Jarrod stood by the window, his expression clouded with worry as he looked down at the chaos unfolding below. Elodie was still missing-no one had found her yet.
And with others circling like sharks, he knew he had to tread even more carefully
now.
He turned to Fleming, who was working intently at the console ahead. "What brings Mr. Mercer here?"
Without pausing, Fleming replied, "Esmeralda asked me toe in and look for Ms. Thorne. I thought she might be with you."
Jarrod''s heart sank.
Clearly, Elodie was still nowhere to be found.
"I haven''t found her yet," he murmured, eyes dropping to the wedding ring on his finger.
Fleming continued, "I''ve already searched both the west and south wings-no sign of her. Which way did youe in, Mr. Silverstein?"
This area wasn''t all that big, but with the ongoing chaos and people trapped everywhere, finding anyone was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Jarrod frowned, deep in thought. "So we covered different directions."
Fleming nced at the map, then added, "She wasn''t alone—there were locals with her, all colleagues, evacuating as a team. Finding one person is hard, but a whole group should be easier. Yet, we haven''t heard from any of them."
Jarrod''s gaze sharpened. "If it was a team, they should''ve checked in with headquarters by now. The silence makes this far moreplicated."
If it were just Elodie, maybe something had happened to her alone. But for a whole team to vanish? That spelled something much more serious.
With so many people, it shouldn''t be this difficult to find at least one.
Unless...
His eyes darkened. "Is it possible they''re not even here anymore?"
Fleming paused, considering it. He''d gotten word half an hour ago—the military had already been dispatched to aid the search, but so far, they''d found nothing.
Given that, Jarrod''s theory was starting to sound more usible.
Jarrod pulled out his phone, trying again to reach Elodie.
"We need to get somewhere safe first," he said, a new n forming. If Elodie was no longer in the area, he''d consider using satellite tracking, maybe even drones.
Fleming didn''t hesitate. He rounded up his team and headed back to the base with Jarrod.
Night had fallen.
Elodie had been given a room on the ground floor to rest-one of the
guest bedrooms, sparsely furnished. She still hadn''t seen any of her colleagues. Watts was missing, too; maybe he was upstairs, maybe somewhere else entirely.
She had no idea what time it was.
The people watching over her had finally retreated for a break, leaving the hallway quiet.
Elodie seized her chance. She slipped out onto the bedroom''s small balcony.
Their car was still parked in the courtyard, just beyond the hedges.
She crept across thewn, silent as a shadow. Her phone had fallen under the seat during the panic and hadn''t been found during the earlier search. It had crashed to the floor and powered off, but she was determined to get it back and try again.
Thendline inside the house was useless-no outgoing calls allowed.
The car wasn''t locked, so she quietly opened the door and ducked inside. For several tense moments, she groped under the back seat, fingers finally closing around her battered phone.
The screen was cracked, but she barely noticed. She tried powering it on-once, twice, three times before the screen flickered to life.
Her heart leapt.
The disy was barely usable, half the screen a blur of colored lines. Still, she immediately turned the brightness to its lowest setting.
A nce at the signal bars showed a single, flickering notch-weak and unstable. But it was hope.
She was about to pull up the satellite locator, and check if herst known coordinates had been sent, when a voice suddenly rang out behind her.
"What are you doing out here?"
A chill prickled up her spine. The phone''s screen was so dim, she prayed no one had noticed the faint glow in her hands.