“I’ll always worry about you.” He moved to the seat next to me and turned his attention to his father. “What’s the latest?”
Nico burst into the room, holding an open envelope in one hand and a flash drive in the other. “This was in the mailbox. We found it a few minutes ago after the mail was delivered.” He pulled a piece of paper from the envelope and handed it to Dominic. “We need to run the drive through software to make sure there isn’t a virus on it, but in the meantime, here’s the note that came with it. I’ll be back shortly.” He left the room without another word.
Ty stood and snatched the note from Dominic, and I wondered if I would witness an all-out brawl between the fading alpha and his protégé.
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “All right, then. I guess you’re going to read the letter first?”
Ty recoiled and winced. “Sorry. I’m a little amped up.”
“With good reason.” Dominic nodded and gestured toward the letter. “Go ahead.”
Ty cleared his throat and read the letter aloud.“‘Sorry to say that the stakes have been raised for your next round of hints.’”
I scoffed. He’d planted a bomb in the dead center of town. How much higher could the stakes get?
As Ty read on, I soon realized just how much more Castro could raise the stakes, and it was terrifying.
“‘You have exactly twelve hours to find my next clue. If you fail, a buried secret will be uncovered.’”
That didn’t bode well. I glanced at Dominic, whose fists were clenched tightly, his jaw set squarely as he stared straight ahead.
“This is not good. Considering everything Castro already knows about our family’s past, there’s no telling how much he’s dug up on the Keller pack.” He pounded his fist on the desk. “We can’t let that motherfucker beat us.”
The next hour was spent contemplating what deep secret Castro would reveal if we failed at his sick game. All I could think about was my being an omega, and how that information being leaked could lead to a plethora of issues—not just for me but for Ty’s family, as well.
Nico returned as quietly as he’d slipped out of the room, the flash drive raised over his head. “Good news. The drive is clean. No spyware or bugs. It’s safe.”
“So, does our twelve-hour time limit start now or an hour ago when the envelope was found?” Ty asked.
“We’re not sure.” Nico moved to the other side of Dominic’s desk and inserted the flash drive into his laptop. “Either way, we don’t have time to waste.”
Dominic instructed one of the other men in the room to flip off the lights as he projected his screen onto the large television mounted on the back wall.
We watched the video with growing confusion. Several random clips of disasters happening all over the world streamed across in quick succession. Each clip was quick, no more than three seconds long, and the video only lasted fifteen seconds.
What the hell?
It ended just as quickly as it had begun, and we all stared at the blank screen in stunned silenced.
Dominic scratched his head. “I don’t even know where to begin with this shit.”
Nico tapped the laptop. “Let’s watch it again. I’ll slow down the speed so we can better digest the images.”
“Good idea.” Ty leaned forward in his seat; eyes narrowed at the screen.
“Let’s see if we can make out the locations in the video.” Nico gestured to his team, and they stood at the ready, dry erase markers in their hands.
The video was slowed down significantly enough to where we could make out five distinct disasters: an earthquake, a tsunami, a forest fire, a tornado, and a flood.
I had no idea what to make out of it. The images alone were anxiety-inducing. All those towns ripped apart and people running for their lives.
My nerves got the better of me, and my pulse pounded in my throat. I fidgeted in my chair, looking around the room for a sign that we would figure this out. Unfortunately, all I saw were confused faces. No one knew what the fuck it all meant.
Suddenly, a countdown appeared in the upper right corner of the screen.
The twelve hours had started. At least we had our answer on when the countdown began, but my gut told me that twelve hours might not be long enough to unravel the hidden clues.
I glanced at my watch. It was two in the afternoon.
