Evolution

CHAPTER 22 | straw that broke the camels back

Daniel frowned and pocketed his phone. The churning at the pit of his stomach had just moved up a notch.

"Still can't get hold of them?" said Parker

He glanced at his watch. "It's been three hours. I should have stayed on the phone with Rossi's people until Murphy arrived."

Parker's mouth set into a grim line. "This is not your fault. We don't know what's happened. The battery could have gone dead, they could be dealing with an emergency, there are a thousand things that could be stopping them from answering. Don't go to worst-case scenario until we are sure."

No matter how much Parker tried to appease his mind he couldn't shake the feeling that the worst had already happened. After speaking to Murphy and Kaitlyn he'd managed to recontact what was left of Rossi's pack to reassure them help was on its way. They were frightened, unsure of what had happened to the rest of their pack and stranded without a lifeline. His last call with them had confirmed a dozen more pack members had made their way to the safety of site B.

He let out a frustrated growl. "Murphy should be there already, damn it!"

Parker sighed, got up from her laptop and made her way to where he was standing. She lifted her hand to his face and he leaned into it. Just her touch gave him some measure of comfort. "You've done everything you can Daniel. Trying to second guess yourself is not going to help."

Simon chose that moment to pop his head into Daniel's office. "I just booked out the last available rooms at the Marriot, Hyatt and Hilton hotels in Colorado Springs."

Daniel nodded. "I just hope that it is enough."

He wasn't taking any chances with his pack. After the massacre of Rossi's, he had made arrangements to get his people out of harm's way. The majority of the pack who had families would be scattered across the state. Elise had come after the New York State pack on their grounds. There was a traitor on the council. No way was he sending the pack to site B. If they provided Elise with information on his first responders and sleepers, what's to say they didn't supply information on each pack's alternate site?

Daniel glance towards Parker. While he was angry with her for disobeying his orders and coming back to Nederland, rather than stay in the bunker where she would be safe, he was thankful she was by his side. Her presence alone gave him some measure of comfort and helped to ground him. Not to mention she had nearly chewed off his ear, telling him in no uncertain terms she would never abandon the pack like that.

Simon sunk down onto the couch and rubbed his face. "Are you sure it's safe to leave our people on the construction sites?"

Daniel resumed his pacing. This was the same question running through his mind.

He was taking a gamble. However, Locke Industries was too high profile within the human world for him to suddenly shut down all their projects. It would get back to Elise faster than the media could show up. He also had too many human employees whose family relied on the income. "We've taken each site down to skeleton staff. The police have promised to have a higher visibility around the Myers complex after we advised them of a bomb threat, and somehow the press got wind of it so are camped out waiting for someone to confirm or deny the rumor. If she's going to attack something as visible as that, we have a bigger problem on our hands."

Simon threw Daniel a wry smile. "It was way too easy to fake that bomb scare. Next time give me more of a challenge."

Daniel pushed his hands in his pockets and worried that he may have missed something

"If you pace much more, you'll wear a hole through the floor," said Parker without looking up. She had returned to her laptop and had resumed monitoring the unfolding drama in New York State to give them a heads up if need be. "Stop second-guessing yourself. By tonight all the families will be out of here. Remember, the rest chose to stay here with us. You didn't force them to remain."