Chapter 149

Chapter 149

The registered recipient was "Aurora Logistics," with an address listed at an offshore law firm.

Alexander photographed each document page by page, then returned everything to its original position and restored the lock on the crate.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

He noticed several fresh scrape marks on the floor beside the crate. The width and depth didn't look like they came from moving equipment—more like something had been dragged across…

He frowned, making a mental note, but didn't investigate further on the spot.

As the two retraced their route back to ground level, a faint sound of a door closing came from the container area outside the warehouse.

Alexander stopped in his tracks, raising his hand to signal Max not to move.

He listened intently for a few seconds. The sound didn't repeat, but the air now carried a subtle scent of motor oil.

Max lowered his voice. "Someone's nearby."

Alexander didn't respond. He quickly moved along the wall back to where they'd parked. Once in the car, he told Max, "Back to the hotel. Don't come out again tonight."

Before starting the vehicle, Max glanced in the rearview mirror at the shadows between the cargo containers behind them. Nothing visible, but the smell of motor oil hadn't completely dissipated yet.

Isabella received the photos Alexander sent while she was in Imperial City.

She projected them onto the screen in the safe house living room, enlarging each of the five shipping transfer customs forms one by one.

Finnian jotted down key details beside her. "The recipient is Aurora Logistics, registered at an offshore law firm. This shipment is labeled as 'medical equipment.'"

"But the customs form doesn't list specific equipment models—just container numbers and weights. That's not protocol."

Isabella's voice was low. "Things that don't follow protocol are exactly what end up here."

Finnian continued scanning the documents. "The date is November three years ago. The timeline matches—Mrs. Radcliffe was transferred during that period."

Isabella didn't respond immediately. She enlarged the last photo, spotting handwritten initials at the bottom of the document: "S.L."

The same initials that had appeared in Nova's testimony.

She picked up her phone and called Alexander. After three rings, it went to voicemail.

She tried again. Still voicemail.

Isabella set her phone on the table, staring at the "Call Failed" message on the screen, her brow furrowing slightly.

Octavia asked from beside her, "Need me to go?"

Isabella was silent for a moment. "Wait two more hours. He might just be somewhere with bad reception."

Two hours passed. Alexander didn't call back.

By dawn, there was still no word from Alexander. Isabella called Max—his phone was off too. Oscar tracked both their phone signals, showing the last location near the port warehouse district. They'd stayed there about fifteen minutes, then the signals vanished.

"Were they blocked or turned off?"

"Can't tell." Oscar enlarged the trajectory before the signals disappeared. "Movement speed wasn't fast—looks like they were walking. The signals never reappeared after that, which suggests the devices may have been physically shut down."

Isabella stood before the whiteboard, looking at the circled port location on the Savanara map. "Someone spotted them when they left the warehouse."

Octavia was already gathering equipment. "I'll take the earliest flight there."

"Take two people with you." Isabella's voice was firm. "When you arrive, don't go straight to the warehouse district. Check the hotel for their registration records first. If they did check in but never returned, we'll know where to start looking."

Octavia nodded. "What about you?"

Isabella picked up her jacket from the chair back. "I'm handling Kyle's end.

"If Daphne finds out something happened to Alexander in Savanara, she'll definitely contact Kyle to confirm the situation…"

"When you get there, first priority is confirming Max's location. If Alexander's being held, Max is definitely being held in the same place. Find Max, and you'll find him."

"Yes."

Eleven hours after Alexander went missing, Kyle made an outgoing call.

The number wasn't in his regular call history, but Oscar had intercepted a change in the signal access point two minutes before the call—Kyle had first sent a blank text message to an overseas number.

Three minutes later, the overseas number called him back.

The conversation was brief, less than a minute.

Oscar reconstructed fragments of the dialogue:

[…Yes, can't reach him.]

[…Last night.]

[…Don't know exactly what happened. I already sent a message asking, but no reply.]

Isabella had Oscar trace that overseas number. The results showed it was in a city in Savanara, geographically overlapping with the port city.

Isabella stood behind Oscar, listening to the choppy reconstructed audio, her voice low. "Raise his phone monitoring to the highest level. If Daphne contacts him, I want to know the exact time."

Oscar was already working on it. "If they're using encrypted calls, I'll need a signal anchor."

Isabella pulled up a screenshot of the text message Daphne had sent her earlier, which displayed a cell tower identification number.

Her voice was steady. "Use this."

Octavia reached the port city two hours after her flight landed.

She went first to the hotel Alexander had booked and checked the registration records. The log showed Alexander and Max had checked in at ten PM, used their key cards to leave around two AM, and never swiped back in.

Security footage from the hotel entrance showed the two men leaving on foot at 2:07 AM, heading in the direction of the warehouse district.

Octavia walked the same route.

The walking distance from the hotel to the warehouse district was about forty minutes, passing through a demolition zone and an unlit cargo passage.

At the entrance to the cargo passage, she found a crushed cigarette butt on the ground. The brand on the filter matched what Max usually smoked.

She continued forward. About fifty meters from the warehouse side entrance, in the dirt by the wall base, there was a blurred shoe print—larger size, suggesting the person had been running fast or being dragged.

Octavia photographed the shoe print and cigarette butt, sending them back to Isabella. "They at least made it to this location."

After reviewing the photos, Isabella replied, "Check all ventilation openings inside the warehouse. If any show signs of being pried open, it means they were forced to evacuate."

Octavia circled the warehouse perimeter three times before finding the ventilation opening.

The grate had been removed, leaning against the nearby wall.

The exposed passage was slightly wider than a standard vent, with dust along the edges showing signs of being scraped away. The direction of the fallen dust was outward—someone had come out from inside.

Octavia photographed the vent location and sent it back to the safe house.

Finnian cross-referenced it and found that this vent's position matched the description of the "cargo entry passage" in the shipping records Alexander had photographed last night.

He sent Octavia a message: [Go inside and see if there's anything left behind.]