Chapter 154

Toby was deep in thought before he suddenly looked up at Xandar and asked, “Do you have a super

large map, my K-. Scratch that. Xandar. Xandar, do you have a huge map with no sentimental value that

we can scribble on?”

Xandar rose from his seat and headed for his office storage room while uttering, “I’m not sure. Let me

have a look.”

Christian got up as well and headed for the door while saying, “I’ll check your basement, cuz.” Upon

hearing that, Tate, Zeke and Zelena followed the Duke to help him look.

Xandar found one rolled up but it was very faded. Christian and the others came back with three. His

cousin then helped Toby pin the best map on the flip side of the whiteboard.

When the map was up, Lucianne caught up to where her best friend was going with things. Toby saw the

knowing glint in her eye, and tossed her a marker with a smile and said, “Give me a hand, Lucy. This will

b e done faster. Hey, Raden! Heads-up!” Toby then threw another marker in Raden’s way, and the latter

caught it with ease before getting up from his seat to join his friends at the board.

Toby then explained to everyone else, “Basically, what we’re going to do is cross out all the locations that

the rogue Lycan gave the police. Since the task force found nothing but demolished sites, it is likely that

the rogues would not return to those locations, at least not in the near future. Then, we’ll analyse the

remaining locations on the map. Having to keep such a large corporation alive, it would be somewhere

with water supply for survival, good reception for communication but discreet enough to keep themselves

off the radar.”

“Damn, they’re good.” Christian muttered in awe.

The three Gammas divided the map into three parts. One of their hands held the 70-page report, and the

other held a marker. One by one, they crossed out the locations given by the rogue. After that, they stood

aside and everyone studied the unmarked spaces.

“Time to narrow it down.” Raden muttered.

Lucianne began, “This one has no rivers or any nearby water supply. It’s out.” She marked a cross over

the location.

And that was how it went for the next few minutes. Everyone gave a reason for why they think a

particular spot on the map would not be strategic to set up the rogue’s headquarters. With more crosses

on the map, their line of vision converged easily on the portions which were still spared from the markers.

What they found was that those probable locations were not very far from numerous wolf packs.

Tate spoke, “We should ask the Alphas and Lunas of those packs to send trackers to scout those sites.”

He then started memorizing the cleared sites on the map.

Christian offered an alternative, “Or we could share this with Dalloway and get his people on it.” 1

“That may not be wise, your Grace.” Toby said, and proceeded to explain what many wolves already

understood, “Lycans are very…noticeable, both in scent and presence. If you send the task force there, it

may alert the rogues. It’s worse because we now know that they have hackers, meaning that security

communications in the police force can very well be compromised. Your very own instructions to them

may be accessible by the rogues themselves. It’d be better if the wolves scouted these sites since

requests and instructions are sent through mind-links, and I doubt they have someone like Lucy with

them to hack

into those.”

Xandar asked in concern, “Will the wolves be safe when they do it alone though?”

Juan smiled in assurance as he said, “They’ll be fine, Xandar. We’ll notify the leaders and trackers to

keep a safe distance.”

Xandar still seemed unsure. Lucianne went to his side to caress his right shoulder as she pecked a kiss

on his cheek before she said, “It’ll be okay, darling. Our trackers are trained to be stealthy. They’ll be fine.

Let them do it.”

Xandar managed a small smile before pecking a kiss on her nose and saying, “As you wish, my Queen.”

He turned back to the leaders and asked, “I gather that I cannot tell Dalloway about this?”

Tate clarified, “Well, that’s not exactly what we’re saying, your H-. Xandar. Just try to tell him without

calling or emailing him. Telling him face-to-face would be the ideal option but maybe don’t do it in the

police station. We don’t know if that place has been bugged.”

“Oh, Goddess.” Christian muttered in dismay as his fingers pressed the bridge of his nose.

Xandar nodded, and held Lucianne close to his body, using their mate-bond to ease his tension as he

said, “Understood.”

Lucianne’s hands were still massaging Xandar’s shoulder as her eyes studied the map on the board.

Suddenly, something caught her attention. “They have a tendency to set up on islands, don’t they?”

Everyone started leaning closer to the map with furrowed brows, looking at the crossed-off locations as

opposed to the ones which were unmarked. Although many crosses were made on mainlands across

continents, many more were made on islands.

When Xandar pulled Lucianne down to sit on his lap and secured an arm around her abdomen to hold

her there, he muttered, “It appears so.”

Lovelace then said, “Toby. Raden. Circle the remaining islands please.”

After they did so, Zelena cocked her head to one side and said, “Well, that’s workable. Our allies should

be able to report within the next two or three days.”

Only ten islands were left so everyone could see that it wasn’t long before they eliminated the likelihood

o f the rogue corporation being located on an island.

Xandar then asked, “Are the wolves able to scout those sites without getting caught?”

Lucianne shrugged and said, “Of course.”

“How?” Xandar asked, his grip around her tightening because he was not entirely convinced by what he

was hearing. There was a large part of him that was worried about the trackers who were going to

investigate on their own.

Lucianne explained simply, “Well, assuming that the corporation requires a regular supply of weapons,

poisons, medical equipment and basic necessities, there will be people who will enter and leave the

island.”

Toby built on her explanation, “The wolves from nearby packs will keep a distance and watch if anyone

makes trips to and from the island. We have enough allies around these places to have them watch both

land and air.”

“Please get them to be careful.” Annie said, matching Xandar’s and Christian’s worried expressions.

Toby smiled and spoke in a casual tone, “Relax, your Grace. It’s not the first time our species is doing

spy work. It’s like Lucy said, the wolves we’re sending are trained to sneak around without getting

caught. They’ll be fine.”

When that was settled, there was nothing more they could do. After Juan, Tate, Zeke and Lovelace

linked a few allies, requesting them to scout the islands they just narrowed down, Lucianne insisted on

practicing her hacking abilities again, much to Xandar’s dismay.

They worked differently this time. Juan and Xandar got Lucianne to agree that she would take a break

between each hack. Lucianne admitted that she felt a little drained after each try, so Toby was to time

how long she needed to fully recover before executing the next hack.

After a few tries, it was found that she needed a fifteen-minute break between hacks to avoid

experiencing any adverse side-effects. At her best, she could last anywhere between a minute to a

minute and a half before being caught. Many of them suggested that she may be able to last longer if

she kept practising. But there came a point when Xandar said that she should stop for the day.

As everyone was chatting about Sasha’s escape, Greg’s disappearance and Livia’s connection to the

two, Lucianne, without anyone’s knowledge, tried to subtly hack into Jake’s link. Her efforts proved to be

futile in her first two attempts but when she tried a third time, she instinctively held her breath as she

listened t o what was being said.