In the grey-toned video, they saw the four of them: Tamika, the man named Simon that Faith had only just met, and the two kids were walking past the camera's field of view. The kids were bouncing, and Tamika had her head thrown back in a laugh that was clearly inspired by something that Simon had said. They were across the street from the camera, and just as they passed out of the range of the camera, a car zipped through the frame and hopped up onto the curb. Simon's body rolled up onto the hood and slid off, out of the frame again.
Two men jumped out of the car and went running toward the front of the car and out of the frame. The soundless video gave them no indication of what was happening until one of the men dragged the two kids, both fighting and clearly shouting for help. The other man came back into the frame and pulled something out of his pocket and showed the kids, but it wasn't caught by the camera.
Whatever it was, the kids stopped struggling. Faith reached over and gripped Marc's arm when Jake tried to step in front of Kaylee, but they were both shoved into the back of the car. The two men then jumped into the front and the car took off.
The silence in the room when the video stopped was thick.
"I'll fucking destroy them," Marc growled in garbled speech. Aldric hissed in what Faith assumed was agreement.
"Yes!" Leo crowed, oblivious to the tension in Aldric's office.
"You are pleased that our clan was attacked, in broad daylight, in our own damn town?" Marc growled.
Leo's wide eyes flashed up to the screen. “What? No, Alpha. I'm sorry. I was excited because I managed to get the license plate of that car. That's all. Aldric, my offer stands. If you need more people, I'm more than happy to help make a mess of these guys. Is... is Tamika going to be okay?" He finished up by chewing on his lower lip and looking back down at his keyboard.
"You will have to call your sister for confirmation, but it sounded like Tamika was not as badly wounded as Simon. He will be in the clinic for at least two days, she said, for monitoring," Marc growled.
"They put the children at risk by driving so recklessly," Aldric said. He pulled up another window and started typing. "I am calling in all my enforcers. There will be people posted at the clinic and here at the house as well, but the rest of us are going hunting."
The snarl from Marc, who returned to his pacing, and the nod from Leo made Faith feel a little better, but she had to ask.
"Are we going to call that detective? Not that I think he can do anything really, but..."
Marc stopped pacing and closed his eyes in thought. After a moment, he shook his head slowly. "No. I think that at this point, we take care of this problem ourselves."
"Marc," Aldric sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. "You realize that this might spark a conflict with the Goldfang Stalker pack. Shall I prepare for that possibility."
"Absolutely. Anyone that feels that they can stroll into our territory and commit acts of violence has already proven that they have little respect for rules or civilized behavior," Marc said. "We will prepare for war if necessary, but once we have everyone back safely, I will try diplomacy first.”
A knock on the front door interrupted the little meeting, and they all stared at each other.
"Clan members would just come in," Marc growled.
"I'll get it," Faith said, heading to the hallway. She felt more than heard Marc follow her.
"I'm not taking any damn chances with your safety," he said.
She pulled the front door open and almost took a step back into Marc when Detective Lincoln turned and gave her a slightly relieved look.
"Well, thank goodness at least you're okay," he said. "May I come in?"
"Maybe you should explain what you mean by that first?" she asked.
The detective glanced at Marc and took a step back. "I guess you've heard about the attack in town?"
Marc's growl sounded less than human to Faith's ears, but hopefully that was just because she knew about his wolf, and not because it actually sounded lupine.
"Madeline called, yes," Marc answered.
"There were several witnesses to the incident, and we think part of it may have been caught on the security cameras on the bank across the street. We're hoping to get some clues when we can get our hands on that footage. May I come in?" Detective Lincoln eyed Marc and didn't actually look like he thought coming in was a good idea, but was determined to do his job.
There was another growl from Marc and Faith sensed more than heard Aldric hissing in the office. Detective Lincoln shivered slightly.
"Now is really not a good time, detective," Faith said, just a little desperately. Please let this nice, totally human police officer go away so that nobody gets accidentally mauled.
"I understand that your emotions are very understandably stressed. We are doing everything we can to find out who assaulted your friends and took the children. I'm here to help, Mr. Keller. Are you reluctant to speak to me due to a ransom demand?"
Marc's growling was becoming more constant and less human, and Faith was beginning to worry that he was losing his control again. She held up a hand to the detective and turned to Marc.
"Why don't you go check on Aldric? I think he could use some help.” She met his eyes and would swear she saw the wolf in them, but he just nodded and spun on his heel and stalked back down the hallway. Faith took a deep breath and turned back to the detective who looked surprised and a little impressed.
"I understand that Mr. Keller is upset. I can't
