THE BACK DOOR

Now that I knew where I was, I didn't quite feel like hanging around, but Ben seemed determined to trace the five missing bags. He wasn't speaking, but I could tell he was on mindlink. Whenever Ben got on the mindlink, he would wear the same expression as if he were on the phone with someone. Based on his expression, he was having a pretty intense conversation and neither I, nor Jonah, nor even the three goons cared to prod him.

When Ben moved a couple of yards away to deal with it, the guys around me released a collective sigh of relief.

"What the hell happened in the Alpha's backyard?" Nix chuffed as he kicked one of the bags, "If these are bodies, I don't want to know what they did to p*** Alpha King off."

"Uh…" Jonah struggled to answer, "I can't tell you. It's blackout."

"Wait, these are really bodies?" Nix asked.

"Uh…" Jonah struggled, "I can't tell you. Uh… black out."

But no thanks to that, both Marlow and Ethan stepped away from the bags.

"Aie… I thought it was just bags of dirt from the lawn or something." Ethan admitted.

"No way they'd just fill bags with dirt and tell us to bury it." Marlow reasoned, "There's more than just dirt."

"Yeah, my Dad said not to unseal them under any circumstances." Nix said.

"And you're only telling us that now?" Ethan asked accusingly.

Nix shrugged, "As if anyone would open a body bag - have you smelled a dead rogue?"

I tried to remember. Did Ruby count?

I heard it was even worse after she died. They had to triple-bag her… I wondered if her remains were buried here too.

But while I regarded the jagged rock in front of us, the goons were regarding the small pile of bodybags through the x-ray lens of wild imagination.

"I guess it's true." Ethan said in uncharacteristic solemness, "Night Leaf dungeons are no joke."

"There's a reason why the rogues prefer to hit at Morning Light." Nix shrugged.

Yes, because you're on the border just next to their hidden rogue village!

"Well, Alpha King's our Alpha now too." Marlow said, "Rogues would think twice about trespassing."

"Aiehahahaha…" Ethan's "good humor" returned, "But imagine p***ing Alpha King off! We'd be turned to this s***."

The three goons looked at the bodybags.

"It's not…" I tried to explain, but then I remembered the blackout order, "It's not what you think."

"Yuh." Jonah tried to help, "It's not s***."

No wait, I take it back, I don't think Jonah was trying to help at all, because the next moment he broke into a grin and quoted, "Dust to dust."

"Quick messing around." Ben scolded, returning to us.

The three goons actually stood up straighter. Jonah grinned, but Ben was focused, "Nix, the other five bags are still in the Alpha's backyard. Take these four back, get a truck from the packhouse, and bring these to the incinerator plant outside Gate City. You can get the papers from the FAO."

"Yes, Beta." The three goons bowed and started packing up their stuff to grab the bags for the long trek back to Night Leaf's Alpha House.

Ben raised a brow. I don't think he was expecting this immediate obedience from the Morning Light Goons. He looked at Jonah who chuffed happily, "A strong alpha is very motivating."

Now Ben looked at me, "What did you do Sam?"

I shook my head, "It wasn't me!"

Those three had no respect for me!

Ben shrugged, "Whatever Sam. Come on, we've wasted enough time."

Because unlike me, Ben hadn't forgotten that the entire reason we were here was to use the back door to get into the detention facilities to meet Mimi and Alpha Mike - which I didn't want to do.

But maybe since Dad and Bell were there, maybe all we would have to do was sneak around to listen in a bit.

Dad and the elder leaders had been very tight lipped on Jude's situation. They even sent Harvey and Ki out of the meeting whenever they had to discuss it. I know it was because Dad wanted to settle everything within his generation's rule. At least if how Wolfgang had put it was true, then Dad's idea was to play the "bad cop" and clean up the threats to our pack so that when he handed the pack over, I would only need to play "good cop" and focused on nice things like… Wth was I supposed be doing?

If Dad really cleaned up all the crap, what would be left for me to do? Ribbon cutting and smiling for photographs as the face of peace and prosperity heralded in by Dad and my elders' sacrifices and hard work?

Was I only good enough to play the mascot? Grrr…

"Forget those idiots, Sam. We're here." Ben dismissed my visible irate as we stopped in front of what looked like an abandoned bunker.

"Jonah, use your card." Ben instructed, "If anyone ask, you're here to collect the log disks for me."

It looked old, sort of like a grey barn make of metal plates, but I noticed surveillance cameras, and also, the entrance require key card and fingerprint access.

Inside, it was dimly lit and looked like a warehouse for military gear. I followed the two guys - both of them walked as if they had walked here regularly.

I felt a little jealous. Ben and Jonah were younger than I was by a full year, but because they were boys, their fathers brought them along to work - even to places like the Rouge Graveyard and this hidden warehouse so they didn't look like a tourist gapping at the huge cartons of… I had no idea what was in there, but I could smell metal, plastic, gunpowder… and there were a few opened cartons, and I did recognize items like bullet proof vests. Was that a fork lift? We had a fork lift?

But back to my little jealousy - Gamma Harry was teaching them how to use a rifle since their twelfth birthday!

But because I was a girl, I never got to do any of this. I know they were just trying to protect me, this stuff wasn't exactly the typical activity the girls would ever have to do and its not like I wanted to have to set traps or bury dead bodies, but… I don't know…

I kind of wished I had a bit more experience so I wouldn't be such a noob. I was the Alpha, but every now and then, I really felt useless. It was like none of them expected me to run out in front of a war (that would be Bell's job?), or deal with rogues or traitors (Ben and Jonah's job?), plan my schedule, choose my own outfits, carry and keep my own stuff, open any door, take of my own coat, cut the meat on my plate…

Maybe one day, someone would be brushing my teeth for me.

I can't believe they were doing that! I guess that was the true meaning of spoiling. They were spoiling me so much, I would be too spoilt to be of any use. Worse, I can't believe I was just playing into their hands.

If this went on, wouldn't I be nothing but an empty puppet?

Even as the realization worried me, Ben pushed, I mean guided me to the end of the warehouse. Jonah used his card to tap in through one of the metal doors. He pushed it open and let us through.

We were in a smaller storeroom. It looked like it was storing electronic parts.

But the guys went straight to the door at the end of the room. This door was opened by a physical key. Jonah unlocked it and let us through.

Behind the locked door was a dirt tunnel. I followed Ben and Jonah through it for a distance. By now, I felt sure we had returned to the packhouse.

Jonah pushed open a door and we got out into an open area at the back of the detention facilities. So this was the back door - this was where the gammas and warriors came through after the interrogations to "clean up."

There were sink through, a muddy boot tray, a hose, floor drainage, and a rack with supplies like plastic suits, gloves, old training gear, shovels, stacks of folded blue bodybags in clear trash bags, pails… it was like a mud room for the dungeons. The new detention center also boasted a couple of shower rooms for the warriors just off the side of this area.

Jonah washed out his boots.

Ben and I were in sneakers… Ben's sneakers had bits of mud clinging to it. Mine were cleaner, but hahaha, we should've worn boots too.

"Now what?" Jonah asked.

Yeah. I looked at Ben too. After the renovations, the dungeon had been zoned out, and now the cells, interrogation room, prisoner showers, surveillance, etc were all separated by reinforced steel walls and plastered over with resin.

It's not like we could tap into any of the spaces and eavesdrop without being noticed.

In fact, we were right now definitely starring in our own surveillance camera movie. I guess we were running on the fact that as long as our appearance didn't get reported to or seen by any of our dads, we were in the clear.

It was the kind of sneaking around where you had to look very natural so as not to arouse any suspicion from the responsible grown ups that might see you.