Protecting Zoey

Chapter 17: The Den

Mason had only made it partway back to the school before the message alert on his phone rang out. Before he could pull it out of his pocket it began ringing with Garrett's name flashing across the caller ID, he put the phone to his ear.

"Hey, did you find anything out?" His tone was blunt, but he was in a hurry, the knot in his stomach had been growing all morning and at this point he was sure there was something wrong.

"Yeah, I think I know where she is," Garrett said on the other end of the line. "I'm not sure if it's 100% but it's worth checking out."

"Where is she?" Mason asked stopping in the middle of the sidewalk causing the people behind him to stop abruptly as well triggering a string of curses from most the people around him.

"I'm not entirely sure but, I found a place online that Olivia had been posting in a lot lately," Garrett explained. "It's called The Den and it's supposed to be some sort of underground club but there isn't a whole lot of information about it online."

"That doesn't make any sense, without online advertising no one will find you anymore." Mason said as he furrowed his brows. "What makes you think she's there?"

"I found a bunch of her post's tagging her there on Friday and Saturday, after that it looks like she dropped off every application." Garrett replied. "It's worth checking out, at least until I can finish hacking into her phone. The text I sent you was the address."

"Okay, I'll just pretend I didn't hear that last part," Mason said as he stopped walking down the street and looked at his phone to get the location. "I'll head there now, Zoey's still in class for a few more hours."

"I'll get Millie and head to the school," Garrett replied as Mason turned and started off in the opposite direction. "Just in case something happens, and you get delayed I'll keep an eye on Zoey."

"Thanks man, you're a life saver, I'll see you soon." Mason said as he ended the call and pulled his contact list up.

I'm probably being paranoid, but it would be nice to have a little backup in case things don't go right. It's definitely strange that Garrett couldn't find more information online.

Mason thought to himself as he opened up Markos' contact and sent him a text message, it was short simple, before he dropped his phone back into his pocket and started walking toward the location of The Den.

The location was 10 blocks away and it wasn't long before he broke into an all out run. His pace continued to pickup the closer and closer he got. He finally reached a large bland looking building that appeared to be an old warehouse. He could already hear the sound of the bass vibrating through the ground before he was anywhere near the building.

He approached the door and knocked lightly, not wanting to cause a scene if this wasn't the right place. After a few moments, the door opened a crack and a pair of eyes peered out at him.

"Who are you?" The voice on the other side of the door asked.

"I'm looking for my friend, her name is Olivia," He replied. "I've been told she's here."

"Never heard of her." The man said in a deep voice as the door began to close.

Mason reacted on instinct and shoved his foot in the door, preventing it from closing. While Mason couldn't make out the man's face, but he could almost feel the heat from his glaring.

"I'm not leaving until I speak to her," he said firmly. "So, you can either let me in or I can make a large enough scene that will attract the cops, I have a feeling you would prefer that didn't happen."