Surprisingly, someone picked up after the first ring. “Harlow, is everything alright? Did you change your mind?” a man asked.
“Who is this?”
The guy went silent for a moment before asking the same question back. “Who is this?”
“I’m Harlow’s boyfriend and partner, Foxx,” he said stiffly. “Now, who is this? And I expect an answer this time. Because I found his phone on the ground just feet from his very unlocked Jeep, which by the way, is no doubt full of weapons. So talk!”
“That…is concerning. Foxx Honeywell, right?”
“Yes…?” he said hesitantly.
“Well, Foxx, I’m Dr. Wes Ackerman, Harlow’s psychiatrist. I can’t tell you too much more than that. But I will say that he had an appointment with me at 3:45pm, but never showed up.”
Foxx’s eyes widened. That…had not been what he’d expected the man to say. “His…psychiatrist… Are you fucking with me?”
“Ha… No, I’m not.”
“I…Well, fuck. I don’t have time for this. Since you don’t know what happened, I’m hanging up. Bye,” Foxx snapped, and he was about to slam the phone shut when he noticed that Harlow had a new text.
Opening the inbox, he eyed the weird number before opening the new message. Foxx’s brow rose on seeing a picture of himself at the door of the apartment, with a time and date at the bottom. “What…”
Frowning, he scrolled up, his eyes widening on finding more pictures of his front door, with a mix of him, Harlow, and even Alastair further up. Shaking his head, he closed the phone.
“Whatever that is…it's likely just fucking Harlow being himself. Focus, Foxx!” he told himself, before taking a deep breath and pulling out his phone again.
Foxx was about to call Tony when he spotted a security camera above the convenience store near where Harlow’s SUV was parked.
His gaze flicked back and forth between the camera and where the phone had been, before he made the split decision that it was worth checking out.
Pocketing both phones, he sprinted over and into the store, gasping, “I need to see your outside security footage!”
The tall, lean man standing at the checkout counter blinked a few times, but said nothing.
“Hello?! Anyone home?” Foxx hissed, snapping his fingers. He cursed when the man continued to stare dumbly at him, looking for all intents and purposes like he either didn’t hear him, or he just really gave that little of a fuck about everything going on around him. Pulling out his hunter’s badge, he demanded, “Get your damn manager.”
The man stiffened at the flash of his badge, and finally started to act like he wasn’t braindead. Foxx tapped his foot impatiently as the man got out from behind the counter and headed into the back. A few seconds later, the guy returned with a man who was balding and shorter than Foxx.
“Can I help you with something, sir?” the short human asked with a stiff smile.
“Official Hunters Guild business. I need to see the security footage from today around 3:30pm from the camera you have looking out over the parking lot.”
“Ah…okay…follow me.”
The man spun and Foxx followed him back to a tiny room with a wall of banned customers, a desk, and a computer. Foxx stood behind the shorter man as he sat in the chair and pulled up the footage.
“Here is the time you requested,” the man said before standing up and waving him towards the chair.
Foxx quickly sat and used the mouse to slide through the video, stopping and pressing play when Harlow’s vehicle pulled in. His heart thudded away as he watched Harlow park, the thing speeding faster and faster with each second that ticked by while he waited to see the moment something went wrong… And something did go wrong.
Harlow got out, took a few steps away and then paused to look around, as if he sensed that someone was there. But seconds later, he pocketed something in his hand, before reaching into his jacket and pulling out his phone. The last answered call...
When the call ended and Harlow started to lower his flip phone...that’s when it happened.
The human suddenly went stiff, the phone falling from his hand as he grasped at his neck. Harlow appeared to pull something off himself before throwing whatever it was away. Spinning around, the human took one step back before collapsing.
The store owner behind him gasped. Foxx ignored him, his eyes glued to the feed, his hands clenched into fists as two figures appeared almost out of nowhere, the camera too slow to capture them entering. Seconds later, both Harlow and the figures were gone.
Taken… Someone had taken Harlow… His vision once again tried to close in, but Foxx fought it back.
