Chapter 20

** Message from the author – Hey everyone! So sorry it has taken me so long to update. I've been really busy and away for a while. I'll try update more again soon!**

ZEKE

I woke up and turned to look at Shauna. I watched her sleeping, staring at her beautiful face. She was so peaceful when she was asleep. She no longer worried about the lack of use of her legs – not that that was an issue between us but when she thought I wasn't looking, I saw the haunted look cross her face after everything we had been through. And I worried about her. I wrapped my arms tighter around her, and cuddled back up to her. She groaned softly, waking. "Morning," she said as she snuggled back into my neck.

"Morning," I replied and kissed her forehead. I was getting used to this. I wasn't sure I would like the settled life, but I was really enjoying seeing Shauna all the time and waking up with her. Though we were alternating between each of our places and we kept a couple of nights free and alone so we wouldn't "crowd" each other.

But being so wrapped up in my life with Shauna meant that I had been somewhat out of the loop with what was going on with the outside world. I wasn't as focused on everyone else for a change. And that was both a blessing and a hindrance. I used to constantly have my finger on the pulse but lately I almost wouldn't have a clue with what was happening. I had kept out of it all lately and taken some time off work. Was about time I balanced the two and got back into it.

"Have you seen Tobias lately?" she asked me. I had filled her in on some parts of what was going on, though hadn't told her everything. She didn't know that Mar and Uri were back. Until we knew for sure it was them, Tobias, Amar, George and I agreed that we would keep it in-house. And so far that had worked. Majority of the trainees they were working with, weren't former Dauntless so it was a fairly minimal group that knew the others previously. So the situation had been very neatly contained so far.

"No I haven't," I replied and thought about it. I knew that he and Candice were at odds with each other for a while. Though they had spent a night together. But come to think of it, I had heard somewhere that they were missing. At first I thought they must be holed up somewhere working out their differences. But now I wasn't so sure. I had been out to his apartment a few times and tried his phone multiple times over the days and nothing.

"That's odd," Shauna mused, "you two had been spending a lot of time together. It's not me is it?" she asked, drawing the conclusion that he was leaving us be. Or that I was avoiding him because of her.

"No, I don't think so. I haven't been able to contact him. I might head in and see what I can find out. It's probably time I went to work anyway," I said and she giggled against me.

"Yeah it probably is," she said, still laughing. "What did he say when he found out?" she asked me a little nervously and I chuckled at the memory. Everyone that I had told had just smiled knowingly.

"He said it was about time," I replied and she smiled her shy smile. "I really should go to work," I said and she nodded. I reluctantly got up and showered before putting on what I wore to work most days – functional and practical clothes – and said goodbye to Shauna before heading into the Compound and straight into George's office. Amar was also there. Made it easy to catch up with everything with the two of them together.

"Have you seen Four?" I asked George and Amar.

"Haven't you heard?" Amar responded and I shook my head. "He and Candice were taken two days ago."

"What do you mean taken?"

"Like Cara and Matthew taken," Amar answered.

"Where from? Do we know anything?"

"They were in Four's old instructor quarters."

"FourTris?" I asked.

"Unknown. Reports are that they were different. Previously have been small groups, minimal violence, mixed clothing. This was a group all in black and a lot larger. Seemed reasonably violent and they were all wearing masks," George answered and I became worried. If they were violent and managed to get Four, they must be good. Or quite a large group indeed, because Four could certainly handle himself. That was a worrying thought.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Now we wait," Amar replied. "We have no leads, no means of contacting FourTris and no ideas of how to proceed."

"Right," I replied contemplatively. Was there a way I could contact FourTris? I didn't think that Four had managed to contact them and other than the obscure notes, they hadn't contacted him. Obscure notes! That was it. Maybe there was something in the quarters to let us know that they had taken Four.

"What are you thinking?" Amar asked me and I shrugged nonchalantly. I needed time to search it without being interrupted. FourTris had been very careful about where and how they left notes for Tobias.

"I hope they are ok," I replied and Amar and George nodded. "How are the other Protectors going without Candice?" I asked.

"They have just been told that Tobias and Candice are scoping out a location for an extended training activity," George replied and I nodded at the sense it made. I needed to search Four's quarters. If I ran straight out of here, chasing down a lead, they would inevitably follow me and I just wanted time to have a look myself.

I needed to take my time and push the thought from my mind. "So what's going on in the Fringe?" I asked, "Any news on Vladimir?"

"No news on Vladimir, he seems to have gone underground. Christina also hasn't been seen lately. The atmosphere in the Fringe seems to be becoming more tense and we are anticipating some kind of incident to occur soon. We don't imagine it would be too drastic at this stage but it is completely unknown."

"Definitely sounds like something is coming. What have we got in terms of eyes and ears?" I asked. We needed intel and it sounded like we needed it now if it wasn't already too late.

"Not a lot. We had Jack and James following Christina but they disappeared when she did," George replied, referring to two officers that were ex-Dauntless and now officers of the law.

"Any news on their safety?" Too many people were disappearing lately and I really didn't like it. I regretted spending so much leisure time with Shauna when this was the result. I should have been here to see the situation unfold and to stop it.

"Nothing."

"Wonderful," I said and ran my fingers through my hair in angst. "I need some air," I said and left taking the convoluted back way to Four's old quarters. I entered the room cautiously. The furniture seemed tossed but thankfully there was no sign of blood. Other than descriptions of the assailants in that they were wearing all black and a much larger more brute force group, nothing from the picture they had left behind said Four was in imminent danger.

I eyed the room carefully as I thought about the other clues FourTris had left – under a floorboard in Cara's bedroom and in the library books on Matthew's bookshelf. Where would they hide something in Tobias' room? Something to do with Tris maybe? Or his weapons/training?

Four had taken majority of his personal belongings when he had left here. His bed had remained, as had the Dauntless furniture of a locker, chest of drawers and so on. But there weren't really any personal effects here. I walked over to his bed and lifted the mattress, checking underneath it. Nothing. Next I checked the chest of drawers. Each drawer was empty but I felt along the underside of each one and on the bottom drawer felt something.

I carefully pulled it off. There was a letter. Not that it was legible. I sighed.

"4 6 say fat hour lock weight."

I tried to think about what it could mean. 4 and 6 were obviously Four and Tris. He had explained that after we found the books. Say fat hour lock weight? What did that mean? I finally worked it out when I said the words aloud. Safe at our loc. Wait. Ok so FourTris had them and so they were fine. Presumably they had wrecked the room so no one knew who had them. I wondered when they would be back.

Should I tell Aram and George?

I decided to sit on the information for now.

But what to do now? I couldn't do anything about Four but perhaps I could move forward with the rest while I waited for him to come back. I thought about what our main objectives were at the moment.

We needed more information on Vladimir and Christina. And where had Jack and James disappeared to? That still didn't make sense. The last time they had reported in, they were close to Christina's apartment. I decided to head over there and see if there was anything subtle that had been missed as it had at each other location so far. Notes from FourTris or this proletariat group.

Actually we needed more on the Protectors as well. We needed to establish for once and for all who they were. If they were indeed our fallen comrades and family or if they were just uncanny lookalikes. But how could I determine that?

Dammit I hoped Four was back soon. I needed to pick someone's brain about things and he was the only one who knew anything. Either that or I would have to confide in someone else. But who? Dare I drag Shauna into the danger?