“I, I don’t know. I didn’t even think to look,” she said, springing up to get her phone from the counter nearby. She looked at it and held it out to him to show the caller ID. “Yes.”
“Alright,” he said, trying to think his way through this. “Apps. Do you know of any apps he uses on his phone?”
“Um, no. Not really. I think he uses the Alpha Meets Omega app. Maybe that find my phone thing. I know he used it one time when he’d left it somewhere.”
“Okay. I don’t think there is any sort of tracking data on the Alpha Meets Omega app, but we might be able to get a fix on his phone with the other thing. What kind of phone does he have?”
“I’m not sure. Some sort of Android. Samsung, maybe?”
“Do you have a computer?”
“Of course.”
“Get it and let’s see if we can figure out his password.”
Kat walked to her bedroom and retrieved her laptop, bringing it to the kitchen and sitting it on the table between them. They went to the find my phone website and typed in Mike’s phone number. Much to her their surprise, it auto-populated his password.
“Did he use your laptop to find his phone last time?”
“I don’t remember. Yeah. I guess he did. It must have saved the password.”
“Good thing. Let’s see what we can find out.”
They watched as the grid popped up and pinpointed the location of his phone. Travis winced when he saw the address. It wasn’t good. Kat didn’t miss the grimace.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“That’s the Diamondback Reserve. Definitely not humans there. They are about as anti-social as it gets when it comes to the non-shifter sort.”
“Diamondback. As in snakes?”
“The name yes, but they aren’t called that because they shift into snakes. They just behave like them. They’re bears.”
“Jesus. How did he manage to get himself mixed up with bears?”
“Drugs. Gambling. Loan sharking. Women. Name your vice, and the Diamondbacks will hook you up.”
“So, my brother has gotten himself kidnapped by bears. That’s what you are telling me.”
“That’s what it looks like,” he replied, glancing at the clock. “It’s almost seven. We’ve only got three hours to deal with this. If we can’t get money, then we’ll have to get muscle to take him back.”
Kat was shaking her head. “I don’t know anyone who is going to put themselves out there for Mike. He’s burned a lot of bridges, you know?”
“Alright. I know some guys who can help. Let me make some calls.”
Travis felt torn. He didn’t want to do this, but he couldn’t let her down. It was obvious her brother meant a lot to her. No matter what kind of trouble he got himself into or how many times he fell, he was still her brother, and she wanted to help him.
Still, he was putting his freedom in jeopardy. The thought of that was a not so gentle reminder that he’d not told her about his own problems, about prison, or how he came to be there. Nor would he tell her that the same men who had helped him land behind bars were the ones who would come to his aid in helping her brother.
Secrets were never good, and he wouldn’t keep them from her forever, but right now, it seemed best that she did not know about any of that. He’d get this done for her or die trying. Bears weren’t easy to take down, especially if you were outnumbered. Who knew what they’d find when they got to where they were holding her brother.
It was hard to get together folks on such short notice, so Travis employed some help to spread the word. By the time he was off the phone, he had a couple dozen volunteers to help. If he were correct about the pinpoint on the map, Mike wasn’t in the main clubhouse. He was in one of the old abandoned cabins by the lake. Hopefully, that meant there weren’t too many of them with him. If they were lucky, there were only a handful.
“Travis, I don’t know about this. It’s so dangerous, and it’s not your problem,” Kat told him.
“It’s your brother. If it’s your problem, then it’s my problem.”
“We’ve only just met,” she replied.
“Does that matter? Considering what happened between us last night, does it matter if we’ve known one another a day or a hundred days?”
“I suppose not.”
“Then, let me do this for you. You stay home while we take care of this.”
“I’m scared, Travis.”
“Don’t be. Bears have a weakness like any other creature.”
“What is it?”
Travis smiled at her. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. Just trust me, okay?”
“I do, but if you go in there for them, even if it’s only a few of them .... they aren’t going to let that go. More will come. They’ll want payback.”