Eventually, both of them returned to the research institute.
They had forgotten that they could have contacted Deanna by phone.
Perhaps concern had clouded their judgment.
However, when they took the elevator to the top-floor office, they didn't find Deanna.
"Why isn't Missus here? Could she be with Mr. Martinez?" Shannon frowned, her eyes full of confusion.
Nightingale glanced at her and said, "We'll know if we go and check." She turned and left.
Soon, they arrived at Gunner's office.
Gunner was surprised to see them. "Why are you here? Is there something with Deanna?"
"Mr. Martinez, aren't you with Missus?" Shannon asked in astonishment.
Nightingale's expression grew serious.
Seeing this, Gunner immediately sensed something was wrong. His eyes sharpened as he questioned, "What's going on?"
Shannon and Nightingale didn't dare to hide anything and quickly explained the situation.
"Missus's clothes got dirty, so she went up to change. But we waited for over ten minutes, and she didn't come back. We thought you might have called her for something, so we came to check."
"So, you haven't contacted Deanna?" Gunner immediately noticed the flaw in their story.
Shannon and Nightingale finally realized what they had forgotten. "We really did forget," they said, looking sheepishly at Gunner.
Shannon then tried to call Deanna.
Gunner didn't stop her, but after several seconds, the call didn't go through.
Shannon's face grew grim.
Before she could say anything, Gunner stood up and said seriously, "Let's go to the monitoring room."
The staff in the monitoring room were startled to see the three of them arrive.
Gunner's presence was particularly intimidating.
"Mr. Martinez, why are you here?" The person in charge immediately came out to greet them.
Gunner got straight to the point. "I need to check the surveillance. Pull up the footage for the first and twelfth floors according to my instructions."
The person in charge didn't dare delay and immediately arranged for the staff to start retrieving the footage.
When they checked the first-floor footage, they saw Deanna taking the stairs due to an elevator malfunction.
"Pull up the stairwell footage," Gunner ordered immediately.
The person in charge nodded and instructed the staff to retrieve it while explaining, "Mr. Martinez, the surveillance cameras in the emergency stairwell are installed every two floors."
"Why every two floors?" Gunner frowned, clearly dissatisfied with this setup.
The person in charge replied awkwardly, "I'm not sure. That's what the renovation company told us during the handover."
Hearing this, Gunner didn't pursue it further.
Meanwhile, one of the staff members monitoring the footage made a surprised sound.
"What is it?" Gunner asked, turning his head immediately.
The staff member pointed at the screen. "According to the footage, Ms. Jones took the emergency stairwell. But after reaching the eighth floor, she should have appeared on the eleventh-floor footage. However, there's no sign of her on the eleventh floor."
"Could there be an issue with the surveillance?" Gunner asked with a frown.
The staff member shook his head. "Impossible. We monitor it constantly. If there were an issue, we would have noticed immediately."
Hearing this, Gunner, Shannon, and Nightingale all grew serious.
If there was no issue with the surveillance, how could a living person disappear in the research institute?
Although Gunner didn't believe Deanna would encounter trouble on his turf, the current situation forced him to consider the worst-case scenario.
"Investigate everyone who entered and exited the ninth and tenth floors' emergency stairwells. Nightingale, notify Lance and tell him Deanna might be in trouble. Have him monitor all exits from Cloudmere."
"Yes!" Nightingale turned and left.
Seeing this, Shannon realized her task had been taken by Nightingale. "Mr. Martinez, what should I do?"
Gunner looked at her, frowned, and then instructed, "Go check the ninth and tenth floors for any clues."
Shannon nodded and immediately headed for the ninth and tenth floors.
Gunner didn't remain idle either. He had the staff pull up surveillance footage from all exits of the research institute to identify any suspicious individuals.
Time ticked by.
Less than twenty minutes later, Lance appeared at the monitoring room door, exuding a cold aura.
"Mr. Martinez, Nightingale told me Deanna is missing. What's going on?" He walked up to Gunner and questioned coldly.
Seeing this, Gunner shared his suspicions. "It might be someone sent by Abla."
"Abla?" Lance was both surprised and puzzled.
Gunner noticed his reaction and was also taken aback. "Didn't Deanna tell you?"
Lance's heart sank at these words. Clearly, Deanna had kept something from him.
"Tell me what?" He questioned Gunner again.
Gunner explained, "About a month ago, I told Deanna that Abla's lab hadn't given up on us yet."