"I'm going downstairs with you to talk to Zeke," I say as I follow Tobias out of bed. He looks like he wants to argue but after our disagreement this afternoon, he says nothing. I slip my robe on then gently pick up Peanut. She'll want nursed again sooner than later. "Will you grab the baby monitor?" He takes the wireless receiver off my nightstand, and we head downstairs. Just as I'm putting Peanut in the bassinet, which is tucked away in a quiet corner of the living room, there's a soft rap on the front door. Tobias opens it up and ushers Zeke and James inside, which we are both surprised to see. They look agitated.
"Come in, guys," Tobias says.
"Would either of you like some coffee?" I ask. "It's decaffeinated."
"I'd love a cup, Tris," James says.
"I'll take one, too," Zeke says then my eyes slip to Tobias'.
"That would be great, love," he says. I go into the kitchen and start a fresh pot. Since he had it ready to go for in the morning, all I have to do is hit the start button. I retrieve a tray and four mugs from the cupboards while the coffee brews. When it finishes, I pour us each a steaming cup then carry the tray into the living room.
"Thanks," James, Zeke, and Tobias each say after I give them a mug. I set the empty tray on the coffee table then sit in the club chair with my legs folded under my body and the steaming cup in my hands. Zeke takes a sip of his coffee, sets it on a coaster on the end table next to him, then gets up off the couch. He takes a flash drive out of his pocket and turns it over and over nervously between his fingers.
"James brought a few things to my attention earlier," he finally says.
"I transferred a copy to a removable disc drive and immediately gave it to Zeke," James says. Zeke plugs it into the port on the side of our television set and picks up our remote. After hitting a couple buttons a black and white picture comes up on the screen. He fast forwards the image then freezes it.
"I'm going to show you three different surveillance feeds," Zeke says. "Watch them carefully and tell me if you see anything interesting. I found this first one from around 7 a.m. this morning." He points the remote at the TV, presses play, and the frozen picture miraculously comes to life. The first video is from somewhere in the city but it's hard to tell exactly where due to the angle. The camera is focused on a pair of ramshackle brick buildings with broken, dirt-covered windows and boarded up doors restricting access to the condemned structures. I assume it's from one of the new cameras installed on the edge of the factionless sector, and my suspicions are soon confirmed when I see Molly come into view. She crosses from the lower right-hand corner of our large television to the upper left-hand section of the screen but stops before moving out of camera range. She looks around then steps into the long shadow between the buildings and disappears. I'm about to ask what's so special about this footage when the familiar-looking unknown subject comes into view. Unfortunately, his or her back is to the camera the entire time until they too disappear into the same alleyway Molly did so once again we're in the dark as to who this person is. There is one noticeable difference about the person though. Usually it's dressed head-to-toe in black shapeless clothes but today there's a thin white stripe running up the side of their pants.
"I scanned the footage forward but, unfortunately, they never reappeared," Zeke says after pausing the video once again. "The next two feeds were found by James and Nathan from inside the compound." Once again he presses play. This time I know exactly what I'm looking at. It's a wide angle shot of the hallway in front of our offices. The time and date stamp says it's from a little before 9 a.m. this morning, which is just before Tobias and Shauna were set to leave Dauntless on patrol business. Just as that thought crosses my mind, Tobias' office door opens, and they walk out into the hallway. He says something to her, and she laughs but not before hitting him on the arm. He opens the exit door and ushers her out. Almost immediately the unknown subject comes from the direction of the Pit path and stops at his office. Whoever it is keeps their head bent away from the camera so we don't see their face. They fish a key out of their pocket, open the door, and go inside after looking up and down the hallway one last time. Zeke fast forwards the footage, and I watch the time counter scroll almost two hours in a matter of seconds. The door opens an inch at a time and the intruder sticks its head out the door, checking to see if the coast is clear. When they see no one is around, they close the door, double check the lock then dash off in the direction of the Pit.
"Too bad I didn't think to put a camera somewhere in my office," Tobias mutters, mainly to himself. "We'd know exactly what this asshole looks like. As a matter of fact, cameras will be installed in each office tomorrow. They've hit Harrison's and now mine. Who's to say that they won't break into Tori's, Will's, or yours next?"
"It would take someone pretty ballsy to break into my office," I say. "They could easily be seen from the hallway and outside." I don't know why but my office is the only one with windows and there are a lot of them.
"Or someone who wouldn't stand out as being out of place," Zeke says, pressing play on the video again. What's he getting at? The next video is a split screen. On the left-hand side is half of the training room including the entrance and on the right is the other half including the doors to the locker rooms. Not surprisingly the entrance door opens, and the unknown subject skulks in and goes directly to the woman's locker room. This is a surprising twist. I think we all thought we were dealing with a male but it looks like our intruder is female. About 30 minutes later a group of familiar faces walk out. I know who they all are but I only know one personally. Peanut starts fussing but before I can get up, Tobias quickly goes to her bassinet, not taking his eyes off the TV and brings her to me. I hold her close to my chest, and she quiets down momentarily.
"Look at her bag?" James says. Zeke zooms the footage in on her hand. Although it's grainy, I see something black with a single white stripe sticking out of her bag. I start shaking my head.
"I'm sorry but I just don't believe it," I say. "We thoroughly vetted her and Ella both when we found out Dante and Samuel were Erudite spies. Nothing popped. Plus, what would her motivation be?"
"Proof is right there on screen," James says pointing to the television, which Zeke paused again. My eyes glide from the bag in Kirsten's hand with the incriminating evidence up to her face. She's chatting cordially with the other woman. She's showing zero nervousness. "Did you confirm that these other women were on video going into the training room this morning?"
"The surveillance footage was … glitchy … this morning," Zeke says. "The only person we got going in was the unknown subject."
"That's convenient," I mutter.
"I have to agree with Tris on this one," Tobias says.
"Four," Zeke starts to say but Tobias shakes his head.
"Before we confront Kirsten, I need to go through my office and see what's missing, if anything; the other woman thoroughly need investigated; and then we need to talk to each one of them. I can see something sticking out of Kirsten's bag but how do we know that it's the pants. It could be a different article of clothing. If one of the others is helping Molly, they would want to shift blame to someone else."
"Lauren is from Candor," I say, looking at her frozen image on the screen. "It might be a coincidence but it's strange that all our known players jumped into Dauntless from Candor. Kirsten is from Dauntless." Peanut starts crying, and I know it's past time for her to be nursed. "If you guys will excuse me, my daughter needs me." I turn toward the stairs and say, "I'm sorry, Peanut. Did Mommy make you wait too long?" When I reach my bedroom, I sit down in the brand new rocking chair next to her bassinet. I put her to my breast, and she quiets down. Tobias surprised me with the mission style rocker after I took Peanut into the nursery to feed her and she woke Tessa up. We had the hardest time getting them both to sleep that night.
I think about what I've learned today while I feed my hungry baby: Harrison's apartment and office were broken into and ransacked. Why? We don't know; Tori's apartment was broken into, although she didn't know until it was seen on surveillance; it looked like Kirsten, our friend, had incriminating evidence sticking out of her bag after the unknown subject went into the female locker room in the training room. Something just doesn't seem right. That person has been very careful to not leave any kind of clue as to who they are and in one day wears a distinctive pair of pants then leaves them hanging out of their bag on video, video that was glitchy all morning. No. Someone is setting her up. I'm sure of it. Then again, maybe that's what she wants us to think. Ugh! I hate this. When Peanut finishes nursing, Tobias is still downstairs. I put her in her crib in the nursery then head downstairs. I expect Zeke and James to still be here but they're gone. Tobias is standing at the windows, staring out. I check the monitor to make sure it's working then slide up behind him and wrap my arms around him.
"Love, you should be in bed," he says as he covers my hands with his. I lay my head against his back and hug him tightly.
"I'll go to bed if you join me," I say. "I get lonely without you."
"I can't. Not yet."
"Talk to me, Tobias."
"Do you think she could betray us like that?" he asks. He unwraps my arms from around his waist and leads me to the couch. He pulls me down sideways on his lap and wraps his arms protectively around me and buries his face in my neck.
"The rational part of me says no way but then the emotional part remembers Dante's betrayal, and I wonder if she had a good teacher."
"I know exactly what you mean," he sighs. "Zeke and James are both convinced of her guilt but I think that's because they've never liked her. Hell, I don't really like her myself but is that enough of a reason to arrest our friend and interrogate her?"
"There's one thing I'm convinced of. There needs to be some sort of investigation before she's approached," I say. "If it's her, we don't want to let her know she's made a mistake and if someone is setting her up, we don't want them to think they've gotten away with it. Does that make any sense? I'm kind of tired."
"I know what you mean."
"So the guys want you to have her arrested?" I say.
"Yeah," he says. "They think that the video is proof enough. Should we talk to her?"
"That's a tough one," I say. "If she's the one from inside Dauntless who is helping Molly then we're tipping our hand before we actually know anything. I don't know about you but I like when we know what the answers to our questions should be when we interrogate a suspect. However, if she's someone's pawn, asking her about whatever is in her bag might be helpful. The one thing that really bugs me is that the security camera footage from the training room is not complete from this morning."
"I agree with you 100% on that point," he says. "If it weren't for that it would make the decision a lot easier. Come on, let's get to bed." He tenderly kisses me then lets me off his lap. I grab the baby monitor off the end table then allow him to lead me up to our bedroom. Just as I'm dozing off, the girls both start crying, and I feel frustrated tears well up in my tired eyes. Tobias and I stumble out of bed and into the nursery. I pick up Peanut who immediately falls back to sleep and put her in her bassinet in our room. "Go back to bed, love. I'll take this one downstairs and give her a bottle."
"I'd like to argue but I'm just too tired," I say. He kisses my head after I slip back into bed then carries Tessa out of the room. The minute my head hits the pillow, I quickly fall asleep.
I drag my eyes open when I hear Peanut whimpering. I look at the clock and it's nearly 4 a.m. I gently ease out of bed not wanting to disturb Tobias but when I pick Teagan up, I realize our bed is now empty. I carry her into the nursery where I find Tessa sleeping soundly and start to worry about where their father is. I quickly change her diaper then get the sling carrier out, put it on, and get her latched onto my breast then I go downstairs in search of my husband. I hear soft voices that stop me from making my presence known.
"I don't know where else to look, Four," Will says. "I've looked everywhere. Their apartment is a mess. Zeke tells me the cameras were remotely accessed and turned off so we have no footage from anywhere."
"Have you checked the infirmary?" Tobias quietly asks.
"I've called … three times. Neither Tori or Frankie have been admitted." Tori? Frankie?
"What about the hospital in town?"
"No one with their descriptions have been brought into the emergency room," he says. "I've looked at the tattoo parlor, her office, the Pit, the infirmary, the cafeteria, the control room, the server room. I don't know where else to look."
"What's going on?" I ask, finally making my presence known.
"Oh, Tris," Tobias sighs when he sees me standing here.
"I'll tell her, Four," Will says.
"Love, you need to sit down." I sit in the club chair making sure that my bare breast is covered. I doubt anyone could see because the room is dimly lit but I don't want to take a chance.
"Zeke and James called me to the control room after they left your apartment earlier," Will says. "They wanted to show me what they had found on the security camera footage."
"They didn't like my idea of not arresting Kirsten outright," Tobias says. I sigh.
"Anyway, on my way home I noticed that Tori's door was ajar. I honestly don't remember it being that way when I left just an hour beforehand. I called out for her and Frankie but didn't get an answer. When I pushed the door open my heart sank. Their apartment had been ransacked. I immediately called her but her phone was there on the floor. I called Frankie also but got no answer. That's when I went home and told Christina that I had some business to attend to then I stopped by Tori's office and found it destroyed also. I've been all over this compound looking for them but I can't find either of them anywhere." The fatigue I was feeling just a few minutes ago has been replaced by adrenaline pumping quickly through my veins.
"What do we do?" I ask.
"You are going to go back to bed after you finish nursing Peanut," Tobias says, "and I am going to go with Will to look for them." He gives me a look that I dare not argue with. How could I? Who would watch our three little angels?
"Please, please, please be careful," I say, worry threatening to choke me. "Both of you. Let me know if I can do anything to help."
"Try to rest, love," Tobias says much more softly. He gets up off the couch and kisses my temple. I hadn't even noticed that he was dressed until he walks out the door followed closely by Will. I pull the sling away from Peanut and gaze at her as she nurses. Her little eyes are closed as she contentedly suckles. I breathe deeply as I keep my eyes on her but it does little to calm me. Where are you Tori? I sure hope she's okay and Frankie, too.
When Peanut finishes, I fix my shirt and tickle her face until I know she's sound asleep. I should put her in the bassinet but having her close is the only thing that's holding me together right now. I'm so worried. I decide to make myself another pot of coffee while I wait for Tobias and pad into the kitchen. I whip up a sausage, egg, and potato casserole while the coffee brews and put it in the refrigerator until it's time to go into the oven for breakfast. I pour myself a cup of coffee and sit in the club chair that faces the entryway and stare at the door, willing Tobias to come home. Every little noise has my eyes flying to the front door but it doesn't open. After my fourth mug of coffee, I decide to take a shower to try and calm my frayed nerves. I pick up the baby monitor and carry Peanut upstairs and into the nursery. I put her in her crib then go into my bathroom. I set the monitor on the counter and take my clothes off and put them in the hamper. I step into the massive glass-walled shower that could be a room in itself and turn the various showerheads on and find the right temperature. I stand and let the water beat down on my body. Normally this would be very relaxing but I'm too nervous right now. I feel a cool breeze hit my bare, wet backside and whirl around. Tobias steps into the stall with weary eyes. I practically launch myself into his arms.
"Thank God you're alright," I say as my mouth finds his. The anxiety from the past 24 hours acts like a lit fuse to the pent-up frustration from the past month causing an explosion of desire to rapidly move through both of us. I gasp when he pushes me up against the cold tile wall and moves his hot mouth to my wet neck. He slides his hands up my slick body to cover my aching breasts. I wrap my arms around his neck and arch my back, trying to feel every inch of his body against mine. He peppers kisses all over my neck, shoulders, and collarbone before moving his mouth to my swollen flesh. "Oh, God." I moan when his mouth envelopes the hardened bud, lightly lapping it with his talented tongue then nibbling on it gently causing me to gasp. He sucks, nips, and teases until I think my legs are going to go out from under me then drags his lips across my chest to my severely deprived nipple and he repeats each delicious flick of his tongue. I close my eyes and rest my head against the marble tile as steam swirls around our naked bodies, dreaming of where I know this can't lead. Or can it? I glide my hands down his body with the help of the water pouring down on us. I take him in my hand and start slowly moving my fist up and down. He's already harder than I've ever felt him but he lengthens and hardens further beneath my ministrations.
"Tris, please," he moans, which is the only invitation I need. I press myself against his body and slowly slide down to my knees, maintaining eye contact the entire time. I grasp him with my fist and take him in my mouth, and he groans long and low. He moves his hands to either side of my head and tangles them in my dripping locks and I can't tell if he's wanting me to stop or continue but it's out of his control now. I swirl my tongue around his head focusing on the sensitive underside, and his eyes roll back in his head. I love that I can do that to him, give him such pleasure … pleasure he's been denying himself these past few weeks just because I can't make love. I take him out of my mouth and lick up and down his shaft, and he moans an expletive.
"I love how hard you are for me, baby," I say. He opens his eyes and gazes down at me with a look that threatens to set me on fire. I give him a small smile then take him back in my mouth, coordinating my hand and tongue with the movements of my head. I hear his breathing quicken over the sound of the water, and I know he's close. I suck a little harder and quickly swirl my tongue around his shaft on my upward passes then move him further and further into my mouth until he stiffens and erupts with a loud groan. I swallow quickly continuing each fluid movement until he releases himself fully. I kiss my way up his body, and he cups my face and draws my mouth to his, kissing me thoroughly. He thrusts his tongue between my quivering lips and mates it with mine. He picks me straight up and I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs tightly around his waist. He growls into my open mouth then pulls his lips away from mine.
"You should be in bed," he roughly says in my ear but he doesn't release me.
"Are you going to take me to bed?" I ask, breathlessly.
"I would love nothing more but I won't do anything that might hurt you," he says.
"That's why I love you so much," I say, lowering my mouth to his again.
"Love, we really need to stop," he roughly says. I run my fingers through his hair and nod at him. He's right. I release my legs from around his waist, and he lowers me to my feet. "God, I love you."
"I love you, too," I say. He picks up my shampoo and lathers up my hair while I run the bath poof with his shower gel all over his body then we switch and I wash his hair while he runs his hands all over my body, cleaning me.
"We should probably get out of here," he says. "The kids will all be up soon if they aren't already."
"You're right," I say as I turn off the water. He steps out into the bathroom and wraps a towel around his waist then gets a second towel off the warmer and wraps it around my shoulders and pulls me close. He cups my chin and runs his thumb over my lips as he stares in my eyes.
"I don't know whether to say thank you or be angry for what this beautiful mouth just did to me a few minutes ago," he says.
"I wanted to," I say. "So did you."
"Yeah, I did but I'm not going to let it happen again, not until we can make love … together. It's not fair to you," he says. "It took everything I had not to just slip inside of you when I was holding you so close. It would have been awesome but then I would have hated myself afterwards."
"I'm so sorry, Tobias," I say. He slips both hands up into my wet hair and touches his forehead to mine. "I just wanted you to give me what I was wanting, and I didn't care about your feelings. I was being selfish. I'm sorry."
"We're both frustrated, love. Neither one of us does well when we can't have sex," he says with a chuckle. "We're as stubborn as a certain 2 year old we both know. In the past when we've dealt with stressful Dauntless situations, the first thing we do is turn to each other, which is what happened in the shower. Am I right?"
"You are so right," I say. "How are we going to get through this next two weeks? I'm going crazy." He moves his mouth to mine and kisses me slowly, thoroughly.
"We'll figure it out," he breathlessly says, kisses my head, and then lets me go. "Why didn't you go back to sleep earlier?" He takes another towel off the warmer and thoroughly dries his hair.
"I was too worried to sleep," I say. "Did you find her? Is she okay? I can't believe I didn't ask before now."
"There's still no sign of her anywhere," he says. "We can't find Frankie either. When I talked to Zeke about the security cameras he told me exactly what Will said, the system was remotely accessed and every camera in the city went out for 4 minutes and 30 seconds, which is ample time for someone to cover their tracks. I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Why is this happening?" I ask as I pull on a pair of low rise boy shorts that fall beneath my sensitive incision scar. "Did we do something to cause all this?" He stops what he's doing and stares at me.
"Love, we haven't done anything wrong," he says. "I wish we had clear cut answers as to why this is going on but we don't. Even if Molly or whoever is behind this craziness does try to blame us, it's their problem not ours." We finish dressing in our walk in closets after hanging up our damp towels.
"There's a casserole in the refrigerator I made while you were out looking for Tori and Frankie," I say. "Do you want to put it in the oven?"
"Okay," he says then stills. "I think I hear our son whispering to his sisters." I stop and listen to the monitor, which we brought with us.
"Awe you wake, Tess?" I know she is when I hear her coo back at him. "Do you want Mommy?"
"Ma ma ma ma ma ma," she says.
"I go get hew," Tyler says. I hear his footsteps even before I open the door into our bedroom. "Hi, Mommy! Tess wants you. I think baby still sleepin'."
"Good morning, buddy," I say then squat down and hug him tightly. I still can't pick him up but I'm hoping that I'll be able to after my postpartum appointment. I miss holding him. "So how do you know Tessa wants me?"
"She told me," he says matter-of-factly.
"Okay."
"Good morning, buddy," Tobias says as he comes into the bedroom. He whisks him up into his arms causing him to giggle uncontrollably. "How's my boy this morning?"
"I hungwy, Daddy" he says. "Can we have cake?"
"Um, no," I say. He sticks his bottom lip out and starts pouting. "We don't eat cake for breakfast."
"Uncle Wiah does," he says. Damn Uriah better not be feeding my 2-year-old cake for breakfast.
"Is this your way of saying you miss Uriah," Tobias asks him.
"Yeah," he says. "Can we have lunch with him?"
"Lunch?" I say. "Probably not but we might be able to have supper. It's probably time to introduce everyone to your baby sister anyway but Daddy has a lot of business to take care of so don't be disappointed if we can't go. Okay?"
"Otay," he says. "Let's eat."
"How about we go downstairs and finish breakfast," Tobias says. "Mommy started it." He gives me a swift kiss then heads downstairs. Tyler's right. When I go into the nursery Peanut is still asleep and Tessa is lying in her crib chewing on her toes.
"Do your toes taste good, little one?" I ask her. She beams and starts jabbering as I pick her up. I strip her out of her onesie and change her diaper then sit down and nurse her, softly talking to her the entire time. Just as she finishes, Teagan wakes up and makes a fuss. I put Tessa back in her crib and pick up Peanut. "Good morning. Are you hungry?" I quickly change her diaper after taking her onesie off then sit in the rocker to nurse her. When she finishes, I put her in her crib then find an outfit for each of them. The first thing that jumps out at me is the matching outfits that Tobias bought them. Even though I swore I would not make them match, I can't resist the leopard print onesie with a black tulle bow, matching tulle skirt, and black headband with a leopard print bow. They are going to look so cute. I first dress Teagan then Tessa. I put the sling on, get Peanut situated, then pick up Tessa and carry her on my hip, which she loves.
"Come to Daddy, Pebbles," Tobias says, taking her from me after we step into the kitchen. He looks in the sling and sees that Peanut is dressed like her sister and smiles brightly at me.
A loud knock interrupts our tender kiss and Tyler goes running into the other room shouting, "I get it, I get it."
"Tyler Aaron, don't you dare open that door," Tobias says, following after him. I shake my head as I put Peanut in her bassinet then follow after them. They step aside and Will, Zeke, Shauna, Purple-Hair, and Snake-Tattoo walk into our living room. The moment I see their faces I know we have more bad news coming.
"Buddy, why don't you take your puzzles into the sunroom," I say. "Mommy and Daddy need to talk to our friends."
"Otay," he says. "Can Tess come with me?"
"I think she's going to stay with us," Tobias says. Tyler shrugs then picks up his puzzle book and goes to one of the loveseats in the sunroom. Tessa looks at Purple-Hair or maybe it's Snake-Tattoo and her bottom lip starts quivering.
"Come here, little one." I take her from Tobias who immediately starts pacing, and she lays her head down on my shoulder. She peeks up to see if they're still there and starts whining. I turn her so her back is to them and she quiets down. "Did you find them?" I ask, getting the conversation started.
"There's still no sign of Tori," Will says.
"But two hours ago Frankie was found," Snake-Tattoo says but says nothing further.
"Well, where?" Tobias finally asks.
"In the chasm."