Summerguard

CHAPTER 30: The News

TW: Mention of sexual harassment and illegal trafficking

~PAXTON~

When people ask me if I want the good news or the bad news first, I roll my eyes at them and tell them to give me all the news. It's up to the receiver to determine whether it is good or bad. So when Joy asked us that, I said pop off. And she did. She did not hold back. We are at the Beaumont building which has been cleared out of the crime scene and all workers are on temporary leave. Fortunately, the investigation room we have is still intact.

"We got the message around two am, but two am eastern standard time is technically seven am UK time. The sender addresses Shard to meet at a country house in the UK where he is tasked to provide security before and during the wedding. That's right, the wedding is not today or tomorrow, it will happen on the day of Chrysos' birthday, August tenth. I don't know when the King expects him to be at the mansion, but they are expecting him there. So, what is our plan?"

"The coordinates. I know exactly where that is," I said, standing up and sharing my screen of the Morris mansion. "This is Chrys' step-family's ancestral home. I will share with you guys the building layout and landscape of its surroundings. Nicky and I are very familiar with it having spent a few days there."

"Oh, no. So the SS Tribe took over the mansion? My baby boy. I hope Spades is okay," Nicky bows her head and I pat her back.

"You have a child?" Joy hesitantly asks.

"What? Oh, goodness. No! Spades is a Belgian Malinois." Joy lets out a subtle sigh of relief. "I would never leave my child alone in some foreign country. That would be despicable. But, now that I think about it. Ugh, I am horrid. I left Spades with that man and never thought about what he could have been going through. He is such a good boy and dammnit, Paxton we need to rescue him too!" Nicky panics and Joy whispers something in her ear in which Nicky starts to take deep breaths.

Flashback: "Paxton, breathe I am right here". I caress my palm and swallow the emptiness in my throat. I wish for nothing more than for you to be here with me. What once was a nightmare, is now my carnivorous guilt.

"Yoohoo. Capitaine!" Nicky waves her hand in front of me and I shake myself out of a daze, "Right, yeah, yeah. Of course, we are going to save Spades too."

"What about that douche? What's his face... Stuff his phlegm?" Asher clearly mocks.

Nicky, Bennet, and I gag audibly.

"Right, we gotta worry about that guy. If he's alive, we might as well save him too. He is Chrysos' step-brother anyways," I shake my head.

"Alrighty, so to be clear there are now two other hostages we need to extract?" Joy writes down and we say yes.

"How are we going to approach this? We need plans," Joy jots down and we take the time to brainstorm.

~~~~

Time Jump Back to July ninth. Day after the abduction.

~CHRYSOS~

Lick! Lick! Lick! Lick! Paxton, stop it. It's too early for kisses. POUNCE! Something massively heavy jumps on my chest and my body shoots up in pain. My eyes pry open and I gasp when Spades is wagging his tail and happily doing zoomies all over my room. SPADES! I am in my house. Spades is here. How did I get here? Come on, remember Chrysos. Okay, I was at work brainstorming a new invention and then there were gunshots and people in strange masks. There were flashes and lots of screaming. Oh, my god. Someone brought me here.