He woke up in a small bathroom stall with a slight ache in his shoulder. Groaning, he unlatched the stall door and found himself in the men's room. Wren must have realized I was following her and taken me out. I doubt she realized it was me, though, or she wouldn't have knocked me out. Well... I hope she wouldn't have knocked me out.

It was actually the first time he'd been caught on a surveillance mission, and he couldn't help but be a little bit proud of Wren for it. And his punishment had been deserved. He knew he shouldn't have followed her, but he couldn't help worrying about Akram. The guy was close to cracking time travel- possibly already had- and he didn't want to see Wren get killed.

She'd proved she could take care of herself, though, so he would leave it at that. Her message in leaving him had been pretty clear, after all. Next time she might do worse if she caught him, and he didn't want to face her wrath.

Pulling his hoodie back up, he made his way back through the store. As he suspected, Wren had already left with her mom, and she hadn't bothered to wake him up before hand. Definitely mad at me...

He got back into the car he'd borrowed from his mom and was halfway home when his phone rang. I bet Mom is wondering where I am... he thought ruefully. It had been so long since he was a teenager that he had actually forgotten he needed to tell her where he was going.

When he checked, however, the number wasn't one he recognized. "Hello?"

"Is this Dylan?" a female voice asked. He could hear panic in her tone and frowned.

Do I know this person? He vaguely recalled hearing a voice similar to hers somewhere, but the phone distorted it too much to pinpoint who it was. "Who is this?" he asked.

"It's about Amanda. She's missing, and I don't know who took her or what's going on, but I found a note for you in the car and I..."

Dylan interrupted her. "Slow down, please, and just start from the beginning."

"We stopped at the eye doctor to pick up my glasses, and she decided to stay in the car. When I came back out there was glass all over the seat, the door was open, and she was gone. There was a note..." The faint crinkling of paper came over the phone. "It just says: 'Akram is here'. And your name was written on it. I called the police, but they won't be here for another five minutes and I have no idea why anyone would take her. She doesn't have any enemies! And what does this have to do with a politician?"

The news of Wren's kidnapping sent fear pumping through Dylan. He pulled over into a McDonald's parking lot and took a deep breath. I knew this would happen. The second I left her side Akram struck. He'll probably kill her right away. The thought horrified him. This is my fault. I should have worked alone... I should never have included Wren in this.

"I know this is really hard, and I can't explain everything right now. All I can say is that your daughter and I got mixed up in something incredibly dangerous and if you knew anything it would put you in danger too. I'll find Wren, I promise, but I need you to stay calm and help the police investigate things."

"But you're just a teenager. Do you know where she is? How will you fight whoever took her?"

"I can handle myself. I'm going to hang up now, but I will get Wren back. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but that doesn't matter right now. Wren will probably tell you herself later, but until this blows over you just need to lay low."

"Wait, why do you keep calling her Wren? I need to know what's going on!"

Dylan hung up before Wren's mom could protest further. He pressed his head against the steering wheel and focused on his breathing. She's still alive, she has to be, he thought, trying to convince himself.

But who's to say Akram didn't just kill her and dump the body already?

Either way, he would find her. He dialed Shadow's phone and waited. After a moment, Shadow picked up.

"Dylan? What's wrong?" he asked.

"Wren's been taken. As far as I know, she's the only one whose real name he knows, but if she's gone that means she doesn't have long before Akram kills her. Can you contact some of your underworld friends and see if anyone has seen her?"

"I can, but without a description of the car she was taken in, it'll be hard to get real info."

"Just do what you can. I'll get the information on the car."

He realized too late that he should have asked Wren's mom where she was, but he didn't have her number, and by now the police were already talking to her. She probably wouldn't even pick up.

Pulling up Google Maps on his phone, he searched for an eye doctor closest to Walmart. A couple of them popped up, but he didn't want to waste any time, so he called Shadow again.

"You already got the description?" Shadow asked.

"No. Look, there's a Walmart about ten minutes away from Wren's house. The eye doctor they were at is probably near there, but I don't know the exact location. I need you to find out where the police responded to her kidnapping."

"Got it. Panther's looking into it for you. Hang on."

Several minutes passed and then Shadow came back. "It's Vision Works," he said, and gave Dylan the address.

"Thanks."

He pulled out of the McDonald's and plugged the address into his GPS. It took him fifteen minutes to get there. By the time he did, the parking lot was already cleared of bystanders and a police line had been set up. He spotted Wren's mom being interrogated, as well as several others, and got out of the car to see what was being said.

"I remember a van parked next to this car..." a man said. "It was black, and I thought it looked a little out of place, but I didn't say anything. Everything looked okay..."

"Sir, did you get the license plate number?" an officer asked.

The man looked at the ground and shook his head. "I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. I don't pay attention to those things."

A young girl slipped through the crowd and tugged on the man's shirt. "Daddy, I remember it," she said. "Jake and I were playing a game."

The officer smiled and knelt next to the girl. "Can you tell me what it was?"

She nodded and grinned back at the officer. "I remember because it was a custom plate. It said TRIBUTE on it."

"Thank you. You've been very helpful. We may call you for further questioning, but for now you're free to go," the officer said, jotting a few notes in his book.

Dylan made his way back to the car and texted the information to Shadow.

Now we wait.