Lady and the Rogue

Finding Jamila

Silas

There was no time for contemplation. The cold weight of the Sankofa pendant in my palm was the only proof I needed. They had taken her, and the longer I stayed still, the farther they would take her.

With a surge of adrenaline, I let my wolf take hold. The bones in my face lengthened, my spine curved, and the world narrowed into a hyper-focused tunnel the heightened my senses. My rogue wolf, a white creature of Lycan’s blood, dropped to the ground. I didn’t waste a second marveling at the freedom of it; every particle of my attention focused on the ground.

The three scents were layered together, a bitter cocktail of her, them, and the acrid smell of the tranquilizer. The trail led away from the mill and into the undergrowth flanking the old railway line. It was a necessary path, but one that wouldn't last long. I shot forward, my paws silent against the packed earth. The two aggressors hadn't run in their wolf forms, which was telling. They used their human speed, carrying the inert weight of Jamila. If they shifted, the power of their run would have overwhelmed her scent and made the track easy. By staying human, they indicated that they were paranoid about possibly being followed or found out about.

Their caution was my advantage. I followed the trail along the bank for nearly a mile, leaping over fallen logs and squeezing past thorny bushes. The scents were becoming fainter, stretched thin by the passing time, but my nose never left the ground. I caught a hint of something metallic, oily, and unnatural cutting across the wolf scents. It was engine exhaust. The trail veered sharply off the rail line, leading up a steep, muddy incline toward a small, rarely used service road. I scrambled up, shaking the mud from my muzzle, and confirmed my suspicion. The scents of them faded right at the roadside, masked by the powerful stench of burnt gasoline and rubber.

In the faint, diffuse light of the city, I saw the undeniable evidence: tire tracks. It had confirmed my suspicion, they had driven her away. But where?

The destination wasn’t local. It would stupid of them to plan it that way. The kidnapping was carried out by insiders of her pack who had the resources to move their valuable hostage quickly and silently. They wouldn't take her back to the pack house where she could implicate them, nor would they hide her locally where the Alpha’s patrols might stumble upon her. They hid her somewhere far from established pack territory.

I raised my head, letting out a silent, long breath of frustration.Tracking a vehicle by scent was next to impossible, especially on a road that might merge with a highway. I had only seconds to decide. I darted across the road, ignoring the primal urge to give chase down the pavement, and plunged into the woods on the opposite side. If they were heading to a known safe house, they would have passed through familiar territory, and I might be able to pick up a subtle landmark or a route marker that their scent still clung to.

I ran parallel to the road for another half mile, a desperate search for any sign that the scent had been interrupted. After a while, I started to feel like it was almost impossible, but I spotted something tucked beneath a clump of mossy boulders at the edge of the tree line.

It was a visual marker, almost hidden. It had a small, dark red stone, no bigger than my eye, wedged carefully into the bark of an ancient maple. I recognized the stone's color and cut. It was a marker used by my own network of rogues to denote a known area of former Blackwater territory, a dangerous, isolated zone near the old mines that had been abandoned twenty years ago.

The fact that these wolves were using a rogue marker meant that they had seized this territory and they were operating with an unexpected, dark alliance. Wherever they were going, the journey was long, and the destination seemed to aligned with Crimson Peak Pack.

But the Crimson Peak Pack in Blackwater territory didn’t make sense unless they’re planning a bigger war against the Akan pack.

I pulled back from the maple, my wolf’s gaze narrowed towards the northeast and the jagged peaks of the hills that held the abandoned territory. I had to get there before they broke her. I shifted back, the cold night air biting my exposed skin before my clothes reappeared on my body. Running alone, was not enough. I needed my contacts, and more importantly, I needed a vehicle of my own. The nearest place with vehicles I could 'borrow' without alerting the local security or, worse, was the old industrial park eleven miles east. I could run that distance in my wolf form faster than any human could react.

I pulled out the burner phone. I only used this phone for one person I could trust. He was a rogue and ghost who dealt in information and contraband vehicles, and he owed me a debt that was long overdue. He would know the Blackwater territory better than anyone.

I shifted a second time, the white wolf dropped again onto the packed earth, but this time, the freedom of the form felt like a cage. Jamila’s scent was a burning echo in my memory, and the image of her inert body in their arms was a constant, vicious whip.

My wolf, Koda was more than just my other half. He was my companion, who had more patience than I’d ever had. He was in full control in form, but I guided him.

I turned my muzzle away from the northeast and headed south, our paws silent and swift toward the industrial park. It didn’t take long for us to arrive and I chose a pickup truck that was parked unsecured behind a pallet manufacturer’s loading bay in the industrial park. I threw my satchel with her Sankofa pendant into the passenger seat and reversed out of the industrial lot, keeping my speed low and my headlights off until I was several blocks away. The engine’s low rumble was a comfort and a counterpoint to the racing fury in my chest.

“Don’t worry, Silas, we’re going to find her.” Koda reassured me.

“I know. I just hope it won’t be too late.”

I pulled out the burner phone. Now, it was time to move resources. I punched in the number for my contact Aaron, watching the pre-dawn horizon for any sign of a tail. The line clicked twice, and a low, gravelly voice answered.

“You shouldn't be calling from this phone, Silas.”

My knuckles were white against the wheel. “I need your help to find someone.”

I didn’t waste time on pleasantries or identifying Jamila by name; Aaron was too sharp for euphemisms. I spoke in coded half-sentences, the language we’d developed over years of dangerous exchanges. I explained that someone important was kidnapped and how it could have been an inside job.

“They stayed in their human form, but I found her bird marker.” I stated. It instantly told him who was missing and why. “And they left a Blood Rock near the old rail line. I’m not sure if it’s for their coordinates or not, but I left it there so it wouldn’t be any suspicion of anyone else being present.

A beat of silence stretched an I could practically hear Aaron’s brain clicking through the implications. Blood Rock was my code for the red Blackwater marker stone. It meant a hostile rogue alliance and an extraction route.

“The Rock is pointing toward the Peaks?” He finally asked, his voice now a low, predatory growl.

“Northeast. The abandoned mining zone. I have a ride, but I need details. I need the key to the territory.”

Aaron’s silence was the sound of a debt being honored.

“The Peaks are hot.” He warned, his voice barely a whisper against the engine noise. “The tunnels are being used. The main ingress is the Widow’s Gap service road, but it’s guarded now. There’s a secondary access point though. It’s an old seismic ventilation shaft. It comes out near the north end of the main mine, the one they call The Heart of Gold.”

“Send me the coordinates.” I demanded, taking the next exit ramp onto a quieter, state highway.

He rattled off a precise set of grid references and a corresponding radio frequency that’s an encrypted channel we used for emergency comms. Koda memorized them, repeating the coordinates so my human brain can process and remember as well.

“Silas, listen to me. This isn't a simple rescue. If they've taken her there, they want leverage. If they break her, then everything unravels including your ties into her family’s legacy. You go in quiet, you go in alone, and you get out fast.”

“Understood. I will contact you when I have her.”

I didn’t wait for his reply. I hit the ‘end’ button and immediately crushed the phone with the heel of my boot, scattering plastic shards onto the passenger floor. I was now moving at ninety miles per hour toward a place that was built to kill trespassers. I had a stolen truck, three hours’ lead time, and a vague knowledge of a secret ventilation shaft. The fate of Jamila and the stability of her entire pack rested on whether or not I could be quieter and faster than the darkness waiting at Crimson Peak.

I never thought I would help the man that destroyed my life, but Jamila, didn’t deserve this and for some reason, I couldn’t jut stay out of the way.