Althena Book 2

107. Stay In The Car

Chris shows up the next Monday and Akmae shows up 4 seconds later. Then Lila comes over. I think she's here to say bye to Clayton, but she's not going to admit that.

Mike picks me up and I wrap around him. "Hopefully we'll be back in a week."

"I know. I love you."

"I love you too. You be good for them."

"I will."

"I know. You're a good girl."

Him and Cyrus love on me until it's time for them to leave. Lila pretends to be waiting on me, but she keeps wiping tears away. Clayton finally gives her a kiss and tells her to call him.

The boys leave in the helicopter and Lila and I sit on the steps.

"Saray still here?"

"No. Dacious and Atlas took her to Eldervale. Drogon and Conner are at the office. Chris and Akmae are here, but I'm not walking in that room."

We laugh for a while. "What the hell are we going to do all summer?"

"No idea."

"Is Monte at the casino?"

"I don't think so. He's only there to check or order stuff."

She sits back. "I don't know what to do."

"Me either. Want to go watch the warriors train?"

"Didn't one of the boys say something about a training we would do?"

"That starts at 8 or 7. I don't even remember anymore. But Monte does it before warrior training. It's over today."

"Let's go watch the warriors. At least it's something."

"True. We can see what granny is doing too."

Monte is there to help us out of the helicopter. Lila and I roam around all day. We visit granny for some of it. This is going to be a very boring summer.

A few days later, Chris and I sit in the living room and stare at nothing. "Why is everything so boring?"

"No idea. Let's go shopping."

"Yea, that'll fix it."

"If not, we can try the boat."

We get outside as Katen pulls up. She runs over. "Sit down."

"What?"

"I knew the drama would be here at some point." Chris sits on the steps. "We've been waiting for you."

She shakes her head and pushes play on her phone. "This is bad."

"The lives of our citizens are worth too much to be wasted on money-hungry drug dealers. The drug dealers are preying on people struggling with addiction."

"What happened?" Chris shakes his head.

"Over 100 people have died so far. Sark again. Drogon already made a statement about cracking down on drug smugglers. They opened the boxes at the fire departments again. The drug is worse this time. It's killing more people."

"What the f**k?" I lay on the porch.

"Maybe you can tell him to stop shipping in your name. At least ask him. You have to try something."

Chris nods. "We have to try something. We could at least get his reaction to it. Then maybe come up with a better plan."

I pinch my nose. "I don't want to bring that up on the phone and I have no idea how to get to his house."

"Ask one of the lawyers. You said you talk to them."

I text Cody. -What's the address where I can find you?-

-678 North Meadow Estate. Ruxley ANDB. You coming?-

I show it to them. Chris plugs it into his phone. "Say yes. It's a 4-hour drive if we leave from Mystical Moon. Lucky my car is still there."

"I need some stuff first. Can I borrow your helicopter for a minute?"

-Yes.-

"Sure."

"Give me 20 minutes. I'll be here."

Chris stands up. "I'll pack lunch and snacks. We'll be back about 6. If they figure out we left Darkburn, I'll come up with a reason."

"Thank you."

So much for shopping. I'm too busy killing people again.

Drogon's helicopter lands. "What are you doing, babygirl?"

"Going to Mystical Moon with Chris and Katen. She took my helicopter home to get something quick. What are you doing?"

"I think we've pinned Edwardo to Mystical Moon. I also have reason to believe he's smuggling drugs."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. Edwardo is an alias of someone in Mystical Moon. Not only that, but Edwardo made a hell of a donation to them."

"Why do you care if he's giving money away?"

"Because he's getting it by smuggling drugs. He's killing people."

"Ugh. Who do you think it is?"

"I don't know yet, but I do have suspicions."

"Who?"

"Monte."

"Don't be ridiculous. Monte isn't even old enough to be my father's friend. My father went to his house for years. Monte would have been what? 7? Stop. Just stop searching for him. Leave him alone."

He looks like a light bulb goes off in his eyes. "He was too young. We didn't take age into consideration. I need to go back to the office."

"Please stop, Drogon. It doesn't matter. He's not hurting anyone."

"PEOPLE ARE DYING." He jumps in his helicopter and leaves.

"FINDING HIM IS NOT GOING TO GET THE DRUGS OFF THE STREET." He's already gone. I don't think he heard me.

Chris comes out with a cooler as my helicopter lands. "Mike, Cyrus, and Clayton are coming back. Drogon sent for them. We need to go now. They're going to move on whoever they think Edwardo is." He grabs me and pulls me into the helicopter.

"Where is your car, Chris?"

"Parking lot beside the coffee shop. Hopefully it's still there. It was there last time I was here."

"I need to get some papers out of Monte's house and lose my guards. I will meet you there."

"Won't they alert?"

"Not here. They lose me all the time in Mystical Moon. I like to roam the woods."

"Fair enough."

The helicopter lands and I take off for Monte's house. They go towards town.

He's not home, but his door is unlocked. That's nice. I run to his bedroom and get the box. I check and there's $10,000 in it. That man is a genius. I put the table back and sneak out the window. I try not to touch anything else. I don't want my scent here.

I find the town, and they already have the car pulling out. I jump into the back seat. "Go."

Katen turns around. "We saw Monte. We told him they're coming for Edwardo. He gave us an address and told us it's a safe house. He told us you already have the code for the security stuff. But not to use it unless we have too."

"Yea, let's just try Akley for now."

"Give me your phone."

"Why?"

"We have to take the batteries out, or they can be tracked."

Chris nods. "We don't want them knowing we left Darkburn. Or what direction we're going. They will guess Akley."

"Fine." I hand over my phone. "Monte had 10k in cash too. I don't think we should use credit cards for anything."

"Yea, no paper trail. We'll be fine. We're going to do this fast."

Katen rolls her eyes. "No speeding tickets either."

"Good point. I'm going to fill up here and buy a paper map. Can you get some drinks?"

"Sure. Thena, you should probably hide from the cameras and everyone."

"Should have brought my damn nun robes." I pull my hair back as tight as I can and put a beanie on. That'll have to work for now. I lay down in the back while they do stuff. I need a minute to think.

We get back on the road within 20 minutes.

"Both of you hide your faces. The border has cameras all over."

I hide as best as I can. I'm in the back. I should be good.

Chris relaxes. "We're out."

I rub my face. "Even if Akley let's me out of our deal, it's not going to clear up the Edwardo situation. How did they even piece together he was smuggling drugs? There should have been no way to do that."

"Maybe they didn't. They could just be thinking it. People who have that kind of money are usually into something illegal. Maybe they're guessing and with the drug problems right now, they're assuming. They're trying to make something stick."

Chris nods. "Why did they say he was in Mystical Moon?"

"We were using the credit card there."

"That doesn't pin any one person. They have to find the computer or card on someone. Where is it now?"

"I have the paperwork. Not the laptop though."

"Monte's smart. He'll deal with it."

"They thought Edwardo was Monte. I don't know why. Nothing makes sense."

"That part does. Monte sets up the lotteries for the casino. Edwardo bought tickets. They are connected in that way."

I nod. "Monte set up the donation link for his pack too. We donated to that."

"Did you donate to a lot of the boys' stuff?"

"Everything I could find."

Katen nods. "You drew too much attention to him. The boys got curious and were trying to figure out more about him. They had his credit card number watched and noticed it was being used in Mystical Moon. When was the last time you used it?"

"The day exams ended."

"Why?"

"Mike told me they were looking for Edwardo. Said he was only spending money on our stuff, or something like that. I ran and told Monte. He bought some random stuff and sent it to the lake house. Make it look like it wasn't all donations to us."

Katen turns white. "They told you knowing you would tell him. They were trying to get proof. Looking for something different in the credit card patterns. What happened exactly?"

"I told Monte what I knew. I was about to have a panic attack. Then Clayton showed up and told me to find Lila. I think. Monte was supposed to order stuff later."

"Clayton was getting you out of the house. If Monte used the card right then, they had the proof. But he must not have. So, they don't know if he's Edwardo, or if he's giving intelligence to Edwardo."

"What was Drogon yelling about ages for?"

"Edwardo was my father's 'friend.' That's what the advisors believed. But there is no way Monte could have been that. He would have been a very small child at the time."

"They're probably going to try and say it's his dad. And his dad would have known Aurel and your dad. They knew each other. They were friends. Now, Monte will be giving his dad intelligence. That actually makes sense."

"Let's focus on Akley. We're getting close. I need you to let me out within 5 miles though." Katen looks out the window.

"Why?"

"I'm going to put a wire on her and record the conversation. We might need it. I'll also be able to track the wire from the laptop. If s**t goes south, I will turn my phone on and call everyone I can think of for help."

"Yea, that's a good plan." Chris turns off the interstate and pulls into a gas station. "Yell at him for f*****g up the drugs again and tell him you want out. We'll see what happens and go from there."

"I need to pee."

"Keep your head down and don't look at any cameras."

"How far are we?"

"20 miles."

Katen gets the key for the bathroom and we each take a turn. Then we continue on.

"Do you have to be within 5 miles? There is nothing close to his house."

"10 miles maximum. I can sit in the ditch though. It doesn't matter."

Chris drops her off at what seems like an abandoned shed.

She puts a pin on me and takes her laptop. "Good luck."

I take the beanie off and let my hair down. Then I move to the front with Chris. "Stay in the car."

"Why?"

"They need me alive. Not you. You're the driver."

"I don't think that will work." He pulls into the driveway.

"I don't care. Stay in the car."

He parks at the front door and a man in a suit opens my door. "Welcome, ma'am."