ONE
ambushed
April 8, 2014
Three years of tracker school-including extensive combat training, courses on social etiquette, and peer integration-and none of it ever changed the fact that I really hated human high school. Every time I started a new school to get close to a new charge, I found myself rethinking my career choice.
Back before I chose to go to tracker school, rather than finishing out Kanin high school to become a farmer or a teacher or maybe a horse trainer, I remember watching the trackers come and go from missions. They all seemed so worldly and powerful. They earned the respect and admiration of everybody in Doldastam.
I imagined the kinds of adventures they must be having, traveling the world. Most of them stayed in North America, but sometimes I'd hear stories of a tracker going off to England or Italy, and some even went as far as Japan.
The prospect of traveling and protecting my people sounded exciting and noble. Then I had graduated, and I spent the next four years actually doing the job. If only I had known how much of my "missions" as a tracker involved wearing itchy school uniforms and trying to keep up on slang so I could fit in with spoiled rich kids, I might've reconsidered.
It was during lunch on my fifth day in Chicago, as I followed Linus off the high school campus, when I realized they were watching him, too. I wasn't exactly sure who "they" were, but I'd spotted the car-a black sedan with tinted windows-parked nearby several times since yesterday morning, and that was too much for coincidence.
As I trailed behind Linus and two of his friends, deliberately staying far enough behind so he wouldn't see me, I wondered if the mystery men in the sedan had noticed me yet. If they were staking out Linus, then they had to have seen me, since I'd been interacting with him. But that didn't mean they knew who I was. At least not yet.
Tracking was usually simple when done correctly. The first step was surveillance. I found the target-in this case Linus Berling-and for the first day or two I did nothing but watch him. The goal was to figure out who he was and what he liked, so it would be easier to earn his trust.
The second step was infiltrating his life, which was why I was wearing a ridiculous prep school uniform with a blue plaid skirt and a cardigan that felt too warm.
With a combination of bribery, charm, and a bit of Kanin skill, I'd gotten as many classes with Linus as I could, and started bumping into him "accidentally." We'd talk a little, I'd bring up his interests, laugh at his jokes, and ingratiate myself to him.
This would lead to step three. Once I had the target's trust, I'd drop the bombshell on them about who they really were, and hope like hell that they'd believe me. Usually they already had inclinations that they were different, and if I'd done my job right, everything would fall into place.
Then it was just a matter of getting them back home, preferably with trust fund in hand.
Now there was this issue with the black sedan, bogging things down right at the beginning of the second step, and I had to figure out what to do.
Linus and his friends from school had gone into a restaurant, but I didn't follow them. I stayed outside, watching through the front window as they sat down at a table. In his dark blue blazer, Linus's shoulders appeared broad, but he was actually tall and lean. After watching him fall half a dozen times during gym class, I knew he'd be no good in a fight.
The restaurant was crowded, and his friends were talking and laughing with him. Whoever was following him in the dark sedan, they were trying to be inconspicuous, which meant that they wouldn't want to create a scene in a place like this. For now, Linus was safe.
I walked away, going around the restaurant and cutting through the alley. When I came back to the street, the sedan was parked a few feet from me, but I stayed in the alley, peering around the corner. I did my best to blend in, and once again, I found myself wishing that I had more Kanin blood in me.
Even this close, the tint on the windows of the car was still too dark for me to see through. I needed more information, so I decided to call Ridley Dresden.
He was the Rektor, so he might have a better idea of what was going on. The Rektor was in charge of trackers, organizing placements, assigning changelings, and basically just keeping us all in order. Because of his position, Ridley was privy to more information than I was, and he might be able to shed some light on the sedan.
Before I called, I decided to use the video option on my phone. It seemed like a smarter choice, because then I could actually show Ridley the car instead of just describing it to him.
But when Ridley finally answered-shirtless, with his brown curls even more untamed than normal-I realized that maybe I should've sent him a text first, letting him know that I'd be video-chatting with him.
"Bryn?" he asked, and behind him I saw movement as someone got up, wrapping themselves in a dark comforter. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes. And no," I said, keeping my voice low so people walking by on the street wouldn't hear. "Sorry if I'm disturbing you."
"No, it's okay." He sat up straighter, and the rabbit amulet he wore on a leather strap around his neck slid across his bare chest. I heard a girl's voice in the background, but I couldn't understand her. "One second." He held his hand over the phone, covering both the camera and the mic, but I could still hear him promising to call her later. "Sorry. I'm back."
"Aren't you supposed to be working right now?" I asked, raising a disapproving eyebrow.
"I'm on a lunch break. It's called a nooner," Ridley said, meeting my gaze with a devilish gleam in his eye.
The year I graduated from the tracker program was the year Ridley became the Rektor. I hadn't really known him before that, but his reputation had preceded him. Everyone regarded him as one of the finest trackers, but though he was only twenty-four, he'd been forced to retire three years ago. He was still youthful looking, especially for a guy in his mid-twenties, but thanks in part to his persistent stubble, he couldn't pass for a teenager any longer.
But that was the only bit of his reputation that I'd heard about. He had a long history of being a serial dater, and this wasn't the first time I'd accidentally caught him in a compromising situation.
But over the years he'd proved himself to be an excellent Rektor and a loyal friend. So I tried not to fault him too much for his escapades.
"But anyway, what's going on with you?" Ridley asked. The glint in his dark eyes was quickly replaced by concern.
"Do you know anything about someone else following Linus Berling?" I asked.
His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Is there any reason for someone else to be tracking him?" I clarified. "Anyone else from Doldastam, or another Kanin tracker? Maybe even from another tribe?"
"Why would anyone else be following him?" Ridley shook his head. "You're his tracker. You're the only one that should be on him. Did you see someone?"
"Not exactly." I chewed the inside of my cheek and looked up from the phone at the dark sedan, which hadn't moved. "I haven't seen anyone, but this car has been following him." I turned the phone around to show it to Ridley.
"Which one?" Ridley asked, and I tilted the phone to show him more directly.
"The black one with the windows tinted. Do you recognize it?"
Ridley was quiet for a moment, considering. "No, I can't say that I do."
"I was afraid of that." I leaned back against the brick wall and turned the phone back around to me. Ridley had leaned forward, like he'd been inspecting the image of the car closely.
"You haven't seen anyone get in or out of it yet?" Ridley asked.
"No." I shook my head.
"It could just be a human thing," Ridley suggested, but he didn't sound like he believed it.
"I don't think so." I sighed. "I'm gonna go check it out."
"Okay." Ridley pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded once, reluctant to agree that I should put myself in a possibly dangerous situation. "Just don't do anything stupid, Bryn."
"I never do," I assured him with a smile, but that just caused him to roll his eyes.
"I mean it," he insisted. "Investigate, but do not interact with them until you figure out who we're dealing with. In the meantime, I'll see if I can run the plates or find out anything on that car. I'll check in with you later today, okay?"
"Okay. And I'll let you know if I find anything out."
"Stay safe, Bryn," Ridley said, and before he could say anything else, I ended the call.
According to the clock on the phone, I only had twenty minutes left of lunch and then afternoon class began. My options were limited, but I knew I didn't want to wait outside all day, hoping the passengers would make a move so I could see them. If somebody was after Linus, I needed to find out who it was before something bad happened.
So I walked out of the alley and straight to the car. Ridley might consider what I was doing stupid, but it was my best option. Out of the past twelve changelings I'd tracked, I'd brought twelve of them back home. I wasn't about to let Linus be the first one I lost.
I grabbed the handle of the back door, half expecting it to be locked, but it opened, so I got in. Two men were sitting in front, and they both turned around to look at me as I slid across the seat.
"What the hell?" the driver snarled.
When I saw who it was-his steel-gray eyes meeting mine-my heart clenched, and all the air went out of my lungs. For that moment everything felt frozen as he glared at me, then the rage and horror surged through me in a nauseating mixture.
I recovered as quickly as I could, holding back my anger, and smiled at him. Somehow in an even voice, I said his name. "Konstantin Black."
Copyright © 2014 by Amanda Hocking
