Extraordinary Royalty

Chapter 10 -- Shawn

We pull into the Jones's driveway right behind my truck. I won't let myself relax until I have her in my arms.

"Evangeline!" I call out as we get out of the car. There is no answer. Dylan and I share concerned glances and make our way into the house. We draw our guns just in case. We check the whole house, and it is empty. I check Evangeline's room and my heart plummets to my feet. On her bed is her emergency box wide open and her cell phone. My breathing becomes unsteady.

"Dylan!" I call out. I look through the box. Dylan comes running into the room gun drawn ready to shoot.

"Dude. Don't yell like that. I thought you were being attacked." he lets out a heavy sigh and holsters his gun. 

"She took her stun gun and a burner phone. She left everything else." Dylan searches through the box making sure I didn't miss anything. I roll my eyes like I would miss something. I go back downstairs more determined than ever to find her. She is going to get herself killed. Dylan meets me outside holding the box.

"What are you doing with that?" I ask crudely. 

"There are receipts and paperwork in a makeshift wall of the box. Maybe we can find out which burner phone she took and track it," he says ignoring my rudeness. I climb into my truck to see if she left the keys. Sure enough, the keys are still in the ignition. 

"I am going to take my truck. Meet me back at the headquarters. Let's find her." I turn the key and take off not waiting for a response. We pull in at the same time and don't talk until we make it to the tech room. The room is huge and dimly lit. There hundreds of computers and technology lining the walls with different maps, pictures, numbers, etc. that are running trying to find missing people and tracking others. The room is empty except for one person. 

"Hey Randy. I need you to run a track on this serial number." Dylan says as he hands her one of the receipts from the box.

"Sure, what's it for?" she asks. Dylan glances at me. Randy looks between our shared look trying to find the hidden meaning. Dylan finally clears his throat and speaks up.

"Evie is missing. We think Julian made contact and she went to meet him alone. She could be in imminent danger." Randy considers this.

"Are you sure of this Dylan? If I use this and track her and it turns out she is on assignment or something, we could blow her cover."

"She got a phone call from him. I was standing right there. She left her cell phone on her bed and went on foot. The only way we have to find her is the serial number of the burner phone. Please, she needs our help. You know Evangeline, she doesn't want other people to get hurt but is reckless when it comes to her own safety." I answer. Randy considers this then starts typing rapidly on her keyboard.

"Uh oh." 

"What do you mean Uh oh. No Uh oh." I stamper. This was our only lead.

"It is going to take me longer. She somehow wired it to where the phone changes locations and bounces off of every cell tower in the city. I can narrow it down, but it will take some time. I'm sorry." I let out an angry grunt and punch the wall I am standing next to. Randy squeals and jumps in her office chair. Dylan grabs my arm and pulls me towards the door.

"We are going to try to find her another way." he says as he guides me out of the room. When we are out of ear shot, Dylan glares at me.

"Dude, you need to cool down. You aren't helping by throwing a tantrum." Dylan storms off to the shooting range and leaves me behind to my raging thoughts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We haven't slept for several hours. It is past six in the morning, and we have been tracking not stop trying to find any sign of Elly, Evangeline, or even Julian so that we can pinpoint their location. I am currently in the kitchen fixing my third cup of coffee. I don't want to miss a single update. I won't sleep until I know she is safe. Dylan suddenly bursts into the room out of breath. He looks me square in the face.

"We think we found her." he gets out between heavy pants. I jump out of the chair and follow him back into the tech office. Randy is practically jumping out of her skin with excitement. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are in the room listening intently to every word.

"I was finally able to ping the location of the burner. It is faint but it is there. I don't know if this is where they are, but it is better than nothing." I look at the map.

"Where is this?" I point to the signal. Randy zeros in on the location.

"2402 Bakers Street." she states. Mrs. Jones lets out a sob and Mr. Jones lets out a frustrated grunt. I look at both of them.

"What?" I ask oblivious to the reaction.

"That was our first house when we took Evangeline in." he states avoiding eye contact.

"Ok, why would Julian take her there?" There is silence for a few minutes. Just when I think that he isn't going to answer me he lets out a sigh and looks me in the eyes.

"When Evangeline was about six years old, a group of men broke in our home looking for her - the lost princess. We wouldn't tell them who she was, but they put it together and took her from us and the tortured her. When she was rescued, we tried to get her to talk about it, but she couldn't remember what happened, so we never talked about with her. We all moved on. I never knew that Julian was a part of that group. It makes a lot of since now why he wants her. He is looking to make a buck."

"Well, we aren't taking our chances. Every minute we wait, the more the chances she is dead grow. We already have a group set to ambush the house. We are going to save them both." Dylan states and then walks out of the room. Evangeline was kidnapped as a child. What happened to her? She must be terrified having to face something she never knew happened to her to begin with. I leave the room and head to the conference room. Dylan is briefing the group on the plan of attack. I stand in the back corner of the room and absent mindedly listen. When Dylan is finished, I follow him to the weapons room in silence, gaging his reaction to what Mr. Jones told us. From what I can tell, Dylan didn't know either and his angry about it.

"Hey, you ready for this?" I ask. Dylan doesn't make eye contact as he answers. Instead, he starts grabbing ammunition.

"I'm fine. Just focus on the mission and saving the girls. No unnecessary deaths today." he walks out, and I am all alone. Here goes nothing.