Dominance

Chapter 23: Breakfast Hostage Situation

"The real reason you can't find him is you don't have the guts! You just tiptoe around like a coward!" Tyson expressed thick with agitation.

"Don't start again, Tyson! We've already had this conversation!"

There was fury in Drayton's voice which countered his son's. "I can't just go breaking into every government run facility until we find him! Nor can I just blow up buildings and kill people without any reprimand to our name! You are out of line!"

"You're so worried about your damn reputation. It means nothing when the world goes to shit, which is where its currently going, in case you hadn't noticed!" Tyson snapped back to his father.

The way Drayton's eyes narrowed angrily at his child was chilling.

"It means everything. And you're damn lucky Gates either hasn't caught on or, given the circumstances, hasn't risked pushing us for conviction!"

Drayton cornering the group, and asking what had happened to Officer Scotts in the early hours of the morning, had morphed instead into an argument with Tyson.

Allegedly the policeman was okay, but had awoken with quite the headache and an impressive swollen lump to go along with it.

Having been ushered back into the building by some of Drayton's personnel; Sara, Ashlee, Tyson and Twister sat around the pushed-together tables in the kitchen for a scolding/ breakfast combination.

The quiet lady from the earlier meeting, who Drayton had referred to as 'Lillian', had her hair up neatly in a high bun and was cooking something particularly aromatic over the stove. But what the teenagers had been served and expected to eat was clearly not her chef masterpiece. What had was warm long-life milk, a homebrand wheat cereal, and glasses of tap water.

The group had agreed to keep the experience with Aleron and Ashton a secret between them for now. But with Tyson purposely misdirecting the conversation and putting himself in the line of fire for a verbal bashing, Sara felt awful.

Ashlee appeared equally uncomfortable and she remained silent with downcast eyes. Sara had the feeling she was also reeling from the fact that her friend had been keeping secrets from her. Oh the irony.

Clyde, who had arrived along with Drayton, was not intervening either. He kept his mouth shut and scrolled silently on his touchscreen phone to dissociate himself. Every so often he peeked a quick glance at the exceptionally vocal argument.

The only one that seemed outwardly unfazed by the yelling match unfolding was Twister. His own spat outside had apparently worn him out too much to bother him. He lay with his head resting on the table and his eyes closed, leaving Sara horrified by his zero reaction to the verbal violence.

Tyson clicked his tongue. The spite was still heavy in his tone. "So, you're just giving up?"

"I never said that. Hopefully we will eventually find the other taudog brother again. But right now, I'm focusing on protecting the one I have."

"Ha. Coz you did such a good job finding them the first time around -"

Sara thought the tension may painfully drag on longer still, until a figure walking past the open doorway caught Drayton's attention.

"Greg!"

The man that was Greg backtracked and popped his head into the kitchen area. He had dusty brown, short hair and neat stubble that sculpted his cheeks and chin.

"Oh. Hello. Didn't see you there," he fibbed. "I was just on my way to-"

"In here," Drayton ordered firmly.