Tracking Payton

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“We should have told Payton we were leaving.” Colin said standing outside of Nick’s house.

Alex stared at the house in front of him not bothering to answer. It had been a d**k move leaving without a word but the less Payton knew the better. “If someone was trying to kill Nick the further away from it she is, the better.”

“So your doing it to protect her?” Colin gave him a look that Alex didn’t like.

“Of course. Nick would expect me to keep his daughter safe.”

“Uh huh,” Colin chuckled not believing him.

“What?” He asked going on the defense. Colin couldn’t know how he felt about Payton. He’d gone out of his way since they were teenagers to keep his distance from her. He never brought her up in conversation. He barely treated her like she existed. It was another d**k move but it was the only thing he could think of to help keep his distance from her. If she hated him, she wouldn’t be attracted to him.

“Dude, come on, it’s me your talking to.” Colin stood there, waiting for him to say something.

“What’s your point?” Alex kept staring at the house so he didn’t have to look at Colin and give himself away. Colin would have made a hell of a Delta if he’d applied. The man was ruthless, cunning and too damn perceptive or his own good.

“You’ve always been sweet on her.” Colin said as a fact.

“That’s not true.” He hadn’t allowed himself.

“You covered it up well by being a d**k to her, but I saw through your bullshit even back when we were kids. You’ve always had the hots for her. Not that I can blame you. She is a looker.”

“Watch it.” Alex growled finally turning to look at him, his fists balling at his side.

“Well if your willing to let a fine woman like that go to waste, maybe I’ll take a shot. She did always like me better.” Colin elbowed him in the ribs.

Alex knew Colin was taunting him into a response but the logical part of his brain didn’t care. His vision turned red at the thought of Colin and Payton together. Before he knew it, his fist was swinging. Colin knew it was coming though and easily dodged it.

“Just admit it.” Colin chuckled, not caring Alex just took a swing at him.

“There’s nothing to admit. Now drop it.” Alex wasn’t going to get into the tangled web of emotions he had for Payton. As far as he was concerned there were none. He’d help find Nick’s attacker and go back to his life. There was no reason to see Payton again.

“Fine, so what are we looking for.”

“The Colonel is a paranoid man. He always has a contingency plan. I don’t think this was a random attack. Someone would have to know his schedule and was waiting for him. He would have kept a log of it. Car and person description. Maybe a license plate. Knowing Nick, he probably followed them more than they did him. My guess its somewhere in the house.” Nick would keep something like that personal and not at his base office. If nothing panned out here, he’d check his base office.

“Sounds good. But where to look. The logical place to start would be his office. He was always meticulous no one enter it.”

Exactly. Nick didn’t believe in the expected. He would have hidden any notes in the least likely place.

“But Nick’s not conventional. Which more likely leaves the upstairs.”

Alex agreed. “We’ll start from the top and work our way down.” He stopped in front of the front door. “You wouldn’t happen to have a key, do you?” He didn’t want to try and break into Nick’s house.

Colin smiled smugly as he pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. “Of course I do. I’m his favorite son.”

Alex rolled his eyes following him inside. Yeah right. “We all know I’m his favorite.”

“Not when you left to become a delta. I took on that role.”

Alex scoffed heading upstairs for his old room. “You’re just jealous I’m cooler than you.”

“More like boring. Special Forces have a better sense of humor than you deltas. You’re all so serious.” Colin dropped his voice in a mocking tone.

It was an age old tradition for them to rib on each other. It got worse when they chose their profession. They always teased the other for their job being better than the others. Even though Colin wasn’t part of Special Forces anymore once a Special Forces always a Special Forces.

Alex stopped in front of his room and turned to Colin. “Just go check Nick’s room.”

“Aye aye Captain.” Colin gave him a mock salute and headed further down the hall to the Colonel’s room.

It felt odd to be back in his old house. He hadn’t been back since he left and joined basic training. His room looked exactly how he left it. Grunge band posters on the wall. His neat and orderly desk and perfectly made bed. It was as if this room had been stuck in a time warp and nothing had disturbed it.

“Alright Nick, where did you hide it?” Nick would have hidden where only he could find it. He knew Alex would never go in Nick’s office or bedroom. That left the only logical place as Alex’s bedroom. “Think like Nick. Think like Nick.”

He started with the obvious place, his desk. Looking through all the drawers. Nothing there but dust and a stray pencil that had grown an afro of dust bunnies. Next, he felt behind the posters and looked behind pictures. Empty. He gaze roamed around the room. There was only so many places he could think of for the Colonel to hide something. He looked at his dresser but dismissed it. Then his gaze landed on the closet.

He crossed the room and slid the door open. A few shirts hung on hangers. There was nothing on the top shelf but he ran his hand over it just to be sure. There were a few pairs of shoes and a duffle bag on the floor. But his shoes were haphazardly tossed in there. Not at all how he left them. The Colonel would have had his a*s if he’d left his shoes like that. There was only one reason Alex could think they were like that.

Could it be? Had Nick found his secret stash spot?

Squatting down he pulled his shoes and bag out of the way. There was a loose floorboard he used to pull out and hid food and other provisions back in the day. When he first started living with Nick, he’d hid food and money in here in case he was starved or needed to make a quick getaway. When Alex got comfortable living here it switched to dirty magazines other harmless teenager stuff.

“Please let me be right about this.” He lifted the floorboard and peered inside. At first, he didn’t see anything and his shoulders drooped in defeat but then he saw something. He pulled out his phone used the flashlight app to look inside. There was a manila envelope with his name on it. Jackpot.

“I didn’t find anything useful.” Colin asked from the doorway. “Is that what we’re looking for?” He came fully into the room and looked down at the envelope in Alex’s hands.

“I don’t know.” Alex lied. We’ll it wasn’t a complete lie. He didn’t know what was inside, but he suspected what information was inside. It felt odd shaped and hard, so it wasn’t paper. He’d look inside later. He trusted Colin with his life but what was in this envelope was a matter of national security and almost got Nick killed. “But if it is, I guess that means I’m still the favorite.” Alex smiled smugly.

“d**k,” Colin muttered. “Well open it and find out.”

“I will.” But he didn’t make a move to open it. Not yet.

Colin looked at him serious. “Alex, what the f**k is going on?”

Alex gulped. Colin never swore unless he was upset and it took a lot to piss him off. His hard earned control was well known. When he blew, you better get out of the way.

Alex should have known better. He was never very good at keeping secrets from Colin and now he’d just offended Colin’s intelligence but lying to his face. “I’ll tell you later. When we’re at a more secure location.”

“More secure than Nick Weber’s house?”

“Walls have ears. I promise, I’ll tell you.”

“You better.” Colin warned with a pointed finger.

No more secrets. Honestly Colin’s help could be beneficial. “What did you find?” He nodded at the binder Colin was holding.

“It’s not evidence but I found this in the Colonel’s room.” He opened the book to reveal pictures and reports on him and Colin. Page after page of their growing through the ranks to colin’s accident.

“Dad liked to keep tabs on you guys.”