Chapter 91: Such An Opportunity

Damian Black's POV:

I would have to say that there is a lot of information that needs to be figured out in a short time. We were not going to be gone on his honeymoon trip for very long. We were only supposed to be away for a few short days. That alone didn't leave much time to work on the business side of things. Granted, I had business meetings scheduled while we were away, but still.

However, this much was certain. There were questions that would need to be answered. Those questions would need to be answered more than most.

That much was certain.

"Do you have any leads as to who this particular vehicle belongs to?" I spoke up right then as I leaned over to one side.

My eyes were moving amongst all of my men around the table. I didn't care who spoke up, as long as some information was given.

Andre took that opportunity to ask an inquisitive question whenever he spoke, saying, "Were you able to get anything off of the hotel surveillance system?"

Both of us were looking around the room to see who might be the brave one and speak up first. I knew it was obvious this had already been discussed, but it was a matter of who would inform me about this particular situation. I trusted my men. They have worked for me for some time now, and over the years they have earned the right to take their own time when it comes to sharing certain knowledge about the topic at hand.

"That's just the thing," Matthew started to say at this moment. "No matter which angle we looked at this particular SUV, they seemed to have some sort of... How would you say it?"

"The license plate," Clay spoke up at that moment. "No matter which angle we used to look at it, the result was still the same."

"The license plate letters or numbers were blanked out," Matthew added right then.

As I looked directly at him and then at the rest of my men, I could tell that several of them swallowed rather hard. They knew this would be displeasing news.

It would be simple to find a license plate number and run a DMV search to see who the registered owner is. Even if the registered owner wasn't here in the States, they still needed some form of approval to drive their vehicle on city streets. Someone had to either get a permit or something.

As far as I understood, the police didn't allow just anyone to drive the vehicle around. If they saw a vehicle that didn't remotely look like anyone else's, they would most certainly pull it over and try to find registration documents showing that the vehicle was legal.

"Blanked out?" Andre asked in confusion, as if this was taking him a moment longer to understand what they had said.

"You mean to tell me that they had whoever took her... You are telling me that they had something... something covering their license plate that you couldn't tell exactly what it looked like using a camera?" I asked, sitting up straight in my seat this time.

My brows were even more furrowed than they were previously as I pressed my lips into a fine line. I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around. I couldn't exactly figure out who she knew that would want to come and pick her up, knowing exactly who she was related to. That was usually enough to get people to stay away. However... Apparently not everybody got the message.

"That's precisely what we all believe, sir," Nathan said as he was the next one to speak up again, adding more information to this current conversation. "I ended up having to look it up. And sure enough, there is something out there that you can put on the precise letters or numbers of your license plate if you wish to have your license plate details obscured."

"So you're telling me," Andre said as he was still trying to wrap his mind around this. "If I were to walk up behind this particular vehicle and pull out my phone and attempt to take a picture... You're telling me that no matter what's displayed on their license plate, the image will be blank? So..."

Matthew took the opportunity to add his comment when he spoke up, saying, "So... no matter whether you look through either a camera on your phone, even by viewing it on your actual phone screen itself."

"Or through a specified video surveillance system," Nathan added in that moment.

"All the letters and numbers would be obscured. Even if you try to take a picture, it would just come up blank," Gerald added this time.

"You would be able to see the state of the license plate to know which state, but as to the letters," Clay spoke up at that moment to add his comment. "There would be no way to tell it was unless you actually wrote it down by hand the time you saw it."

"So there would be no way of knowing at the time you took the picture..." Andre added right then.

I took in a deep breath, holding it for a moment before I let it out with a bit of a sigh.

"I see," I said as I pondered this thought a moment more. "Well then, that is interesting."

I took that opportunity to lean back in my chair as I began to rock it a few more times before I stopped.

"That if we know the video surveillance is a no-go," I said, leaning forward, interlocking my fingers and placing my forearms on the front edge of the table. "Do you happen to recognize any of the individuals in the video if that were the case?"

"Please tell me you know who they look like?" If you are able to see them at all.

As I looked around the table, I could tell that my man all looked among themselves, trying to figure out exactly who was going to give me a visual answer by either shaking or nodding of their head before they all ended up looking back at me. My eyebrows raised at that moment, waiting for a response, when they all started to slightly shake their heads at the same time.

Well... That was a dead end at least. It was worth asking such a question.

"What about the nurse?" Andre asked as I turned to the side to look at him. "You know... The one who was supposed to take her outside. One who was supposed to stay with her the entire time?"

"Oh, well you see..." Clay started to speak up as he looked from Andre back to me. "Kelly Anne was with that particular nurse out front of the hospital. At that point, while the nurse was out there with her waiting for whatever ride Kelly Anne thought was coming, another vehicle pulled up right then."

"From what we could gather, there was a patient in need of urgent help," Matthew added. "And Kelly Anne... She used that."

"To get away..."