Warming The Cold One - 32. Tell Me What You Want

The three men finished securing the archives building and headed toward Tucker’s office. When they got there, they saw Dalton sitting and waiting in the hallway. He jumped up from the chair and came over to Tala. “Please excuse my outbursts earlier. It was very rude of me, and it was uncalled for,”

Tala grabbed Dalton’s hand and nodded. “I understand. I know you won’t believe me, but I too have had many people deceive me and it does hurt a lot. I promise to earn your trust that I am not trying to use you or your pack.”

Dalton let his head fall a bit. “I was just so embarrassed when I trusted him. He just wanted to get information from me behind Tucker’s back.”

Jay chimed in this time. “Did they find out about the pages?”

Dalton looked surprised and then shook his head. “I never told them where they were or who had them. They only knew that I had knowledge that they still existed.” Dalton stopped for a second and looked like he was starting to get mad. “Is that the real reason you came here?”

Tucker spoke up quickly. “Dalton, stop!” He put his hand on Tala’s shoulder. “Neither Tala nor Jay knew anything about those pages being here.”

Dalton calmed down. “I’m sorry. I have put so much time into trying to understand them. I could only translate a few words about over a year. Two different attempts to get information out of me have made me doubt people.”

Tala smiled. “I know. Do you know where the rest of the book is?” He turned to Jay. “Maybe Toby knows where the rest of it is.”

Dalton’s face turned to shock. “Book? Those are the only pages I know about.”

Jay spoke up. “Those ten pages are from a science book made in 1418 that was thought to have been about a hundred pages. Thirty pages are on display in the council building and records show that about twenty pages are known to be in private collections. The other fifty were lost about four hundred years ago. Everything we know about lycanthropy is in those pages.”

Tala nodded his head. “That explains a lot. I’ll have to read those pages next time I’m at the council building.”

“I can have detailed photos pulled up for you after dinner.” Jay made a note in his phone. “I’ll check with Toby to see if he knows what collectors have pages.”

“What do you mean read them,” Dalton asked.

Tala turned to Dalton looking a bit sheepish. “I guess my wolf spirit can read and speak a lot of different languages. I never really realized it until know but at the pack celebration, I just kind of zoned out while I was chanting.”

Dalton started jumping up and down. “Well, what did they say? You have to tell me!”

Tala gestured with his hands for Dalton to calm down. “I only glanced at a small part while I was focusing the camera. How about after dinner I hook the camera up to my laptop and I can read them more thoroughly.”

“Excellent idea!” Tucker grabbed his phone. “I’ll call Jamie and you both can join us for dinner. I got some meat sent over.”

“Thank you, I will.” Dalton turned to Tala and Jay. “I hope that we can start over a bit as I’m sure I made a bad first impression.”

Tala smiled. “I think that you were right to be wary of outsiders given the circumstances.”

Jay followed-up. “While I don’t personally know the hardships of being in a red wolf pack, I agree with Tala that you were right to be on guard. Protecting your pack is super important.”

“Thank you both. I take the protection of my pack very seriously.” Dalton turned back to Tucker. “Is there anything you need me to do sir?”

“I need you to relax!” Tucker patted Dalton on the shoulder. “Tala and Jay are going to make sure we are taken care of, and our pack is brought back together.”

Rolf got off the elevator on the third subbasement floor of the council building. He walked over to the reception window and found an older woman playing solitaire on her computer. When she didn’t notice him, he knocked on the hard plastic window.

“Yeah, what?” She turned in her seat and stared at him.

Rolf gave her a big smile. “Good afternoon, I was referred to you about researching how to upgrade a pack license.”

She gave him a huff and then closed her game and opened her records database program. “What pack is it?”

Rolf pulled his phone out and pulled up the notes he made. “I believe their name was as Alligator River. They are in North Carolina.”

She typed the info into her computer. “It looks like they are listed as a protected group nearing exhaustion. What kind of upgrade would they get?”

Rolf could hear the edge to her voice and ignored it. “They put in a petition to rejoin the American Clan and to reform their pack as they have been forced to keep their numbers down due to lack of funding.”

Her attitude continued. “And what would you like me to do?”

Rolf kept his cool. “I just need to know the process and what forms we need to file to restore their status and get them transferred over.”

She huffed loudly. “I’ll print you the forms. There are a lot of them so this may take a few minutes.” She went into the back office and grumbled that she was being interrupted. About ten minutes later she walked out with a stack of paperwork. “These will need to be filled out with a standard blue pen for forms. Make sure your office orders the correct pens. I can only accept that exact color; I’m sure you understand.”

Rolf rolled his eyes. “Yes, I understand how this works. Is there anything else I need to know?”

“Originals only,” she said flatly.

Rolf frowned. “But of course. How hard can it be?” He turned and walked to the elevator to take the forms up to Hawk and Bjorn.

Hawk was fuming as he looked over the pile of forms. “This is totally fucking stupid! We have to use a $50 pen to fill out about four inches of paperwork.”

“The standard for this amount of paperwork is six pens if we are conservative and are able to use them to their fullest extent,” Rolf corrected.

Bjorn sighed before speaking. “I’ll have Avery request twelve and then lock them in my safe.” He saw Hawk almost lose it. “Hawk, stop! You knew this wasn’t going to be easy.”

“How many hurdles are we going to have to jump over?” Hawk started pacing back and forth. “Somebody paid too many idiot lawyers to make it hard on us normal folks.”

Bjorn put his hand up to get Hawk’s attention. “First, sit down. Second, I agree it is hard, but it is for good reason. There must be rules to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Third, I use to be one of those idiot lawyers. I charged by the word for writing regulations.” He saw Hawk start to pale. “Fourth, I was surprised there wasn’t more paperwork. And finally, while you like it or not, it is our job to navigate these hurdles. What would your brother say if he saw you getting mad over paperwork?”

Hawk slumped in a chair looking defeated. “I’m sorry. I am just frustrated is all.”

“We all are, Hawk.” Rolf looked over at Bjorn. “The difference is we just never let anyone else see it and give away our hand.”

Bjorn nodded and picked up the stack of paperwork. “For now, let us sort these into groups based on what we can and cannot finish tonight and what we need to have filled out by Tala and Tucker. We’ll also need a pile for forms that need to be filled out by other clans.”

The four men sat down to dinner. They all had huge plates of meat, bowls of salad, corn on the cob. When they were done, the group moved out to a screened in porch overlooking the western sky. Jay turned to Jamie. “Is there anything you think of that Tala and I can do for your pack that we haven’t thought of yet?”

Jamie looked surprised by the question. “Um, isn’t that a question for my uncle?”

Jay shook his head. “Nope! This is a question for you.”

“Well, um, I guess you could help others know we are lycans just like they are,” Jamie stammered. “It shouldn’t matter what kind of wolf you are.”

Tucker smiled but Dalton frowned. “There isn’t anything they can do. No one cares about red wolves. They think we are inferior and that will never change,” Dalton exclaimed.

Tucker was about to speak up when Tala put his hand up. “Dalton, look at me.” Tala waited for Dalton to finally look at him. “I want you to listen to me carefully. My birth was a crime, my clan was all but erased from history, and I have been fighting with everything in me to get the recognition that I am worth people’s time. Change isn’t just handed to you on a silver platter; you have to fight for it. I plan on fighting for you just as much as I am fighting for me and all the other packs that I represent. You may not know it, but I have a team back at the council that is already trying to get your pack’s status restored. Give me a chance to create the change that Jamie wants.”

Dalton’s face took on a dismissive look. “You promise change. Big deal! We have always been looked down upon by ‘real wolves’. Nothing is going to change that.”

Jamie spoke up. “Not with that attitude, it won’t. Why won’t you at least withhold judgement until you know whether Tala and Jay can succeed or not?”

Tucker’s face had hardened. “Dalton, there are things you don’t know. I am going to tell you three of them. The first is OUR clan, the American Clan, was well known for having all wolves living together, working together, breeding together. They fought to protect all wolves during the uprising. The second is that Tala has red wolf decedents. His family was the Red Pack.”

“What,” both Dalton and Jamie exclaimed.

“Yes,” Tala answered. “My family still lives where the Red Pack made their last stand. My mother is there right now taking over the land management from the luna of the head of the Celtic Clan.”

Jamie looked puzzled. “I thought there were no lycan packs in that area anymore.”

“It’s a long story,” answered Jay. “However, there will be plenty of time to about that at a later time.”

“Okay, I understand a little more about why I should trust him.” Dalton sighed. “What is the last thing?”

Tucker looked at Tala for a second and waited for Tala to nod his agreement. “The third thing is that when our pack is restored, we need to send someone to represent us at the council.”

“Say what?” Dalton looked confused. “We can’t afford to send someone to the council. We aren’t big enough either. If we get the whole pack back together, we only number about one hundred and fifty.”

“I had a pack representative when we were the pack size of three,” Tala interjected.

Jay laughed. “That was different. We were also a clan size of three and that rep was also the one selected for the Circle.”

“Who do we have to represent us? There really isn’t all that many people that know how the council even works. It’s been a long time since they had to deal with it.” Dalton rambled on trying to make sense of things.

Tucker smiled. “I know of someone that would be perfect.”

Tala nodded. “I agree with your choice. We need someone with that level of passion.”

“Who is it,” asked Jamie. “Is it me?”

Tucker shook his head. “No Jamie, maybe someday but I think you will like my decision.”

Jamie slumped. “Okay.”

Dalton huffed. “They better do a good job.”

Tucker smiled. “They will.”

Karla and Ann unlocked the door to their side-by-side motel rooms. They each rolled their luggage inside and shut the door. Ann pulled out her phone and called Toby. She told him that she missed him and hoped to be back soon. Karla also pulled out her phone but called Tala instead.

“Hello,” Tala answered.

“Hey Tala, it’s your mother calling. How was your day so far,” Karla asked.

“I found saw very old documents that they have preserved here. I think some of it will assist you in your task up there. They have a lot of ancestry records that show where our ancestors married and mated with the red wolves and some very extensive family trees.” Tala tried not to get too animated about it. “It should be available in a few days. I am going to send it to the council tomorrow when we get back to civilization. It shouldn’t be more than a day or two for them to add it to the existing records.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Karla exclaimed. “Speaking of family, I ran into someone I knew back when we were still living near the homestead. She said her nephew works at that big NGO in Ohio.”

“Really, now. What’s his name,” Tala asked.

“She said it was Matthew or Mark,” Karla replied. “I think she was being a bit cagey about it. Like she knew more than she was telling.”

“Are you saying that the guy they hired in our clan office might be an unturned?” Tala pondered for a second. “Do you think her family was lycan?”

“No, actually I think it was her older sister’s then boyfriend,” Karla surmised. “I don’t really know for sure though. I did know that you would find it interesting.”

Tala chuckled. “That I do. We’re about to turn in for the night, but was there anything else I need to know?”

“No, just a lot of going over maps and planning. Seeing where we can locate the packs to blend into the reintroduction zones, federal protected lands, and nature reserves. I can bore you with it another time.”

“Sounds good,” Tala agreed. “Once you get a good plan outlined, feel free to email it to me. Jay and I can look over it in the air to pass the time. Sleep well.”

“Sweet dreams.” Karla hung up and put her phone on the charger.

“So how is Karla?” Jay came into the room that Tucker had made up for them.

“She’s good. They are starting with mapping and planning,” Tala answered.

“Sounds utterly boring,” Jay exclaimed.

“I’m sure it will be, but that isn’t the only thing she did.” Tala looked over to see that had peeked Jay’s interest. “She ran into someone she knew back when we lived on the homestead. That someone has a nephew that works for us.”

“Matthew’s aunt knew your mother.” Jay rubbed his chin. “Very interesting.”

“Karla thinks it was his father, but I’m not so sure. I think I might need to talk to Hawk tomorrow and see if he can pump him for a bit more information.” Tala got up and walked over to where Jay was standing. “Ready to get cozy on this full-size bed that is too small for us?”

Jay smiled. “Just make sure you hold on to me tightly. I don’t want to fall off.”

“Jay, you are not suggesting that we...on Tucker’s guestroom bed. Are you,” Tala asked.

Jay just winked and got changed for bed.

The phone next to Keon’s bed. “Hello? Who’s calling?”

I clipped voice came over the line. “Sorry to bother you but this is operator 248 with the American Clan Security Operations Center. We have intrusions in process and our instructions were to call you.”

Keon rubbed his eyes and looked over at the clock. It stared back at him reading 4:47. “Yes, thank you for calling. What is the status of the systems?”

The answer was very prompt. “We have multiple teams bypassing doors on all floors. They are focusing on executive offices, secure storage and the server room. At this point no network access has been gained.”

“Have they breached my office or Clay’s office,” Keon asked.

There was typing in the background. “No, both offices have been completely avoided.”

Keon got up and walked out to his small living room and turned on his laptop. “Is there a conference bridge and event log yet?”

“Yes, sir.” The voice gave him the bridge number and the event log code. “I see you have logged in, I will disconnect now, and the tactical leader can answer any other questions you have.”

Keon hung up his phone and put on his headset. “21st floor IT, checking in.”

Clay came on over the bridge. “Good morning 21st floor IT, this 17th Floor IT Lead. Please direct all comms to either myself or Incident Commander.”

“Understood,” Keon responded. “Incident Commander, what is our current status?”

The voice of the incident commander came over the headset. “Nothing new. We are linking in the video live feed right now. So far, it looks like a recon mission as they haven’t touched anything.”

“I find it very strange that they haven’t looked in the IT offices,” Keon mused. “Any idea why they wouldn’t look there?”

Clay came over the bridge now. “Maybe they think we’d notice the access there but not of the rest of the floor.”

A new voice piped in. “Incident Commander, this is Central Badging. It looks like the badge they are using is like a patrol badge, but they added all kinds of extra overrides. Each member of their team is using a different badge, but they are duplicating the same badges on each floor. Do you want us to lock it out and trap them?”

“No! We cannot let them know they are caught until we can prove they have accessed something truly out of the ordinary,” the incident commander explained. “So far, they have not breached patrol level access. If, and only if they do that, then lock them down silently.”

Everyone watched for the next thirty minutes as the teams looked in every room on all the American Clan floors except for the IT offices and Bjorn’s office. The video feeds show that the leader of each team put their ear to a radio. The teams stopped searching and all headed toward the elevators.

“Central Badging, please get me a log of the badges used by the teams when they get off the elevators. I want to know who was on those floors. Everyone else, we will meet in the office of the 9th floor at noon for a summary and hot wash debriefing.” The incident commander could be heard typing for a second. “At this time, I am closing this bridge. See you all in six and a half hours.”