Lawless

Chapter Sixteen

   She felt her heart beating erratically against her ribs as the message began to sink in. He knew where they were and he was coming for them. What could have possessed him to do this? She could still feel how tense Drake was, his arms having turned into iron bands around her waist. A few minutes had gone by before the secured telephone line in the house began to ring, jolting them from their thoughts. Drake stood slowly, setting her on her feet as he stared at the phone apprehensively. He reached over, picking it up off the receiver and placing it to his ear.
"Who is this?"
"Danielle who else would be calling you on the secure line?"
"Danielle! We've been breached and we think we know how. Are you on the secure line in the office? The one no one can get access to?"
"Well, yes you did say call the secure line so I assumed it was a confidential call."
"Good, you better have a seat. Tonya thinks she has figured out who the culprit is that has been committing these attacks across the city. We used a chalk board here to put up all the details from the case, including a map marked with every case that has been linked together. It all lines up with her rotations! Our new cell phones you issued us have also been breached, we just set them up to get ahold of you and we got a concerning message. We think it is Rodrique. All the pieces fit and he knows where we are. Our timeline didn't just get shorter, it's nonexistent now. We need to find him and figure out his motives and soon. There has to be a way to counteract the magic he is using. Danielle? You still there?"
"Yes. I am here, just thinking. I am going to have to pull the elders in on this. They are going to be the only ones who will know how to counteract this without sending every supernatural running in a panic. They began to work on magic counteraction when Tonya made the connection to it. They will need to come up with something faster, however with the knowledge of who is doing it will help them. They may even be able to use this to locate him. Stay inside the house, do not let anyone and I do mean anyone to enter or leave that house. I had it warded against everything I could think of, including magic. It will protect you from Rodrique's magic even if he has gone rogue. I used a not so approved method to have it warded so he will not know about them as they are not used in our work place. I am glad that I followed my intuition on this one or you would have been even bigger sitting ducks than you are. I want you to stand by and be ready for emergent extraction if this goes south. Brief everyone there. I will be in touch as soon as I am done with the elders. Stay safe you guys."
   Drake hung up the phone before dropping himself back into the chair he had been sitting in. He went over what Danielle had said with everyone, prompting all the doors and windows to get locked down. The tension in the house was thick enough that a knife could cut through it as they waited to find out what they were going to do. Drake pulled her to him, burying his face against her stomach. She felt him rubbing his cheek against her as they all waited. She ran her fingers through his silky hair, massaging his scalp as she went.
   They waited what felt like eternity before the secure line began to ring again. Drake got up to answer the phone as she peered over at the clock. No wonder she felt so tired, it had been several long hours since Danielle's phone call and none of them had slept since their arrival. She could hear Drake responding to things being said but could not focus enough to listen to the conversation. The conversation lasted 20 minutes before he was hanging up, running a hand through his hair with frustration.
"What is happening Drake?"
"The attacks have begun to increase since we received that text message and they are all following a line straight towards us. The elders are double timing it to counteract the magic used but he is going to reach us before they can finish. Their main concern is to prevent our exposure to the humans. We are going to be on our own until they are done. They have tried to figure out an emergency evacuation for us but no matter how they do it, it will leave us exposed for to long. It is safer for us to stay locked in the house where we are protected. We need a battle plan for when he shows up. It's fight or flight at this point and flight just isn't going to cut it for this."
   She nodded her head as they all sat down around the table. They began to write out a plan of action on how they were going to fight their way out of this. She prayed their plans would work and they still make it out in one piece. How were they going to fight against magic when none of them had any to fight with? She thought back on everything that had happened up until now. He wanted her for something but what could it be? Maybe if she gave herself up he would take her and leave the others alone. She just could not let Drake know where her thoughts were going or he would have her chained in the house to prevent her from sacrificing herself for their safety. Tonight could be her last night, she was going to make the most of it.