<b>Chapter </b><b>166 </b>
Agent Rogers stood in Roman and ir’s foyer, his presence unwanted despite the casual delivery disguise.
<b>“</b><b>How </b>did you know?” Roman asked, his voice taut with suspicion.
“When foreign royalty gets kidnapped on US soil, the Bureau takes notice,” Rogers replied, stepping further into the house. <b>“</b><b>Especially </b><b>when </b>
<b>a </b>certain family with a history of… shall we say, unconventional problem–solving… gets involved.”
“That doesn’t exin how.” Roman narrowed his eyes on the FBI agent. He was going to get answers.
“There was a witnessst night to the kidnapping. Unlike you lot, they came to the FBI. Which luckily I was the responding agent.”
ir crossed her arms. “We were handling it.”
“It’s good to see you, ir, and I can see that,” Rogers gestured toward the improvisedmand center. “Nice setup. Very Die Hard meets Ocean’s Eleven.” His gaze lingered on the equipment. “But I’m afraid this has be a federal matter of sorts.”
Luca stepped forward, his expression dangerously calm. “With all due respect, Agent Rogers, we don’t have time for jurisdictional pissing match. Every minute we waste is a minute Keira remains in danger.”
“I’m not here to take over,” Rogers rified, surprising everyone. “I’m here to help. Off the books for now.”
Sutton’s eyebrows shot up. “Off the books? Since when does the FBI work that way?”
“They don’t,” Rogers admitted. “Which is why I came through the door as a florist rather than with a warrant and a SWAT team. The Bureau knows about the kidnapping, but I convinced them to give me twenty–four hours before we make it official. Now I’m putting my ass on the line. We need to get them out alive or I’m fired.”
“Why would you do that?” Roman asked, still wary.
Rogers’s expression softened slightly. “Because I know what happens when too many cooks enter the kitchen. The Wystovian security team wants to handle this their way. You want to handle it yours. Meanwhile, local PD will be scrambling to assert authority once they catch wind of it even though it should be an FBI case. And in the middle of all that cock waving…”
“Keira and the prince be coteral damage,” ir finished, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Exactly.” Rogers nodded. “So I’m offering apromise. You share what you know with me, I share my expertise with you, and we work together to bring them home safely before my superiors force me to make this official”
Mitchell from the Wystovian team stepped forward. “This is a diplomatic matter—<b>” </b>
“Save it,” Rogers cut him off. “Right now, I don’t see diplomats or royals. I see two missing persons in immediate danger. So, are we <b>going </b><b>to </b>stand around arguing protocol, or are we going to find them?”
A tense silence fell over the room as everyone considered the offer. Finally, Sutton returned to herptop, pulling up <b>the </b>enhanced <b>image</b>.
Before anyone could say anything though, Rogers took things into his own hands, removing the outer uniform of the flower delivery <b>service </b>and handing it to one of Roman’s men. “Get dressed in this and get <b>in </b>the van out front and drive it away. If the house is being watched<b>, </b><b>a </b>delivery person wouldn’t stay for long.”
The man looked at Roman, who nodded for him to do what the agent wanted.
The man was quick and out the door within moments after putting <b>on </b>the uniform<b>, </b>baseball cap and sunsses<b>. </b>
<b>20:58 </b><b>Wed</b>, <b>13 </b><b>Aug </b>11
<b>“</b>We’ve identified this as a gantry crane visible through the window where their holding them,” Sutton exined, gesturing <b>for </b><b>Rogers </b>to <b>look</b><b>. </b><b>“</b>Eastern harbor area<b>.</b><b>” </b>
<b>Rogers </b>leaned in, studying the image. “That narrows it down, but there are still dozens of abandoned warehouses in <b>that </b><b>zone</b><b>. </b><b>He </b>pulled <b>out </b>his phone<b>, </b>tapping quickly. “Lett
t me make a call. I can get satellite thermal imaging in the harbor area by tomorrow <b>morning</b><b>” </b>
“We can’t wait that long,” ir said.
Rogers looked at her and said, “ir, I know you’re worried, but we can’t burst in there half–cocked and not know what we’re dealing with. It’s not like I have a SWAT team backing me up here. I know it’s cutting it fine with my deadline. We need to get a fix on the situation before we go in there. They are not going to hurt them just yet. There’s no profit in that; we just have to let the kidnappers know that you are arranging the money and it will take time and request a proof of life.”
“They already sent us one.”
“Then request another,” Rogers said.
Luca nodded slowly, recognizing the wisdom in the agent’s strategy despite his burning impatience.
“He’s right,” Luca said reluctantly. “We need to stall them while narrowing down the search area. If they see people searching the dock area, it could get them killed.”
ir grabbed her phone. “What do I say to buy time?”
“What’s the ransom amount for Keira?” Rogers knew the Wystovian team wouldn’t share that information.
“10 million for Keira.” Roman was the one to answer.
Rogers whistled. “Tell them you’re working on securing the funds but need proof they’re still unharmed before proceeding,” Rogers instructed. “Banking hours, liquidating stocks, transfer limits, they are all reasonable dys they’ll expect from someone trying to gather ten
million dors.”
ir typed quickly; her fingers hadn’t stopped shaking since the first message came through. She showed it to Rogers before sending.
“Working on the money. Need to see both Keira and the prince alive today before we can proceed with transfer. We have meeting with bank 10 am tomorrow morning for money.”
“Good, send it.” Rogers approved. “Now we wait, but not idly.”
Everyone moved to the map on the table. Mitchell and his Wystovian team clustered around them, marking potential locations.
“The eastern harbor has three main sections,” Mitchell exined, circling areas with a red marker. “Industrial active zone here, mid–harbor with mixed–use facilities, and the abandoned sector farthest east.”
Roman studied the map. “That’s still too many buildings to search before the deadline.”
“Maybe not.” Sutton’s voice cut through the tension. She hadn’t looked up from herptop where she’d been working silently. “I’ve <b>be </b>running the photo through additional analysis. The angle of light through the window gives us the room’s orientation. Their <b>in </b><b>a </b><b>room </b><b>with </b>east–facing windows.”
Rogers moved to her side. “That helps, but we need more.”
“I’m not finished,” Sutton continued, her fingers flying across the keyboard. “There was a reflection in the window ss<b>, </b><b>barely </b><b>visible </b><b>but </b>there. I’ve enhanced it and isted what appears to be apany logo on the crane.”
She turned herptop around, showing a blurry but recognizable insignia. “Eastside Shipping. They went <b>bankrupt </b><b>three </b><b>years </b><b>ago</b><b>.</b><b>” </b>
<b>2/4 </b>
<b>Chapter </b><b>166 </b>
<b>“</b><b>That </b>narrow’s it <b>down </b><b>to </b><b>four </b>potential warehouses,” Mitchell said, Immediately marking them <b>on </b>the map.
ir’s phone buzzed with an iing message. Everyone froze.
She opened it. “They want proof we have the money ready to collect before they’ll send another photo.”
“Negotiation tactic,” Rogers exined. “Take a screenshot of a bank ount showing your details. We can mock it up.”
“No need,” Roman interrupted. “I can show them the real thing.” He pulled out his phone, tapped through several screens<b>, </b><b>and </b>disyed an ount with well over the demanded amount.
ir stared at him. “You already moved the money?” No one kept that much money just sitting there doing nothing.
“The moment we got the ransom demand. Did you think I wouldn’t?” Roman’s expression was unreadable as he took a screenshot <b>and </b><b>sent </b><b>it </b>to ir’s phone.
She forwarded it to the kidnappers with a simple message: “Now show us they’re alive.”
“While we wait, we need eyes on those four warehouses,” Rogers said, turning to Mitchell. “Can your team handle surveince without being
detected?”
Mitchell nodded. “We have men ready to move.”
“And I have drones,” Luca added. “Small ones that look like birds, virtually silent. We can deploy them immediately.” Luca didn’t just <b>own </b>Cyber10, drone technology was part of another business.
Rogers looked impressed. “The Bureau could use that technology.”
“The Bureau can’t afford me,” Luca replied coolly.
Sutton touched Luca’s arm. “Deploy them now. Start with the warehouse furthest from active areas.”
ir’s phone buzzed again. This time the message contained two photos: one of Keira sitting against a wall, holding today’s newspaper, and one of Prince Alexei, looking pale with a visible head injury.
“Oh God,” ir gasped, hand flying to her mouth. “Prince Alexei’s hurt.”
Mitchell didn’t react, telling them he already knew.
“But they’re alive,” Rogers pointed out, “And the newspaper is today’s. Good sign.”
Roman studied the new images over ir’s shoulder. “Sutton, can you get anything from these?”
Sutton took the phone straight away, connecting it to herptop. “Sending them through facial recognition software first to confirm <b>they’re </b>not manipted.” After a moment, she nodded. “They’re genuine. Now let’s see what else these photos can tell us<b>.</b><b>” </b>
The room fell silent as she worked, the only <i>sound </i>her fingers they coordinated their surveince units.
on the keyboard and the asional murmur between Mitchell <b>anc </b>
am <b>as </b>
Sutton was leaning closer to her screen. “Nothing. I can see boxes but nothing on them.”
Rogers looked around everyone in the room. “Okay, we go with what we’ve got. We have just bought ourselves <b>24 </b>hours.”
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