Chapter 52 It's about to go down
Elara burst into the playroom to find Betty sobbing and security guards searching every corner.
"What happened?" Elara demanded.
"I turned around for ten seconds to get his juice and when I looked back he was gone," Betty cried. "The door was still closed, the windows were locked, he just vanished."
"People don't vanish," Reese said, appearing behind Elara. "Check the ventilation system."
One guard climbed up to check the air duct and found it unscrewed from inside. "Someone small enough could fit through here."
"Adrian's two years old," Elara said. "He can't unscrew vent covers."
"But someone could remove it, take him through the ducts, and replace it behind them," Reese said. "How long has Betty been alone with him?"
"Twenty minutes," Betty said. "I was watching him the whole time except those ten seconds."
"Someone was waiting for that exact moment," Reese said. "They knew Betty's routine, knew when she'd turn away."
"The security purge," Kai realized. "Whoever took him knew we'd be distracted with internal investigations."
Elara's phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "I have your son. Meet me alone or he dies. Location attached."
The location was a warehouse in neutral territory, the same place Elena had taken Adrian before.
"It's a trap," Kai said immediately.
"I don't care," Elara said and grabbed her keys.
"You're not going alone," Kai said.
"The message said alone," Elara argued.
"Then they're asking for something impossible," Kai said. "I'm coming with you."
"We're both coming," Reese said. "But we do this smart, not emotional."
They took Reese's vehicle with her driving while Kai called federal agents to report a kidnapping.
"They'll need time to mobilize," Reese said. "We'll be there first."
"Good," Elara said. "I'm not waiting for bureaucrats while my son is in danger."
They reached the warehouse thirty minutes later and found it dark and seemingly empty.
"This feels wrong," Reese said, scanning the area. "Too quiet."
"I'm going in," Elara said and opened her door but Reese grabbed her arm.
"Give me two minutes to scout the perimeter," Reese said. "If someone's waiting inside, I'll find them."
She disappeared into shadows and Elara waited with Kai, every second feeling like an eternity.
Reese returned looking grim. "Three heat signatures inside, one small enough to be Adrian, two adults."
"Where?" Kai asked.
"Center of the warehouse, no cover, no easy approach," Reese said. "They want you to walk into the open where they have clear shots."
"Then that's what I'll do," Elara said.
"Not alone you won't," Kai said. "I'll go with you."
"That's what they're counting on," Reese said. "They want you both exposed so they can eliminate you simultaneously."
"So what do you suggest?" Elara asked.
"I go in alone," Reese said. "I'm not emotionally invested so I can negotiate rationally."
"They didn't ask for a negotiator," Elara said. "They asked for me."
"Then we give them you," Reese said. "But we do it my way."
She spent five minutes outlining a plan that made Elara's stomach churn but seemed like their only option.
Elara would enter through the front with hands visible and unarmed.
Kai would circle around to a side entrance Reese had identified.
Reese would position herself on the roof with a rifle for cover.
"If anything goes wrong, I shoot first and apologize later," Reese said.
"Don't shoot near Adrian," Elara said.
"I'm a professional," Reese said. "I don't miss."
They moved into position and Elara pushed open the warehouse's main door, calling out, "I'm here alone like you asked."
Footsteps echoed and a figure emerged from shadows holding Adrian who was crying softly.
"Mama," Adrian whimpered.
"I'm here baby," Elara said and took a step forward.
"Stop," the figure said and Elara recognized the voice immediately.
Mandivus Swathi stepped into a shaft of moonlight coming through broken skylights.
"Didn't expect to see me so soon?" Mandivus asked.
"Let my son go," Elara said.
"Why would I do that?" Mandivus asked. "He's my leverage."
"Your leverage for what?" Elara asked. "You're already facing life in prison."
"I'm facing nothing because I'll be out of the country by morning," Mandivus said. "But I wanted to tie up loose ends first."
"Killing me won't change anything," Elara said.
"No, but it'll satisfy my need for revenge," Mandivus said. "You cost me everything—my operation, my reputation, my freedom—and I don't forgive easily."
A second figure stepped into view and Elara's heart sank when she recognized Derek Blackwood.
"You're working together," she said.
"Darius introduced us," Derek said. "We discovered we had mutual interests in destabilizing Silvercrest and removing you as an obstacle."
"The territorial challenge was your distraction," Elara realized. "Keep everyone focused on legal battles while you planned this."
"Smart omega," Derek said. "Almost too smart, which is why you need to be eliminated."
"And Adrian?" Elara asked.
"Goes with Mandivus to be raised properly," Derek said. "As leverage against Kai who won't dare move against us if we have his son."
"You're insane if you think Kai will negotiate under those terms," Elara said.
"He won't have a choice," Derek said and pulled a gun. "Once you're dead and Adrian is in our custody, Kai will either cooperate or watch his son die piece by piece."
"That's not happening," a voice said from the shadows and Kai emerged with his own weapon drawn.
"Alpha Silvercrest," Derek said without surprise. "I wondered when you'd make your entrance."
"Let them go," Kai demanded.
"Or what?" Mandivus asked. "You'll shoot near your own son? I don't think so."
"He won't," Reese's voice came over a speaker somewhere. "But I will."