Nick felt like he was swimming against the current. He pushed to get into the hospital as dozens struggled to get out. Every person leaving was being funneled out one door so officers could check identification and log names and contact numbers. Not only were they trying to ensure Candace Rogers didn’t walk out the front door, they also needed to be able to locate potential witnesses once they left the building.
Devyn had briefed him on the drive over. He couldn’t believe Aaron was dead. He knew Devyn would be furious and blaming herself for letting another person, who might be able to shed some light on Coterie, slip through her fingers once again.
Nick made his way to the security offices where Devyn said she would be waiting for him.
“Just in time,” she stated as he walked through the door. “We have the footage about ready to roll from all the cameras from every elevator and stairwell leaving the third floor. Unless she’s still on the third floor, we’ll find her.”
Nick watched over Devyn’s shoulder as feeds came up on multiple screens from different cameras. Since the time frame in question was a small window, they quickly narrowed down the search.
“There. Stop it there,” Nick ordered, pointing to the middle screen. “What’s Morgan doing here?”
“I couldn’t get in or out of the car or drive on my own with the sore ribs, so she insisted on bringing me to the hospital. She left when the chaos erupted, so she should be home by now.”
Nick glared at her and then returned his focus to the paused images. “That person, can you zoom in on that one?”
Devyn’s jaw dropped. The hair color and style had changed, but there was no doubt in her mind that the woman in scrubs, two people behind Morgan in the stairwell was Candace Rogers. She turned to Nick, but he already had his phone to his ear and his back to her.
“Pick up, pick up,” he pleaded. “Morgan, call me the second you get this message.”
Devyn had never heard such panic and fear in her partner’s voice. She should have called a cab and tipped the driver extra to help her in and out of the car. She hadn’t intended to put Morgan in danger, but if anything happened to her, Devyn knew Nick would never forgive her. And she would never forgive herself.
As the feed continued to roll, they watched Candace close the distance between her and Morgan. Devyn could feel the tension in Nick’s body as he stood next to her, but was helpless to ease his fears. After the door slammed shut, they lost visual on the two women.
“Check all cameras that might pick up where those two women went,” Devyn demanded, as Nick tried Morgan’s cell phone again.
“There they are,” Tanner stated as Morgan and Candace reemerged on a camera near the main lobby.
The women were only on camera a second before they disappeared again, but long enough for them to see that Candace was now herding Morgan. By Candace’s posture and mannerisms, she likely had a gun poked into Morgan’s side.
“Where does that hallway go?” Nick asked.
“The employee area, and there’s an employee exit into the garage from there,” offered the security guard running the video playback.
Devyn struggled to keep pace as Nick ran in the direction the two women were last seen. He pulled out his cell, and Devyn could only assume he was trying Morgan’s number again. She nearly collided with his back as he skidded to a stop outside the employee break room and listened.
Devyn pulled her weapon and took up a position outside the door opposite Nick. Devyn nodded when she was ready to provide cover. Nick entered. The room was empty, so he called an all clear to her and she followed him in.
Checking each bathroom stall and shower stall, Nick froze.
“What is it?” Devyn asked.
“She was here.” Nick picked up Morgan’s purse and clothes. Checking her purse and then her pockets, he found her cell phone. “Where did you two park?”
“Just at the end of the row outside this door.”
Nick rushed out of the break room and pushed through the exit, setting off alarms since he hadn’t swiped an employee card, with Devyn at his heels.
“It’s gone,” Devyn gasped as she caught up to him.
For a moment, both agents stood, not speaking, staring at the empty spot where Morgan had parked her car earlier that morning.
Devyn wasn’t sure what to say, but thought she should offer something. As she opened her mouth to speak, Nick held up his hand, silencing her.
They listened for a moment, honing in on the sound of a dull thud nearby. They isolated the sound coming from the trunk of a parked car.
“Tanner, send someone out to the parking garage with a crowbar immediately, and have this license plate run so we know who this car belongs to,” Nick ordered into the tiny mic pinned to his lapel.
He provided Agent Tanner with the car’s license plate number, and within moments, two security guards arrived with a crowbar. “Whoever’s in there, we’re FBI. We’re going to pop the trunk, so watch yourself,” Nick stated.
The pounding stopped, and he nodded to the man holding the crowbar. With one firm push on the crowbar, the trunk popped open. The half-naked woman staring back at them was not Morgan.
Nick turned his back, disappointed not to find Morgan, but glad the woman appeared uninjured. He stepped away from the group and briefed Tanner.
Devyn gently pulled the tape off the terrified woman’s mouth.
“Are you okay? Anything broken?”
The woman assured them she was unharmed, so they helped her out of the trunk and cut her bindings. By the time she was freed, two more hospital staff arrived with a blanket and a wheelchair.
“Just a second,” Devyn said interrupting the hospital workers fussing over their co-worker. “Did you see who did this to you?”
“Yes. It was a woman. She seemed to come out of nowhere and knocked me out before I knew what hit me. I woke up in the trunk, bound, and without my clothes and ID.”
“Is this her?” Devyn asked as she held up her phone with a picture of Candace.
The woman studied the image for a moment. “Her hair was more my color, but yes, I think this is the same woman.”
“Devyn, stay with her and see if she knows anything else and then tie in with Tanner. He’s checking the hospital’s garage and exterior cameras. Work with him and his team sorting through traffic cams until we find her. He’s already put an APB on Morgan’s car.”
“Where are you going?” Devyn asked.
“To find her.”
Sofia
directed Morgan to the abandoned warehouse she had previously scoped out. She had chosen it not only for its location away from any street cameras she could locate, but because it also had a garage bay. Pulling Morgan’s car inside, she quickly went to work.
“Put this t-shirt on,”
Sofia
demanded.
Morgan complied.
“Sit. Put your hands behind the back of the chair.”
Morgan obeyed and was surprised by the speed in which the woman secured her hands with a plastic zip-tie.
“What do you want from me?”
Silence.
Morgan hated the silence. “Does this have to do with Giant Cactus Foods and Aaron?”
The mention of Aaron’s name made the woman pause. She looked up and Morgan wasn’t sure what she was seeing in the woman’s eyes. There was definitely recognition, and maybe even pain.
“I just needed you to get me off the hospital grounds, and now, you will help me get out of the city. If you cooperate, I may let you live. No more talk.”
“Did you kill Aaron?” Morgan wasn’t sure why she asked the question. She didn’t even know if Aaron was dead, but she assumed that was what created the chaos Devyn responded to as she left.
The backhanded slap came so hard and fast, Morgan didn’t have the opportunity to brace herself for the blow. The force toppled the chair, slamming Morgan hard to the concrete floor. She lay on her side, cheek plastered against the greasy, dirt-covered floor, rodent excrement only inches from her nostrils.
“Another word, and you’ll get a piece of this across your mouth,” the woman said as she shook the roll of duct tape clenched in her fist.
Morgan remained still, trying to block out the pain. Her nose bled, but she feared if she inhaled to stop the outpouring, she’d breath in rat droppings, so she tried to keep her breathing as shallow as possible. She spotted a live rat studying her from behind a crate and prayed the animal would keep its distance.
The woman changed into jeans and a collared, short-sleeve shirt. Next, the woman removed the license plates on Morgan’s car and replaced them with
Nevada
plates. In the car’s back window, she affixed a basic cat decal along with three paw prints suggesting the car owner had three cats at home. Picking up an iron rod from the floor, the woman battered the front fender of Morgan’s car, causing multiple large dents.
Morgan cringed each time the rod connected with her new luxury cross-over. It could be fixed if she lived, and if she didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. If Nick realized she was gone, the authorities would be looking for her car, but would they recognize a dented-up car with cat decals in the back window and Nevada plates?
The woman righted Morgan’s chair and held a bottle of water to her lips. “Drink up. This will be your last chance for a while.”
Morgan obeyed. Moments later, the bottle was taken away and the woman slapped a strip of tape across her mouth. She now struggled to breathe with her mouth taped and one nostril plugged with dried blood. As she fought to take in oxygen, the woman bound her ankles.
“Stand up.”
Morgan complied, and the woman slid the back of the chair through her arms, freeing her from the splintered piece of furniture.
Morgan stood still, fearing losing her balance. With her ankles bound together, the slightest movement would drop her back to the concrete.
She watched as the woman pulled a heavy blanket out of her duffle and spread it over the floor.
“Sorry about this.”
As Morgan tried to make sense of the apology, an elbow came down hard behind her neck and all went black.
Nick felt like he was on some bizarre scavenger hunt. Even though Devyn, Agent Tanner, and other resources from the FBI field office were working fast, Nick was frustrated that Morgan was still missing.
Agents and the best information technology experts in the area poured over camera and satellite footage to identify the route Morgan’s car took as it left the hospital. The process was slow and agonizing for Nick as he feared for her safety.
The team would pick Morgan’s car up on a street camera and Nick would drive to the location and follow the lead as far as he could. Whenever the route divided and there were multiple options, he’d have to pull over and wait until they could find her again. They would have to isolate cameras in all possible directions and analyze footage until they could determine which way she went. He knew it wasn’t the best plan, but he couldn’t just sit in front of a panel of monitors while Morgan was somewhere out there in danger.
Nick tried to make sense of the route. It seemed to be leading him into the industrial part of the city. The area brimmed with abandoned or infrequently used warehouses, which would make it easy for Candace, Janice, or whoever she was, to hide Morgan’s car.
The number of man-hours it would take to search the buildings was staggering. Not only would it be time consuming to search all possible buildings in the vicinity, but it might not be the right path. The area where the clues seemed to be leading him was also close to interstate access. She could be hidden in one of the buildings or already on the interstate, heading anywhere. Neither option was good.
“What do you have?” he asked Devyn as he answered the incoming call.
“We lost them in the industrial area about three blocks from your current location. There are no street cams in the area. The tech guys are investigating the possibility of accessing satellite images, but so far, they haven’t been able to find satellites that would have been over the area at the time Morgan’s car might have entered the neighborhood.”
“Like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Nick sighed.
“With the computers these guys are using, they can search mountains of data in minutes. It’s not as hopeless as it sounds.”
Nick got out of his car and leaned on the hood. He scanned the area in all directions. There wasn’t a lot of traffic since it was an industrial district, but that also meant there wouldn’t be many witnesses. The chances anyone would remember seeing a black car with two women in it was slim.
“Did the nurse happen to remember Candace saying anything that might give us a clue as to her next move?” Nick asked.
“No. It happened quickly and apparently, Candace didn’t chit chat.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“I’m on my way to you with Tanner and four additional units. The rest of the team is putting together a list of unused or abandoned buildings in the area. I guess we’ll have to do a building-to-building search unless we catch a break and can locate her car leaving the area. If we don’t find the vehicle leaving the area, maybe that means she’s still there nearby.”
Or it could mean that Candace ditched Morgan’s car and they’re now driving something else, Nick thought.
“I hope you’re right, because if she’s already left the city, we’re screwed,” Nick mumbled.
“We’ll find her.”
Nick wished he had the confidence Devyn had. He’d lost Morgan once, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her again. He prayed he’d get the chance to tell her how he felt and beg for the opportunity to start over.