“Are you all right?”
“I’m not hurt.” Unless you counted bruises, exhaustion, and so much worry that I was close to losing my mind.
“Serena?”
“She’s . . .” I started to tell him about the fever but the battery warning on Jason’s phone went off again. The small interruption gave my tired brain a chance to register the strangeness of the question. The message I had left for Hank had been on the far side of extremely vague. While I didn’t think it was likely someone was hacking my father’s voice mail, I hadn’t felt safe leaving anything more than Jason’s number and a request to call. “How did you know something happened to Serena?”
He ignored the question. “Is she all right? Is she safe?”
I didn’t want to answer his questions until he answered mine, but I was too worn-out and worried to play games—especially with Jason’s phone on the verge of death. “She’s sick—some kind of fever. Men showed up at her house this afternoon. They had a photo of her. From Thornhill. Serena’s brother held them off—along with Kyle and Jason. They gave us a chance to get away.”
I hesitated. “I don’t know where they are,” I admitted. “Jason gave us an address. He told us to wait until sunset and then get out of town if they hadn’t shown.”
“It’s past sunset.”
“They’ll be here.”
“You can’t afford to be sentimental, kid. You know better.”
“They’ll. Be. Here.” It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t a debate. My father had always been great at cutting people loose, but I wasn’t anything like him.
Hank sighed. When he spoke again, he sounded like he had aged about forty years. “The remaining two Denver packs were hit last night. Someone is going after the wolves from the detention block. They managed to get three—two from Carteron, one from Portheus. It’s why I tried to call you this morning. I thought there was a chance they’d go after Serena.”
“They almost got her.”
“She’s lucky,” said Hank, a dark edge to his voice. “I don’t know who these guys are, but they’re not LSRB. According to the other pack leaders, they killed a couple of people who got in their way, but they weren’t interested in anyone else. They were fast and efficient, and they knew exactly who they were going after and how to get in. They were good. Mercenary-level good.”
Packs didn’t take security lightly. If the men had known how to get in and where the wolves from the detention block were, that meant . . .
“They had moles inside the packs.” My blood ran cold as the words left my lips. “What about the Eumon?” Two of the wolves from the detention block were with Hank’s pack, and there were members of the Eumon who would have known that Serena, Kyle, and I had gone back to Hemlock.
“I know my pack. If there’s a leak, it didn’t come from us.”
“But they knew where Serena was . . . who she was.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. You saw what they did to your friend in the detention block. You saw how out of it and confused she was. There’s no way of knowing who she may have told what.”
It was a fair point, but it still didn’t make sense. “It’s been almost a month since the breakout. If people knew where Serena was this entire time, why wait for today to go after her? Why wait to go after the others?”
“Maybe they wanted to go after everyone in one fell swoop. Maybe they were waiting until they could get to Sinclair before dropping the ax.”
“You heard about the transition house?”
“I’m waiting until there’s a body before breaking out the champagne, but yes.”
I swallowed. “So it wasn’t you?”
“No—though I can’t say I haven’t been second-guessing my decision not to kill her when I had the chance.”
“Do you think someone’s trying to cover up what happened in the detention block?”
“Don’t you?”
Of course I did. I just wanted to hear someone else say it. For a split second, I considered telling Hank about the CutterBrown logo and then dismissed the idea. There were reasons that logo could have been in the camp—reasons that didn’t point to some sort of evil partnership with Sinclair—and accusing CBP of working with the warden would be like accusing Amy’s dad. I couldn’t do that. Not without any proof. Instead, I said, “I can’t let them get their hands on Serena.”
“I’m working on finding out who’s behind the attacks. In the meantime, you need to get your friend to the pack. We can keep her safe. And you. Eve is on her way to Hemlock to escort you. She should be there by morning.”
Eve had been with us in Thornhill. She was Hank’s protégé, and a member of his pack. She was also one of the toughest wolves I had met.
“You sent her without even talking to me?” My immediate flash of annoyance was quickly overshadowed by suspicion. Hank didn’t do favors—not unless he was getting something in return. “Serena isn’t anything to you. She’s not part of your pack. Why would you help her?”
“I’d say common decency, but I think we both know that’s not it.” There was a rustle and I heard muffled voices in the background. A second later, Hank was back. “Someone is going to a lot of trouble to find these kids. Until I know who, I’d prefer to keep them from getting the whole set. Be ready to leave as soon as Eve gets there.”
Jason’s phone beeped again. I ignored it. I didn’t like the fact that Hank was making decisions for us and giving orders, but this afternoon had been close. Way too close. Like it or not, we needed all the help we could get. Heading to Hank’s pack couldn’t guarantee Serena’s safety—especially not when two other packs had been hit—but it was better than getting picked off on our own. “I can’t leave until I know the others are all right. I’ll try to convince them we should go to Colorado, but I can’t promise everyone will be on board.”
“I don’t care about everyone. I care about you and that girl.” Hank’s voice began to break up. “. . . want . . . you out . . . Hemlock . . . don’t want you . . . rally.”
Silence.
Jason’s phone had finally died.