardonically. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy.”

“Thank you for getting back to me,” I said. “I need information and I’m hoping you can help.”

“Depends on the information. And how much you’re willing to pay for it,” Julian said bluntly. At least we weren’t wasting time on pleasantries.

“I need an address of a warehouse here in the city,” I said, and quickly ran through the situation. I put the phone on speaker so Soren could give him the information he’d gathered.

“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Julian said. “Twenty grand and I’ll do it..”

“Fifty grand if you can get back to us in the next half-hour,” Lucas said. I nodded grimly. I’d pay anything for a chance to find Maggie .

“I’ll call you back,” Julian said and cut the call.

“This is unbearable,” Ben said, wrapping his arms tightly around his stomach. He looked desolate. I turned to Soren.

“Do we need to call your Captain?” I asked. He was the expert, and had the connection to Maggie. “Do we have time to wait?”

He shook his head grimly. “All I can feel is fear. This is killing me.”

“Then we go, now. Hopefully Julian comes through, but we can’t count on it,” I said.

Soren left to call his boss and Lucas said he’d bring the car around to the front door.

I pulled Ben to his feet and drew him close. I held him tightly as he quaked in my arms. “We will find her,” I promised him, even as dread and helplessness curled in my stomach.

“We can’t lose her,” Ben said into my neck.

I squeezed him tighter. “No, we can’t.”