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Location: Silversun Valley - South Side - Grove House
Tag# 66948
Cell# 16
This file could be old for all I know, but I have to find out. There’s a location, one that I can only assume Ellie was held at for some period of time. As I run my fingers through my hair, gripping tightly at the scalp, I’m smacked across the face by the realization that I still have the schematics on all the Silversun Valley houses from back when we were searching for Grant.
Has she been this close all along? Is she still there?
Closing the file, I scour back through the documents from our invasion 6 months ago. It takes no time at all before I find the blueprints and within seconds I’m staring at the layout of Grove House. I haven’t seen this one in person, because our team never made it to this location. Hannah accidentally shot Grant, killing him in cold blood, and we called off the search.
There are no cells on this blue print though. Why is there a cell number?
I’ll need to get into the surveillance again and see what I can find, because something doesn’t add up. There has to be something that’s not on the blue prints. Rolling my computer chair to the side, I open up the small mini fridge and pull out another energy drink. Lifting the tab with my index finger, I crack the can open and chug the contents. If I could, I’d inject it right into my veins because there’s no stopping now, exhaustion be damned.
My heart buzzes as I pull up the servers that house the surveillance. I won’t have long. Mere moments, but I just need some sort of proof. Something that tells me there’s more than what meets the eye in that house.
Drumming my fingertips against the desktop, I wait for the code to build a hole in their security system. Moments drag by slowly, stretching out into eternity while my nerves oscillate beneath my skin. Every cell in my body is humming, and I can’t sit still. As the screen flashes, and the foyer of a mansion appears on my monitor though, everything stills.
Everything’s silent.
Even my mind.
Moving faster than I thought possible, my fingers rapidly dance across the keyboard as I worm my way through various views. Room after room, I pan the cameras but it all looks mostly ordinary. An ordinary mansion, with giant open spaces, excessive decor, huge bedrooms, extravagant lighting and art; but one thing catches my eye. Armed guards surround the building, and wander the halls as if on duty.
Which tells me there are important things in this building. It’s more heavily armed than any of the houses we invaded six months ago. Camera to camera, I absorb as much of the layout as humanly possible while taking screen snaps along the way.
Time dwindles down and I know their hacker has to have been alerted by now, but I’ll keep going until I’m booted from the system. I know it’s a risk, but there’s something to find here and I need to find it. I pan to a new view when the screen glitches and kicks me to a prior view. Something about it stops me in my tracks, so I pan back.
The screen glitches again, and again I’m booted to a prior view. So I go back again and this time I catch a camera name: “Basement Cells”. There’s some kind of extra layer of security keeping me from seeing anything. As my heart races, my fingers tap the keys in rapid succession, building a new code. The clock is running out and the seconds go by fast but my fingers are faster.
As I hammer out the last character and hit return, the screen goes black and a neon green serpent engulfs my monitor.
“Fuck!!!” The scream escapes my throat as I slam my fist into one of the monitors in front of me, shattering the screen.
I was so close. So fucking close. But it wasn’t a complete waste. I’ll just need to find a way in. I need to get the layout of the basement level. The layout that was strategically left off of the blueprints.
Once I do - all bets are off.
One step closer Ellie.
Chapter twelve
Zeke
“Z, run!”
“El, no,” I lunge forward and I’m stopped in my tracks when a second man dressed in all black appears from the shadows.
“Go Z!” she shouts as a thick, black bag is shoved over her head, muffling her screams.
My heart leaps into my throat, and as the second man advances in my direction, I make a split second decision. A split second that changes the trajectory of the rest of both of our lives. Like the coward that I am, I turn on the ball of my foot and I run.
I run like my life depends on it, because it does. Jumping through the night air, I slide across the hood of a car, stumble to my feet, and duck through a narrow alleyway. My lungs are strangled as I gasp for air, but I can’t stop running. When I reach the end of the alley, I jump onto the chain link fence, slicing my upper lip on a clipped link. The taste of copper seeps into my mouth as I scramble over the fence, jumping to the concrete below.
I don’t hear the heavy footsteps anymore, but I’m too scared to stop and check, so I just keep running.
I’m so fucking sorry Ellie. I’ll fix this one day.
