Chapter 24 Finding Phoenix
Julian wasn’t one to panic, but his head was all over the place tonight. He had his tools connected to a small screen-folded tablet that wasn’t for anything else, but for his complicated works. His driver was now taking him to the airport. He trusted Vincent to handle this efficiently, only if he was patient enough to be giving him information. But he wasn’t.
Julian saved kids on a daily basis from trafficking, but this time around, it felt personal.
“Recall last data packet before signal loss.” He spoke to the tablet in his hand.
“The last ping occurred near Pier 32, Seattle. Signal strength deteriorated rapidly- device disabled manually.”
He swore under his breath. That meant whoever took them knew how to kill a trace. He quickly switched to a manual override, his fingers flying across the glass surface as multiple feeds burst open on the small screen- traffic cameras, satellite grids, toll checkpoints. His personal surveillance network was built to hunt people who didn’t want to be found. And that was exactly what he was doing.
Within seconds, dozens of live windows came to view.
“Run image-recognition scan. Keywords: Adult female with child, age around six.”
The AI hummed from the tablet. “Filtering… Results found. Displaying visual feed three, timestamp- twenty minutes ago.”
Just then, a video appeared. It looked grainy, but clear enough for him to see what was going on.
A sudden cold washed through his body as Maris’ image came to life, holding Phoenix’s hand. They were at a gas station in a vicinity that seemed silent. She looked anxious, scanning the area while Phoenix clutched his toy plane in his tiny hand. Julian almost couldn’t look away from the kid. His chest tightened.
He leaned forward. “Freeze. Zoom in.”
Behind them in the video, a black SUV rolled into frame, slowing just a little. Two men in black suits stepped out. The car had no license plate. One of them opened the back door while the other walked toward Maris. She seemed to hesitate, then nodded. Seconds later, she lifted Phoenix into the SUV herself.
Julian’s jaw flexed.
The car door shut.
The men got in.
The SUV drove off.
Maris stood there for three seconds, trembling—then someone grabbed her from behind. The footage cut out abruptly.
“Boss, are you there?” Vincent spoke through the intercom. Julian could barely find his choice. His expression turned into a iced frown. Cold anger burning beneath it.
“Vincent.”
“Boss.”
“I’m sending you the footage and coordinates. Go there. Now.”
“On it.”
He didn’t realize his entire body was on hold until he felt the vibration of his own phone again—Vincent calling back after two hours.
Julian answered instantly as he stepped down in Seattle from one of his private jets. His driver had driven him to the airport two hours ago.
“Talk to me.”
Vincent’s voice was down as he spoke.
“They left. But we found the woman in the footage you sent to me.”
Julian paused his stance, every muscle on alert. “Okay?”
“Check your phone. I just sent something.”
Julian exhaled slowly. He checked. Vincent had just sent him an image. He steeled himself and opened it. “Fuck!” He exclaimed.
“Saw that?” Vincent asked over the phone. Julian clenched his jaw roughly.
Whoever did this, had no idea what they had just started.
“Saw it. Stay right there. I’m almost where you are.”
~
Julian’s coat swayed slightly in the wind as he walked forward, after dropping from the private car that brought him here—one of his endless connections. His steps slowed when he saw her.
Maris.
She was lying on the rough floor of the abandoned filling station- lifeless. Her hair was disheveled, one arm sprawled out as though she’d tried to crawl toward something or someone before her strength failed. Her phone was shattered beside her. A faint streak of blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
Vincent stood a few steps back, hands in his pockets. “It’s sad. They killed her.”
Julian didn’t answer. He just stared. His mind wasn’t only on the lifeless woman before him, it was on Seraphina.
This was her son’s nanny. The one person trusted to watch over her child. Why would anyone go to the length of killing her just to take a boy?
He crouched beside the body, scanning the area with his usual sensitivity. He knew there was no rushing this. Any next step he would take requires strategy or might fuck it all up.
Julian rose slowly, his eyes narrowing as they swept the surroundings again. Empty cans. Tire marks. Shards of glass. Then — a glint. Something small caught the faint light near a puddle a few feet away.
He walked toward it, his instincts heightening.
A black spectacle.
His nostrils flared slightly as he exhaled. They had made a very silly careless mistake, one that would work in his favor.
Vincent moved beside him, following his gaze. “So, is this case a given mission?” he asked carefully, but Julian didn’t reply.
Just then, Vincent realized what was going on as Julian crouched down beside the spectacle. “Shit,” he muttered.
“Why didn’t I catch that?”
Julian reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of gloves, slipping them on with gentleness. He picked up the tiny frame with care, and turned it gently in his hand.
“Because you weren’t looking for it,” he said quietly, his voice almost void of emotion.
Then he straightened, the cold breeze tugging faintly at his tousled hair. “All I need,” he murmured, “is a clean print.”
Vincent frowned. “You think whoever took the boy touched dropped that?”
Julian’s eyes darkened as he slid the spectacle into a sealed pouch. “A desperate man can hope.” He said, then rose to his feet.
His right hand man was taken aback by his boss’ strange choice of words— ‘Desperate’
Julian was never desperate. He was always at ease with all he did. Vincent let it slide.
Julian paused, glancing back once more at Maris’s body. He wasn’t one to give dead bodies a second glance but he sensed that Seraphina would want her buried.
“We should start going now.” Vincent said urgently.
But Julian hesitated. “We should pack her body first.”