Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part Two

 Notes: Oooh, a little more plot before we dive into action...actually, the next round will probably be a Kieron interlude, we'll see, but still--fun!

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Nineteen, Part Two

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Chapter Nineteen, Part Two

 

“Track him,” Elanus said, forgetting to think it as adrenaline washed through him, leaving him feeling hot and cold simultaneously. “I want visuals of his movements for as long as they can be followed.”

[My programs do no allow for hacking into--]

“Fuck off.” Why had he made his personal algorithms so damn law-abiding? “Catie!” Elanus shouted, sending a pulse through the implant to her as well. “Catie!”

[Daddeee?]

“Stop whatever you’re doing, I need help.”

[But we just got to the goooood part!]

“Catie, you—” Elanus stopped. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and considered what he was about to just blurt out at her. His daughter—his daughters—didn’t know that Kieron was missing. They were in the middle of a game, playing with Pol, and if Elanus started getting them worked up, then he would get worked up, and then Xilinn would have to intervene, and everything in his precariously-organized household would go to shit.

The shittier things became, the harder it would be to get anything done. As much as Elanus hated to slow himself down when it came to finding Kieron, he knew that his lover—his fiancé, fuck it, he was owning that term for the foreseeable future—wouldn’t want him to upset everyone on his behalf. That could wait until Elanus had a plan.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said after another moment of gathering himself together. “I just have to redo some calculations. I want you to finish your game, okay? We can all talk a little later.”

[Are you suuuure?]

“Absolutely sure.” He felt Lizzie’s query as well and sent calming thoughts her way. “You girls have fun.”

[Okaaaaay…] They disengaged, and Elanus got to work pushing his tracking algorithm into Chelen City’s network of cameras. He pulled the visual of Kieron up into his implant, starting from his departure on their personal platform, and followed him downtown. It only took fifteen minutes to get to his therapist’s office, so the kidnapping had to happen fairly quickly. But at this time of day, all the cars were going to be packed with people, when did she…

Ah. There, at the second turn. There was a track in need of repairs, everyone was hustled toward another car—except for Kieron. He paused as he began to step off the car, his head tilted like he was listening to something.

Was he being spoken to directly through his implant, or through the com system in the car? If it had been via his implant, Kieron should have reached out to let Elanus know!

Or...honestly, it would be more surprising if he had reached out. Kieron was self-sufficient to a frustrating degree. Still, if it was auditory, he ought to be able to listen in. Elanus dug down into the software, finding the saved audio files and transmitting them into his office until he heard—

“—stay.”

“Why?” There was the dry sarcasm that Elanus both loved and loathed—it was usually funny when it was directed at someone else, but right now he wasn’t finding anything about it amusing.

“Because you want to protect your family.”

Kieron went completely still, his gaze sharpening dangerously. “Are you threatening my family?” he finally asked, stepping more fully back into the car. The doors shut with a faint hydraulic hiss, and then the light in the car went red. “Lockdown engaged,” the automated system said as the lights began to blink.

“No, Mr. Carr,” the third-party voice continued. “I’m giving you the opportunity to get ahead of a problem in the making, one that could threaten your family if your boyfriend lets it.”

Fiance, damn it, Elanus thought grimly.

“What kind of problem are you talking about then?”

“A threat to the security of the entire planet.”

Kieron hummed. “You’re talking about exposing the individual responsible for Elfshot Disease.”

“Do you truly think that a single individual is capable of engineering a population-wide phenomenon like Elfshot all on their own?” the voice asked. “Not everyone is as clever as Elanus Desfontaines, Mr. Carr.”

“What do you know about Elanus?”

“More than he’d like me to, but less than I want. That’s where you come in.”

Kieron shook his head. “I’m not going to tell you anything about him. I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t give you anything.”

Don’t fucking say that! Play along, give them a lead, make them think you’re valuable! Did Elanus have to do a remedial course on how to be a hostage with Kieron?

Fuck him, he should have done it before Kieron got made into a hostage. Rotten-souled motherfucking son of a—

“I understand, and I’m not asking for you to break a confidence. I am, however, asking you to act as an ambassador to Elanus on behalf of all of Gania. We need him on our side for this, and that means making him pay attention rather than presuming he knows best.”

“He often does.”

“Often, but not always.” The voice was silent for a moment. “We’re not monsters, Mr. Carr. If you truly don’t want to work with us on this, we’ll let you go. However, I can guarantee that you won’t regret listening to us if you choose to hear us out.”

“I don’t hear out people who won’t even tell me their name,” Kieron said, but Elanus could read the interest in his body language.”

“I’m afraid I can’t be wholly honest with you until I have you in person. I swear, though, that your location won’t be a mystery to your fiancé. He’ll know exactly where you are, and you’ll return to him safe and sound.” The voice dropped slightly. “This is the only chance I can give you to get ahead of this. The other parties involved are determined to move forward one way or another, and several of them have very firm grudges against Elanus. They’re willing to do anything to remove him as a threat. I had to bargain hard to get the chance to use persuasion first. Please, if you love him, take this opportunity to listen to me.”

Kieron sighed heavily, then sat down on the nearest seat. “He’s going to want to kill me when he finds out I let you kidnap me.”

“I know. He’ll forgive you, though.”

“The hell I will!” Elanus shouted as the car began to move along the “closed” track toward a private spaceport. “You fucking—Kieron, you’re smarter than this!” Why would he make himself so vulnerable? Why didn’t he just walk away? Whatever was going on, it was safer for them to handle it together! Stupid, self-sacrificing son of a—

Well, it was done. And Elanus was going to make sure he got Kieron back so he could lecture him for as long as it took on the stupidity of handing himself over to the damn enemy with no guarantees.

But first, he needed to bring the girls in.