“Selina,speak,” I demand, voice tight.
“I’ve got to show you,” she says breathlessly. “I’ve got to make sure I’m right…”
She bursts into the CCTV room. Sam’s still at his station, eyes bloodshot from staring at screens for hours.
Selina leans over him immediately. “Show me the footage of the bathroom entrance.”
Sam nods and starts rewinding. “Sure.”
The video plays again, Selina points at the screen. “There. Stop. Forward a bit… now wait…”
I loom over her shoulder, heart hammering.
Selina’s voice is shaky with disbelief. “Boss… this car. IknewI’d seen it before.”
I frown, searching her face. “You have?”
She lets out a disbelieving laugh. “You remember the guy Kit made me help in the parking lot?”
I nod slowly, still trying to place it. “Yeah, he was struggling with a… with a…wheelchair.”
The words hang in the air for half a second, then the realisation hits. My face drains of colour. The breath I was about to take stalls in my lungs. Everything inside me goes very,verystill as the fragments suddenly slam into place.
Selina’s finger trembles slightly as she points at the frozen image. “This…” she says, voice tight, “this isFinn’scar.”
She swallows hard, then drags her finger to the screen… the man pushing the wheelchair. “After Kit disappeared… people were coming and going…”
The room goes deathly quiet as she cuts off, closing her eyes, unable to finish her sentence. I stare at the screen, the low-resolution image burning itself into my retinas. The man, the wheelchair, the blanket, the awkward laugh I barely registered at the time. Mystomach drops like a stone. The pieces slam together with brutal clarity.
“Don’t…” My voice comes out hoarse, barely recognisable. “Don’t tell methat’sChristopher.”
Selina winces, exhaling sharply. “I mean… I can’t be sure, but… it fits, right?”
I feel like the floor has dropped out from under me. He touched me, if that’s Kit, hetriedto grab my trousers, and Ibarelyglanced at him. I was too wrapped up in my own dread to even look twice at the man in the wheelchair. If that really was Kit… I let him be taken… I let that man walk right past me with him.
A roar tears out of me before I can stop it. “FUCK!”
I kick the nearest chair so hard it flies across the room and smashes into the wall. My fist slams down on the desk, scattering papers and sending a mug crashing to the floor.
“You’re telling me…” My voice cracks, low and shaking with barely contained rage. “…that bastard was tailing us thewholetime?”
I suck in a ragged breath, chest heaving. “That hetookKit… right from underneath me?!” Another harsh inhale, the air burning in my lungs. “Drugged him? He fuckingtouchedme… and I…”
The words die in my throat; I can’t finish the sentence. My hands are trembling. The failure crashes over me like a wave, crushing and merciless.I let it happen.
I inhale sharply, trying to keep from combusting on the spot. The failure is eating me alive. The thought ofKit, small and terrified, now in Finn Vanderburn’s hands, after what we did to their crew… makes my blood run cold.
“How thefuckwould Finn evenknowwho Kit is?!” I shout.
Luke shakes his head. “Maybehewasn’t the target.”
“It makes no sense!” I snap. “We just went shopping, everything was going fine. I don’t…”
My voice cracks. I press my fingers hard against my temples, fighting the burn behind my eyes. I refuse to cry like a fucking bitch, but the weight of it… the sheer, crushing failure to keep Kit safe… is suffocating me.
Luke speaks carefully. “We’ll get you answers as soon as possible, boss.”
I whisper, voice raw, “Let me know thesecondyou find anything. I’m going to put that fucker’s head on a pike.”
