Chapter 51 – Unexpected (Ansel Conrad POV) Pt.2

White noise sounds against my ear loudly. Swiftly pulling the phone away, I look down at the screen confused. I hadn't heard anything but the sound...

Ending the call, I stalk with purpose towards the back room, "Angela, I think-" I stop abruptly speaking when everyone turns to me. "Angie," I say her name, leaving it hanging in the air until she jumps up, grabbing the closed laptop besides her before walking towards me.

I briefly make eye contact with Kalenah, her eyes shifting down to the Stat phone, before she too stands. "Angela and I will be right back," she says almost pushing Angela out of the way.

The easy calm Kalenah had in front of Andy and Naomi are swiftly replaced with fright. "What's wrong? Did they call? Is it the kids? My mom and dad?"

I nod, "they're fine," I mumble unsure, and like a domino effect, mom hands over Genesis to Naomi, following me out towards my father at the front of the bus. I just make it back to the seat when the phone rings once again, and as last time, when I remain silent; I hear the same static behind it.

Ending the call, I turn to Angela, "It sounds like someone wanting to send a fax," I explain, and all three ladies frown, but Angela races out of the area, heading up the spiral stairs.

"You think someone is trying to send us a fax?" Lenah asks.

"Not someone, maybe Samson and the others, it says unknown number-" I stop when Angela returns with a few wires in her hands, and a small miniature printer. Setting everything on the table, she practically snatches the phone from my hand, before removing the back of the phone and placing it on another machine, I had purchased at her request.

Scurrying around, she finds the outlet and plugs everything in, before she sits, only to jump up again and dash out of the room, returning with bulk white paper.

Fitting it into the feeder on the printer, she turns it on, sitting behind her computer. "What are you doing?" I leave my previous spot to stand over her shoulder, Kalenah seated to the left of her.

"I can make this number run as a fax, so instead of you picking it up, it's going to accept the call, and I'm sending the fax to this printer," she taps the top of it and sure enough, in a few minutes the phone rings again. This time, I do not answer and let Angela do her thing.

"Hey, Angie can you trace-"

She doesn't shift her eyes away from the screen to respond. "I'm one step a head of you, if this is Samson, I'll be able to-"

Growling, as the printer comes to life, a low hum starting for a few beats, Angela pounds a fist on the table, shaking it thoroughly. "I can't get anything, it's being sent but the signal cannot be traced and the number and address I'm getting, is bouncing off too many locations."

"And faster than I can even trace it so it just comes up as zeroes."

"Is – then it's not Samson-" I stop the minute I see what is clearly his print at the top of the paper, the date and the beginnings of a letter.

Waiting, the minute it is released, I pick it up, my eyes scanning the brief note.

"Does it say where they are?" my father asks, not taking his eyes off the road. Putting in in front of my sister and Lenah, I answer my father. "No, just that they stopped at a place Dmitri left for Fatima-"

"Then we know where-" my mom starts, but I shake my head. "No, we know that he left her everything he had, but even Walsh doesn't know where all the places are. Most-"

"There should be some type of records?" dad pipes in again.

I throw a glance at Angela, who shrugs, "I can try, I mean it won't-" I look at the paper again, shaking my head.

"I... no," I mutter, shocking even Kalenah. "We have no idea where they are going, but I do not want to put Samson, Luca, Imogen or Faith in harms way."

"They're being secretive for a reason Lenah," I say softer, though, despite my words, I still worry inside for the four of them.

"And truth is... wherever they are Lenah, I think they are in a safer position than any of us," that I truly believed.

Worrying her bottom lip, Lenah, swallows thickly, shifting her gaze to the letter on the table.

"They think what Faith believed is going to come true-" Lenah stops when Angela gasps.

"They're sending us floor plans," she says twisting her neck to see, but that too captures my attention. With half of the paper still being printed, I nod, "yeah but this is only..."

"I think they're sending it piece by piece, because this shows just what I think is," Angela pauses as we see a part of the paper has more handwritten notes.

Again in Samson's print, "Dad this house is like a snow globe?" Angela and I read together, our brows mashed together. "What do you think he means by that?" I ask Angela, not that she could make out any more than I could at this point. I take a seat near Kalenah.

We wait anxiously as page after page is printed. The stack grows; using the eighty pages Angela first brought down, and then the rest that she fetched when we realized it wasn't stopping.

Picture after picture prints when what looks like floor plans have stopped.

We remove everything from the table when the print job finished. Trying to piece together the plans that Samson faxed, baffled.

"This is... crazy," Angela mutters as she helps Kalenah tape the pieces together. "I wanted to create something like Faith had been living in, that's why I chose North Carolina," I said distracted.

"It has two greenhouses," we stare at the plans, mom digging through the pictures, holding up the one that fit with the plans we realized. "Can you even afford to build something like this Ansel?" Angela asks apprehensively.

I try not to be offended when I realize that Angela might be right. Could I afford to build each person or family in our Den something like this? Probably not.

"I mean, I see it now," she points to where a wide design keeps the house covered, while partially still incorporating the outdoors. "Why Samson said it was like a Snow globe. The walls are double enforced, with twelve inch concrete, and behind that is six inch glass." Mom working hard, searches the pictures finding which one might correlate to what Angela was pointing out.

"How did this not raise some red flags," Kalenah asks perplexed, "Ansel, I mean this has two basements – two basement levels, and the supplies – how many air purification systems have you guys counted on this?"

I stand blown away, believing my words more than I had before. Right now, Faith, Samson, Imogen and Luca were a million times safer than we were.

"Well they sent a few pictures of that," mom says picking up another stack of papers, and flipping through them until she placed a photo of air purification machines all lined up, underneath solar panels. "There are fifteen here – not to mention," mom turns in her spot, placing another paper when she turns to face the rest of us.

Captured on a counter is a basket that could carry maybe thirty ripe apples, but filled with yellow petals. Did that mean Dmitri was somehow like Naomi? A Fox spirit meant to protect Faith? Except instead of getting a Fae with no gifts, he gets one with the ability to predict future global destruction?

"Naomi had two little canisters, but wherever Samson is, they have a basket full of the stuff?"

Hell, should I even bother taking the family to North Carolina or just beg Samson and Faith to let us know where they were so we could all come there? As I remain silent, I count the hours since I'd seen Faith and Samson, trying to guess where they could possibly be? It was an impossible task with too many variables, especially as I looked at the plans.

It had been over twenty-four hours. If they took turns driving, they'd never have to stop except for gas – that could put them in Wyoming or further east. But that's if that was how they were traveling. Or had they stopped all together? Did Dmitri leave Faith a home in Oregon? Or Washington? Or California? They didn't need to go all the way to North Carolina. Not when Dmitri left her property all over the world, many in North America alone.

"It has state of the art greenhouse production systems, Ansel," my mother marvels, looking at photos and turning them to me. "And the greenhouses have their own air purification modules." She jumps from the yellow petals to the greenhouses, her mind scattered.

I nod dazed, looking between Samson's first note and the plans on the table. "This had to take years," I mutter, overwhelmed, especially when I realize just what was ahead of me. "What the hell happens to warrant needing all of these safety precautions?" I wave my hands at the plans and pictures Samson had sent us. Hell, were they even precautions at this point, or something that would be necessary like the air we breathed?

~ 0 ~

After hours of pouring over the plans and pictures, with nothing to do but let my mind wander off, we pack everything away before we stopped in Ogden, Utah and my grandparents place with my aunt Michelle and her kids. 

"Look, dad, I know that this is family, but with everything going on, just let me have a few hours to just wrap my mind around everything-" dad holds up his hands palms up.

"Ansel, you do what you think is right," dad says gruffly, "I from the conversations that you all were having, I didn't get to see the plans, but it sounds like it's a big undertaking to get this done." I nod, appreciating his understanding.

"For now, we just say that Nick was poaching Den members so we had to leave, especially when he mentioned the Elders," I decide on, looking at my sibling, a frown playing on her lip.

"What's wrong?" my father questions Angela, just as the words were on the tip of my tongue. We had long put the plans away, just trying to wrap our minds around it all. "It's just, I don't know why I never put two and two together," Angela said licking her lips, but gazing at me fearfully. Or ashamed, as though she had somehow disappointed me.

"What's wrong?" I repeat my father's query. "I was looking outside of the Den for people who could have been using Devin's hack into the server, it never crossed my mind that it could have been Nick, Ansel," and there it was. Another piece almost falling into place.

"I mean I have no proof, but it could have been him, more of the female werejaguars are the ones that weren't successful, and we found blood in places but not always a body. In a few places yes, but not all."

I fall back unceremoniously into the chair across from Angela when once again, it seems I've dropped the ball.

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© 2016 roxann_season All Rights Reserved

So about the map. Blue and Orange, they are near each other but that means that Devin and Taylor are on the same path that Ansel sent Brennan and the other kids. I just couldn't figure out how to show that they would be overlapping. especially as you see that Devin and Taylor's blue line *for now* ends in Arizona.

the black dots are the places where you've read either Samson&Faith or Ansel&family have stopped, or approximately because I had to do it free hand.

As they make more stops, I'll keep adding to the map so those that aren't familiar can still get into the story.

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someone asked why I used the name Fatima? uhm, it fit with the overall story, the meaning of the name. As well as I guess there are so many other names here on wattpad I just wanted my character to be a bit different. I mean her nickname is Faith, but Samson only ever calls her Fatima.

In Shattered I have Kalani and Sawyer... In Scratch, I have Elizabetta (aka Etta)

And I noticed when I started writing my series there weren't many Grayson's or Kaden's, but recently I was looking at the stories in this genre and bam... there are so many of those two now...