Treasure

It turned out that getting our names changed legally wasn’t as hard as one might think. Dawn called Chief Clarke and asked him about it; he quickly agreed that Treasure was eligible for a name change under the Minnesota Victim Protection Program. He wrote a letter to the Courts stating that she had been the victim of two attempted abductions and was still in danger. He further explained the police still had an open investigation into the identity of the driver of the SUV in the hospital parking lot, and the reason for the abduction attempts were still unknown.

Dawn called a lawyer, and with the Chief’s help, they got a court hearing a week later. By that time, Dawn sold the house and most of their belongings. The things they would take with them to Florida were packed in a shipping container and hauled away. Dawn closed her accounts, arranged to have the pension checks routed through her lawyer, and cut all other ties to her life in Minnesota.

Rea had even less to deal with since she had already graduated from high school. Her graduation certificate was from the State Board of Education, not her local district, so no one at her old school would know when the certificate when her new name was issued. The hospital printed her medical records, and they spent a night going through and blacking out her name and social security number wherever it appeared. When they arrived in Florida, her new doctors could scan in what was needed, under her new identity.

The lawyer was given authority to complete the sales and was the only person who would know their new names and location. By the time the two finished at the government offices, they had new names, birth certificates, Social Security numbers, and driver’s licenses. The next stop was the bank; they opened new accounts, transferred the money over, and closed the old ones. Rea got a new debit card, attached to the bank account her Social Security survivor’s benefit went to, and an investment account that held the proceeds of the lawsuit. They also applied for passports with their new identifies. It took about two days to get new identities and lives. What was left, their lawyer would handle for them.

--

Charles was getting very nervous as he saw the realtor place the “SOLD” sign on the suburban home they had been watching for the past week. In the week since Treasure returned home, she had rarely ventured out, and only in the company of her mother. Now there was more uncertainty.

The three men were watching in shifts. Cameras surrounded the house, and they put a GPS homing device on their car when they were at the grocery store. Charles picked up his laptop and went to his room before opening Facetime and calling his son. “Hey, Dad, how’s it going?”

“They’re leaving town,” he said. “The house sold, and we can see boxes stacked in the living room. They’ve got a bunch of stuff for sale on Craigslist, priced to sell.”

“Where are they going?”

“I don’t know. I had Billy stop and look at some bedroom furniture she had advertised; he tried to start a conversation with her Mom, but she wasn’t forthcoming with anything. She just said they were downsizing.”

“We can’t let her get away from us,” he said. “There’s no telling where they might go or who might find them.”

“Relax, Martin. I’m not about to let anything happen to my only granddaughter.” They caught up on some other Pack and Council business before he hung up. He went out to talk to his men; they needed another way.

“Why don’t we just go up to Treasure and tell her what she is,” Billy said. “Her wolf will confirm it. She has to be wondering about her biological Mom. If we tell her we know, she will listen.”

“And the first thing she does is go tell her Mom,” Nate replied. “You know the rules; we can’t let humans gain knowledge of our existence. How would it work if we told her about us and then had to kill her mother to keep the secret? What if she doesn’t believe us? Are we supposed to shift and let her run off in fear?”

“We need a controlled situation,” Charles said. “Not here, but away from her mother. Preferably on Pack lands where we can freely shift and let her discover her true nature without humans around.”

“How do we do that?”

“We play the long game here. The only way it works is if she WANTS to go to our Pack lands, and the only way that happens is if she gets invited. Invited by someone she knows and trusts.” Charles thought for a while. “She only has one friend, and that friend is human. When they move, we need to move with them to watch and protect them, but she will need to make new friends. That new friend HAS to be Pack.” He took his phone out and called Martin. He hoped the Alpha and her parents would allow the teenager to join them in the new location.

--

Dawn let Rea drive her to the rental car place. “Clean break, right, Mom?”

“Clean break, baby. New home, new names, new lives.” The decision to change their identities had been liberating for both of them.

She rented a full-size SUV with unlimited mileage under her new identity, taking the optional insurance. She then followed Rea to a used-car lot where Dawn’s Ford Focus got sold for cash. Mom sold her father’s car and motorcycle, since Mom didn’t have a motorcycle license, and the big Harley was too heavy for her. They drove home, taking only an hour to load up all the SUV with boxes. The real estate agent and the buyers did a final walkthrough. Turning over the keys, and they were finally free of their old life. Dawn merged the big Excursion onto I-90 east, heading for Chicago and their new life.

They decided to stop for dinner when they saw the road sign for the Cracker Barrel near Madison. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop calling you Treasure, Rori,” she said. They had picked their names off lists on the Internet; Rea wanted something that sounded similar. She found the name Rori on a list of Irish names. With her hair color and freckles, people thought she had Irish origins. Rori was the female version of Rory, which meant “red-headed king.” Fitting, she thought, since they had picked King as their new last name. Rori King sounded good.

“And I will need time to think of you as Donna, but at least I can just call you Mom,” she said with a laugh. The names were similar enough to Dawn that Mom thought she could get used to it quickly.

She looked in the side mirror as Mom started to exit; the silver Jeep Cherokee had turned its blinker on as well. She had seen it before, several times, always a few cars behind them. They reached the bottom of the offramp, and it was now behind them. She moved the mirror to get a better view; there were two men in the front seat and one in the back. Her unease grew as they turned right, then left onto the frontage road, and the Cherokee did the same. As Mom sat in the left turn lane for the entrance to the Cracker Barrel lot, she breathed a sigh of relief as the silver Jeep kept going.

She looked over, taking a good look at the middle-aged male who was driving. He was big, broad-shouldered, wearing a flannel shirt, and with black hair tinged at the temples with silver. He glanced at her; their eyes met, and she felt like her chest was in a vise. She moved her head to the side, quickly looking away. It was only a second or two, and then they were gone. “What the hell was that,” she thought to herself.

She was debating whether to tell her Mom as they got out of the rental car and walked inside. She’d always loved this place, especially the little store they’d hit for candy and snacks for the road. They were seated, and she decided on breakfast food for dinner. Chicken-fried chicken, eggs, and pancakes, while Mom went for a shrimp dinner. “Are you going to let me drive,” she said after the waitress left.

“Rental car agreement says no drivers under 21,” she said. “When we get to Florida, we’ll get you a new car.”

“I don’t want a car, Mom. I want a motorcycle.”

“You’ll have to get a new license, and I don’t know what they’ll require in Florida for a motorcycle endorsement.”

“I already looked, Mom. I have to take a state-approved motorcycle safety course, then it gets added to my license.”

“No riding without a helmet, boots, and leather, I don’t care what they ride with or say down here. I’ve seen too many…”

“Mom, I’m required to wear a helmet by law. You and Dad have both taught me never to ride without one.” She put her hands on her Mom’s. “You could learn too.”

She shook her head, no. “I loved riding with your father, but I never wanted to do it by myself. I’ll be nervous enough with you riding around. Now, what kind of motorcycle are you planning to get?” Rori showed her Mom the Harley models that were in her price range.

--

“She spotted us,” Nate said as Charles turned right at the bottom of the ramp. “I can see her looking at us in the side mirror; she’s moved it.” To wolf sight, the move allowed Nate to watch her too, the small mirror clearly seen.

“We have to get a tracking device on them,” Charles said. “If we have that, we can stay out of sight.” The rental SUV signaled to go into Cracker barrel, and Charles stayed in the lane and drove towards the Home Depot instead. He couldn’t resist glancing over; his wolf HAD to know his granddaughter was all right. It was a mistake.

Their eyes met, his wolf reached out to hers, and she reacted. Her eyes lowered, and she exposed her neck to him, her wolf submitting to his dominance even though she had no idea they were related. A wave of protective feelings rushed through him as he continued driving.

“I screwed up, she saw me, and her wolf recognized me for what I was,” Charles said as he pulled into a spot near the back of the lot. “Nate, you get out and take the tracker with you. Wait until you are sure they can’t see you, then place it under the car.” When they had seen the two women sell their car, Nate had to go in and retrieve it while pretending to look at it as a customer. “We’ll go get some Arby’s while you’re gone.”

They would have to depend on GPS from this point on to track the pair as they couldn’t risk Treasure spotting them again. They filled up their tank, then went to get the food. By the time they picked up Nate, the two were eating their meals and would leave in twenty more minutes. Charles made sure everyone had taken a bathroom break, and they took turns stretching their legs. He sat in the back seat, the laptop open to a map that showed the GPS coordinates of the tracker.

His mind kept going back to the brief moment he had shared with his granddaughter. She was beautiful and strong; he felt her power in the glance. The confusion that went across her face showed him the real problem, her wolf and her human weren’t talking.

They stayed at least a mile away from the pair as they drove southeast, staying in different hotels, eating at different places. They watched them in her Grandmother’s apartment for a week before they moved into a large duplex, backed up to the pine forests and swamps north of Orlando. Charles quickly rented a unit nearby, the upstairs windows providing the perfect spot to maintain surveillance.

Ashley had arrived, and it was time to put their plan into action.