CH 21

Rydge Jess stood there on the balcony next to him, and Ridge pointed out to her where she’d been snatched off the street, though he could see that her handbag was no longer there on the ground where it had been dropped to be left behind for her pack to find. “Someone’s picked up and gone through your handbag I dare say.” He was quiet for a minute as he scanned the surrounding area with his wolfen sight and saw it there dumped in the bushes not far away. “Ah, it’s over in the shrubbery, been tossed aside by whoever went through it, likely took all your cash and cards,” Rydge told her. “That spot we snatched you from was chosen well. It is the perfect place. There's a camera on the corner that will show exactly what happened, “No blind spots on the street down there, making it the perfect place to take you from, for it to be seen by them and what you did yourself today will also play into that now you're stopping and stepping back, turning to flee and calling out for Eve will all be seen.” he chuckled softly. “Where the boys parked and sat and waited, and they were there a good 30 minutes prior to your lunch break starting, it can be seen on any camera. So, when your pack checks it, they’ll see you walking along by yourself no matter what cameras they check. “They'll take the footage back to see how long that van and those rogues sat there too. They’ll get everything, including the van using that street at the back of the hotel, but there are no cameras on that street itself, so they won't see the van stop and the hand-over take place. “But it will also look planned out and be seen as meticulously so. Which will tell them it was plotted months in advance. That little message you typed for Eve.” He chuckled again. “Is going to make it look as though your own Mates did this to you. “That Eve, not doing her job of protecting you, and only leaving that building to track you after several minutes, which will be seen on the cameras, will show she was far enough away for you to be snatched as well. That will come across as she allowed it to happen regardless of what she states. Something also to be seen as set up by the twins. They are about to be in deep s**t, if they aren’t already.” He smiled at her. She looked at him now more than surprised, “Planned a lot I see, your Beta shot off down the street to get Eve?” Rydge smiled at her and reached out and ran a hand around her ear, “I did. More than you probably know. But this is what it takes to get someone like yourself out of a pack and off their tech teams’ radar, so to speak. They’ll not find you now,” he stated. Then he reached out and tapped that silver bangle. “You’ll leave that on until you're severed from them. As for my Beta being seen chasing after Eve, that was a contingency plan. Don’t concern yourself with it, we had a few plays that could come about, that were prepped for. “One of them being that you actually had proper guards with you, seeing as you were leaving the pack dressed like you were.” He smiled at her. “You look lovely, just so you know.” She just nodded, he understood her lack of response to it, she’d probably never ever had a compliment given to her in her life inside that pack, so, he didn’t take offense to her lack of response. He would give her plenty over time, and she’d learn to accept them. His attention returned to the street, and he saw several cars pull up and people get out and then drive away. They were walking about the area. “Here we go.” He murmured softly, though he did not see either of her Mates down there, and he watched one man stride off with full purpose towards the Auction House. He tuned his hearing into where they were and picked up nothing much. “There talking via the mind-link.” He murmured, keeping his voice soft now. If he could hear them, then they could hear him and Jess if they were listening for it, that was. “Keep your voice a bare whisper for me.” he murmured. She nodded to him and whispered, “I can’t see who they are. Are my Mate’s down there?” Rydge smiled. He knew they were not there but stated quietly, “That’s easy to determine,” and then he chuckled softly and, although he kept his eyes on the street, to see if they were looking around for her or any that might have kidn*pped her were still about. He stood up and turned her around to face him, her back to what was going on down on the street and then just dropped his mouth on to hers and kissed her all long and slow, as he slid his hands down her body and grabbed her backside, and then after a moment he pulled her hard up against him, before releasing her a moment later. “None of them are your Mates.” He told her, “no cries of pain.” She nodded, “Enjoying yourself aren’t you?” she murmured softly. “Greatly so,” he nodded and turned back to lean on the balcony railing, his phone chimed, and a message came through from Macca, that footage had been converted to look like it came from a phone. He smiled, his tech department was more than good. He watched one man jog off down the street in the very direction of where his van had gone, even make his way into that alley. Was tracking Jessica’s scent. It was barely a two minute’s drive and her scent would just stop while the rogues moved on down the street. He should see that as she was scent masked. There was a possibility he’d look about and see the car park, but with no scent to track of any other rogues he should think the van just kept going. Though if he was diligent in his duty, he’d walk through the car park and check for cameras, but Rydge knew even though he’d see them. The tech team wouldn’t check the hotel cameras unless that van was seen to have stopped, and it had been like a 5-second handover and, the time of entering the alley and exiting it would be checked before doing anything further. Tech teams didn’t hack things that weren’t necessary and there were traffic cameras at the other end. They’d check that first. His own tech team had told him about how they would check things. There was less chance of getting caught hacking if you only hacked what was necessary. He saw the man in charge down there on his phone, but couldn’t make out what he was doing, though he was turning about and looking around. “He’s looking for your phone… Looks to me, he’s got some sort of tracking app installed on your phone. Is trying to locate it… Maybe Jess, your phone wasn’t completely destroyed, just damaged. Is still on and live.” “That will be interesting, Eve has it,” Jess murmured. There was one guy sitting on a seat nearby on his laptop and he understood that; that was one of the pack's tech team, and he was right that minute hacking into the nearby cameras to try and see what happened. He watched as one man came back with a hand on Eve, bringing her in for questioning. “And you didn’t think they’d hunt for you?” he murmured softly, a little amused. “Not my Mates.” She shrugged. “Likely the Alpha or Beta to the pack,” she told him. “Agreed from what I’m seeing,” Rydge commented. The other man came out of the alleyway and headed back to his Alpha or Beta, and then spoke privately, and the tech team man looked up and then nodded and Rydge smiled. A car pulled up and several of the men got into it and were gone. He watched it come down the street and turn into to the alley. “Tracking the rogue scent. Though we got an hour on them,” he told her. He watched as Eve was hauled away a few minutes later, a hand on her arm, back to the Auction House, “They’re clearing her out for the day, getting her things and likely looking for your missing phone. They don’t know about the new cameras I’ve got in that place, likely will do in just a minute, but. The snatching happened outside in plain view on the street. Eve had to have reported it for them to arrive so promptly.” He walked Jess inside and closed the doors. “The auction house’s cameras won’t concern them just yet. If Eve report exactly what she saw and with that altercation you had with her, she’s not going to tell them anything out of the ordinary happened in the building today. “Not likely to say anything at all, because the moment they check the cameras they’ll see just how disrespectful to you, she is and that will be punishable. She’s not looking to be punished, that’s for sure. Going to play, there were too many rogues, and she couldn’t take them all on, so she ran for the safety of the auction house.” Jess nodded. “Something all sensible she-wolves would do.” “Correct, and until they either find your phone in Eve’s possession, or I send that clip myself to one of them, they’ll not hack the Auction House. Only then will they realize that recon was also done inside the building and, well, Eve and the others should have picked that up and reported it. Again, that will play into what you did.” He smiled. “You, Jess, did very well today, if I may say so myself, not only from what you did with Eve, but with my unit as well. Everything was perfect, we make a good pair, don’t you think?” He tugged on her ear a little. “It does seem that way. I was aiming to get her in trouble, and, well, I couldn’t just get in the van.” She nodded “So a struggle it had to be. When will you send that footage and to who will you send it?” “Hmm, about four. That will give the impression the rogues didn’t stop driving until then, plenty of time for them to get where they’re going as well. Though if those men of theirs are tracking that rogue scent down the highway, that will continue until it wears off. They won’t be looking here in the city for you at all, and we’ll leave without issue when we're ready to. I got a car downstairs in the hotel car park, and we'll take a drive to Olympia and use Wolf Airlines to fly out. You'll be severed from them by then so they won't be looking anymore.”