2 A Very Strange Woman
The woman before him wasn't hideous but she could easily make you think differently if you spent just a minute in her presence. No one knew why her sweet voice was unnerving or why her smile scared even the toughest men. No one knew why her immaculate bun was slowly turning grey when she was only 24. Angela Ashcroft was a small woman, her stature barely 5 feet tall, her petite figure misleading many. Her harsh grey eyes could bring a man to his knees and she wasn't even an alpha. The scariest woman was a beta but she definitely didn't act like it.
"GARDENER!" The screech of his last name brought Alexander to attention, his back rigid and his eyes honing in on the small woman. "Goodmorning Ma'am." His voice was still rough with sleep as he discretely coughed to clean his dry throat. She nodded at him walking to the big board at the end of the office area. He could see in the middle a photo, a young boy smiling sweetly at the camera, his dimples barely visible. His orange hair all ruffled and messy against the clean pressed dress shirt he wore. Above was his name in dark blue marker, 'Nikolai Daniel Spencer.' Alexander was sad for the happy child in that photo, he looked so carefree.
"This is Nikolai. He was booked for his pheromone operation today, his 18th birthday. His mother, Anna, went to wake him this morning to find his bed untouched and his blue duffle bag missing. She reported him missing at 06:00 this morning, giving us this photo of him. She believes he was wearing jeans, a dark hoodie and black sneakers but she isn't sure. She told us she found these books on his desk, Gardener, please read through them." He turned to the two stacks of survival books on the edge of his desk, the two other people on the omega squad turned to look into his history. Alexander didn't need to do any research, the board said the boy was top of his class and wanted by universities, he would have made notes somewhere.
He called Anna, copying her number from the board. "Hi Anna. I'm Mr Gardener from the government." His voice still sounded a bit rough as he memorised the boys face. "Oh, hello." She sounded tired and rightfully so, her son was missing. He kept his reply short getting to the point, "Can you see if there are any papers in your son's room with notes about survival tips or the local area?" He heard her rifling through papers until she said something that made him smile. "There's some notes here about the surrounding states. Will that help Sir?" Hell yes that would help. He quickly sat as his desk as she sent them to the office and said goodbye. He opened the first book labelled 'Tree's and Other Secure Sleeping Places'. He smiled wider as he found notes written on the pages, the library would kill this kid. He was planning on sleeping in tree's for a while which meant he needed rope and carabiners. The next book was about traps and tracking animals, he'd so far covered shelter and food. The next five books explained basic emergency First aid.
His work was interrupted by a gentle "Anything good?" Shivers ran down his spine as his boss leant over his shoulder reading the kids notes about dealing with sprains. She must be wearing 6' heels today to be able to see over his seated form. "Angela, can you give me a map of the states around the boy's home?" He heard her humm gently as she dropped some papers on his desk before walking away. That woman had to be the spawn of Satan himself. He tried to rub away the goosebumps on his forearms when he looked at the papers. They outlined good hiding spots in all directions, there were vast forests south and a dense wood to the east. An abandoned quarry to the west had been circled in red and a mountain range to the north. He rose and strode up to the board where a large map had been tacked up.
He grabbed a thick red pen and circled the same areas Nikolai had, standing back and thinking about the books he'd gotten. He turned and scanned the titles of the books, none of them related to anything rocky or mountainous so, the mountains were out. Putting a thick 'x' through them he turned to the quarry, the government had recently filled it with water to try and fix the damage, so he couldn't have gone there either. That left only south and east. The boy had left at night, the journey to the south is through an army base, that's too much of a risk. "He went east..." He whispered, as he turned to his desk. He shoved his phone in his back pocket snatching his keys before storming to the elevator. The boy would have had to wait for his parents to go to bed, Anna said they'd gone to bed at 11pm, so he would have left around 12. It was over 50 miles from his home to the woods, he would have made it there by now.
He jumped on his bike, flicking on his flashing lights, enjoying the squeal as he sped out of the garage. He pulled into the highway that would take him close to the woods, it should only take him 20 minutes. Let's just hope the kid's not dead yet, that would be very bad for publicity.
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His head felt heavy but he was warm and cosy. Nikolai grunted as he slowly opened his eyes into the sun, how long had he been asleep? His adrenaline kicked back in as he jumped to his feet taking off in the direction of the woods. His feet trudged through the long grass, his breaths coming out in little puffs of mist. He didn't look back, knew he never could. Keep running was his motto now. His legs grew heavy as he got into the thick woodland, his feet navigating the uneven ground with more care. He just had to find a good tree, then he could nap and get his energy back. It was only 5 minutes later that he found a tall sturdy tree, his feet easily climbing the rough bark, his mind finally calming as he got situated on a thick branch tying himself securely. He could rest now, safe and alone. His thoughts turned to his mother as he let sleep take him, was she ok?
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Alexander carefully navigated the long road ahead of him. He heard the chime of an incoming call come through the headset built into his helmet. He gently tapped the receive button on his handle, instantly wincing at the sound of Angela's voice. "Where the hell are you? You can't just start working things out then leave." She wasn't holding it together, the stress was getting to her. "Calm down, I'm going to check out the east woods, you can send a team to the southern forest." He couldn't hold back the irritation in his voice. She'd told him last time he could work alone, he hated having to keep an eye on dumb Black Ops guys. He could hear her sigh on the other end, his mind telling him he should make her job easier not harder. "Ok Gardener. Just bring him back here." She sounded defeated, poor thing. He watched the trees come above the horizon in beside him as he hung up, he was close just two fields between him and the child. But was he really a child, did he want Nikolai to be a child?
