CHAPTER 20: “One Step Behind”

Adrian’s POV

The convoy tore through the empty streets, sirens cutting through the silence of the night. I sat in the back seat, my gun resting on my lap while my eyes stayed fixed on the tablet displaying the abandoned warehouse.

“Five minutes out, sir,” the driver announced.

My mind replayed the call over and over.“It’s coming from inside your old properties list.”

Whoever they were, they knew my past. Which meant they either knew me or someone close to me did.

“We’re here.”

The SUVs came to a halt outside the old warehouse.

The building looked exactly how I remembered it, abandoned, forgotten and lifeless.

I stepped out first. “Spread out,” I ordered. “Make sure nobody leaves this place.”

My men moved immediately. I pushed open the warehouse door, gun raised.

The hinges groaned loudly. There were no voices or movement. It was just abandoned crates, broken furniture and years of dust.

“Clear!” I heard one of the men shout from upstairs.

Another voice echoed from the back.

“Nothing here, sir.”

“No one.”

I refused to believe it, they had to be here. I have the best tracking team and it definitely can’t be a mixup.

I walked deeper into the building, refusing to accept another dead end. That’s when something caught my attention.

A stain, dark brown against the grey concrete. At first, I thought it was old paint, then I looked closer and realized it wasn’t paint, It was blood.

I crouched and there it was barely visible.Someone had dragged trembling fingers across the wall, they were two uneven letters.

M… O…

I stared at them.“What the hell…”

One of my men walked over.“What is it, sir?” I didn’t answer. Instead, I touched the dried blood lightly.

Amber, was she trying to tell me something? But what?

“MO, Morgan? Morgen Street?”

I searched the room again, hoping there would be more but there wasn’t, only those two letters. I stood slowly.

“Search every inch of this warehouse.”

For almost an hour, we tore the place apart.

Still Nothing, no fingerprints, no phone, no cameras, nothing. They were so meticulous with everything that they didn’t leave anything behind.

I looked back one last time before walking out.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered under my breath.

“I was late.”

*****

Back at the villa, sleep never came. I just stared into emptiness while I racked my brain. The letters stayed in my head and I tried making sense of them

MO…

I wrote it on paper, circled them, crossed them out yet nothing made sense.

Before I knew it, it was morning and I didn’t even sleep a wink. I was still lost in thoughts when I got a knock on my door.

“Sir.”

“What is it?”

“We traced another signal.”

My head snapped up. “Where?”

He slid a photograph across the desk. “The same warehouse.”

I frowned.“They went back?”

“It appears so.”

For the first time in two days, hope returned.

*****

This time we arrived faster, much faster than before. I didn’t want stories, I was losing my patience already.

The warehouse doors were still open, I could hear footsteps.

“They’re here,” one of my men whispered.

I lifted my hand signifying they stopped, nobody moved following my order

Then….

A car engine roared somewhere behind the building.

“Damn it!”

We rushed outside. A black SUV sped away, tyres screeching across the gravel.

“Go!”

Our convoy immediately followed.

The chase lasted barely six minutes before the SUV disappeared beneath an unfinished bridge where three identical vehicles split in different directions.

“Which one?” my driver shouted.

I stared. Left, right and straight. Three identical black SUVs.

I slammed my fist against the dashboard.

“They planned this. Are they trying to make a fool out of me ?” I asked no one in particular.

“Drive back to the warehouse.” I ordered.

Back at the warehouse, frustration got the better of me and I ended up kicking an empty crate across the room. It smashed into the wall and that was when I noticed it.

The blood stain again but not the old one, it was a fresh smear. Someone had tried to continue writing the word, it was longer now.

MOLE

I froze, my eyes remained fixed on it. Mole, not Morgen street, not Morgan Bridge but mole. How did I not get it the first time? What happened to the fast thinker ?

The word echoed in my head and that was when it clicked. Every failed operation and every single move I’d made…

They had always been one step ahead and it wasn’t because they were smart or lucky but because someone was telling them.

I slowly turned around and looked at every member of my team. I looked at people who had served me for years, people I trusted with my business and life and now I was no longer looking at loyal employees. I was looking at suspects.

I walked outside without saying another word, one of the guards hurried after me.

“Sir?”

I stopped beside my car and smiled.

“What do we do sir?”

“We go home.”

****

That evening I called my three most trusted security into the room. “I’ve received new intel,” I lied calmly.

“We’ve located Amber.”

I could notice the shift in their expressions almost immediately. I continued as though I hadn’t noticed.

“They’ve moved her to Blackstone Harbor.”

There was no such place, not in this city and not anywhere nearby.

“We move at midnight.”

Everyone nodded, then I dismissed them and waited.

Exactly thirty-two minutes later, my phone buzzed. One of my cybersecurity officers had been monitoring every outgoing communication from the estate.

“Sir, We’ve got him.”

The screen lit up. A single encrypted message had just left the villa.

“They are unto you, Move her now.”

It hadn’t been sent by one of my guards or my drivers nor was it my head of security.

I stared at the sender’s name and for a long moment, I couldn’t say anything. Anyone else but him, out of everyone I had trusted,he was the last person I expected.

I slowly locked the phone and looked at my men.

“Nobody leaves this house.”

My voice was calm. “Bring him to me.”