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29
STEPHEN
My office has turned into a security control room, and it is a hive of activity. Jake has called in every favor and Jai and his friends from the Feds are roaming around like they own the place.
Marco is managing our PR team and the Nitro staff because we have closed the club for the first time ever tonight and need to have pre-prepared statements ready when this situation leaks to the media, because we all know it will. Marco is my key spokesperson for anything external at the moment, I don’t want to be in front of the cameras, not again.
Scarlett is dealing with the legal personnel as we hand over all the information we have to the Feds in the hope they can help us find where Molly is.
Shaun is managing the network of other clubs that are all handing over various security footage, street footage, and are trying every angle to locate evidence that may indicate where Byron or John might be. Jake is doing all the illegal things he can to help me find Molly. Currently, he is locked in his office with a specialist team, scouring the black market and dark web for women for sale, trying to find out where and when any sales may go down. Just the thought of it makes my stomach curl.
I have Shaun and Marco’s mom, Margaret, fully briefed, and along with a security team, she has signed Shirley out of the hospital earlier today. Doctor Evans has filed the paperwork for her to be released and both ladies are staying at my place with the building on lockdown just like it was years ago when Shaun was trying to keep Scarlett safe. History is repeating itself and I don’t like it at all.
Me? I am sitting at my desk, trying to keep the anger at bay and the contents of my stomach inside as I try not to think about what situation Molly may be in right now and punishing myself for letting it happen. I know she will be scared. I know that she will be worried about Shirley, and I know that the only person that can save her, that she is counting on to save her, is me.
Don’t worry, angel, I’m coming, just hang on. I say to myself, willing any spiritual power floating out in the universe to give me a hint of where she is as I continue to look through the files Jake presented me with a few hours ago. I am looking for anything that might give me a clue. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and Jake walks straight over to me. “I got something”. The room quietens and everyone looks, waiting on bated breath for what he has to say.
“About thirty minutes ago, we caught chatter online about a potential new sale of girls in the Boston area. They gave out a secure link, which we managed to get through, which showed a catalogue of girls.”
He spins his laptop around, and I see an image of Jasmine staring back at me. She is in a sultry red satin evening dress, looking scared and small. My heart has left my chest as I feel Shaun’s hand on my shoulders and hear Scarlett gasp in shock in the background. I stare at the image. She has a lot of makeup on, but I can tell it is her, and I am positive that wherever she is that Molly is with her. It is our only hope.
I look up at Jake. “Tell me you know where this is going down and can get us in?”
Jake looks back at me but stays silent.
“Jake, Tell. Me. We. Can Get. Her?” I demand, venom leaking out of my voice.
“We’re working on it. We are still trying to get a lock on their location,” Jake replies simply and then turns and walks back out to continue the job of finding Molly.
The room comes back to life, this new lead gives all of us new angles to review. The Police Chief and a team of officers have turned up, having gotten wind of the situation somehow. Shaun is managing them and running interference between the local cops and the Feds. They all follow Jake and I know that given what we have found, the police cyber team will now work in conjunction with Jake to help find Molly. Thank God for Shaun’s connections.
I run my hands through my hair and rub my eyes, we have been at it for hours. It is 3am, and in a few hours, Molly will be missing for 24 hours. Within that timeframe, God knows what they have done to her. This has definitely been preplanned. They have prepared for this. But for how long? And why Molly?
Scarlett comes and sits with me and together we keep going through all the photographic evidence we have. We have photos from the back of the building where Molly works, I have seen the footage of Byron practically throwing her in the trunk and her head hitting it hard as he tried to put her inside in a hurry. I have seen the footage of him driving off and the street cameras tracking him, following him driving south before we lose him and can’t see where he ended up.
I think back to the night that Jasmine was in the club. I think about John and how furious he was with both Molly and I, which I now know was because we spoiled his plan of kidnapping Jasmine and selling her to his highest bidder. It is then that it hits me.
“Scarlett, we need to see the footage and street cameras from the last night John was here.” Jumping up, we both walk swiftly to our security room, and I instruct the guard on duty to bring up the tapes.
“Stephen, what’s going on, what have you found?” Marco asks as he follows us.
“I’m not sure, but a few weeks ago when Molly and I foiled John’s plan to kidnap Jasmine, he was furious.”
Before I can continue, Scarlett fills in the gaps, “So presuming he was planning it all, he would have left your club and driven to where he was meant to take Jasmine?”
I nod as Marco finishes our scenario, “Meaning that, if we can track his entire journey from that night, we might find the location where they are keeping Molly?”
“Exactly,” I say with a confidence I don’t yet feel. “Byron had planned to take Molly, so if we assume that the same amount of planning went into attempting to take Jasmine then we may have a lead. It may be nothing…”
“But it is worth a try,” Scarlett finishes for me and the three of us sit down in the security control room and start looking through the club footage of that night, trying to track the moment John leaves.
We find it and watch the footage of him storming from my office. Holding our breaths while we watch, the footage shows John leaving the club and getting into his car which is parked down the street.
It is the same car that drove off after I was attacked at the club. It is also the same car that Byron had used when he took Molly, and then it hits me. They took Molly because of me. They took Molly because of what I know about them and their activities and for helping the Feds. It is revenge for finding out and acting on their sick twisted business.
The thought settles into my stomach like a piece of metal. But how did they know? We swept the place for bugs and nothing was found. There is only one other way. We must have a leak here at Nitro. The thought makes my blood boil.
