The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 203

Chapter 182: The Hunt Begins2

Caleb pov

“Functioning,” I said. “Which is all she’ll allow herself to be until he’s back.”

Diana nodded once, slowly, like that was something she understood completely.

At 2 AM, Reyes’s analyst found something.

The background audio from the video-the mechanical cycling sound-matched a specific type of industrial HVAC unit used in warehousing complexes built between 2008 and 2015. There were fourteen such complexes in the city. Lena’s team was already cross-referencing those against the partial plate’s travel radius from the school.

“We’re narrowing it to four sites,” Lena said, spreading satellite imagery across the table. “Here, here, here, and here. All within the plausible travel window from the school. All partially or fully vacant.”

“The HVAC unit narrows it further,” Diana, said, leaning over the imagery. “That specific model runs louder in units over fifteen thousand square feet. It’s not the sound of a small warehouse.”

Lena pointed at two of the four sites. “These two are both over twenty thousand. The other two are smaller storage units.”

“Cross those off,” I said.

Reyes, who had been standing to my left, looked at me. “We don’t eliminate sites based on”

“We’re not eliminating them,” I said. “We’re prioritising. Your team watches all four, mine goes in on the two that match the sound profile.” I held her gaze. “That’s not a debate, Agent Reyes. That’s how we use the next three hours.”

She looked at me for a moment. Then at Bella. Then she nodded, once.

I studied the images. Old industrial district, mostly decommissioned. Three of the four had direct access to freight roads with minimal camera coverage.

“Professionals would have gone further out,” Diana said from beside me. “Somewhere pore rural. They’re local, they know this city.”

That narrowed it down even more.

I looked at Bella. She was watching the second video on a loop-Tom’s face, his voice calling for her, and the way he tried so hard to be brave. She had watched it forty times already. I didn’t tell her to stop; I would have done the same thing.

I sat down beside her. “We have four locations,” I said quietly. “Lena is watching all of them. By morning, we’ll know which one is the right one.”

She looked at me. Her eyes were dry, clear, and very dangerous. “And then?”

“And then we go get our son.”

Chapter 182 The Hunt Begin:2

Bella was quiet for a moment, her thumb moving in a slow arc over the back of my

“Reyes won’t let us go in directly,” she said.

Claim

hand.

“No.”

“But Lena’s team isn’t the FBI.”

I looked at her. “No,” I said. “They’re not.”

She held my gaze. We had been together long enough that some conversations didn’t need every word spoken out loud. She understood what I was saying and I understood that she understood and neither of us said the rest of it in a room with a federal agent twelve feet away.

“When we know which building,” she said.

“When we know which building,” I agreed.

She stared at me for a long time. Then she looked back at the screen and found my hand under the table. “They have no idea who they’re dealing with,” she said softly.

“None at all,” I agreed.

My phone buzzed. It was Lena. I answered right away.

“These aren’t amateurs,” Lena said. “Diana’s contact just confirmed it. The company in Malta is linked to a group that has done this before in Europe. They are professionals.”

I stood up slowly and moved away from Bella so she wouldn’t hear. “What does that mean for us?”

“It means someone local hired pros,” Lena said. “It also means we only get one shot at this. If they think we found them, they will move Tom. We won’t find him again easily.”

“One shot,” I repeated.

“One shot,” she said. “Make it count.”

I stood in the corridor for a moment after the call ended, phone in my hand, the weight of it settling across my shoulders.

۴

I went back to the doorway and looked at the room. Bella at the table, the video still running on the screen in front of her. Diana cross-referencing satellite data. Maya asleep in the corner chair with Grace on her chest, one hand resting over the baby’s back even in sleep.

“Caleb.” It was Diana, low and without looking up. “I can see you thinking from here.”

“I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask if you were fine,” she said. “I said I can see you thinking. Those are different things.” She glanced up. “What did Lena say?”

I looked at Bella. Still watching the video. Still finding his face on the screen over and over.

“Not here,” I said.

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