Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Alexander stared at the map spread across Victoria’s dining table, his eyes burning from lack of sleep. Twenty hours since
Camille’s abduction. Twenty hours of dead ends and false leads. He marked another X on the map, another empty location
searched and cleared.
“Nothing at the warehouse in Queens,” he reported, his voice rough with exhaustion. “Just like the other three properties.”
Across the table, Stefan Rodriguez nodded grimly. The two men had barely spoken directly to each other in the past hours,
communicating only through updates and tactical discussions. Their shared history, Stefan as Camille’s ex–husband who had
chosen Rose over her hung between them like an invisible wall.
“She’s playing with us,” Stefan said, studying the pattern of X marks across the map. “Leading us in circles while she keeps
Camille somewhere we haven’t even considered.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened. The thought of working with Stefan still turned his stomach, but the man knew Rose better than
anyone. Knew how she thought. How she planned.
“Tell me again about the properties you knew about,” Alexander demanded. “Every detail.”
Stefan ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I’ve told you everything I know. The apartment in Manhattan. The storage unit in
Queens. The house upstate. The beach property in Hampton. We’ve checked them all. The hunting cabin.”
“And found nothing.” Alexander slammed his fist on the table, frustration finally breaking through his controlled exterior. “Nothing but tiny clues leading to more empty locations.”
Victoria entered the room, moving more slowly than usual but her eyes sharp as ever. “The FBI team just reported in. They found
something at the storage unit.”
Both men turned to her instantly.
“Receipts,” Victoria continued. “For construction materials. Delivered to an address in the Catskills. They’re checking it now.”
Hope flickered in Alexander’s chest, but he tamped it down. They’d already followed three such leads, only to find empty buildings rigged with cameras, Rose watching them chase their tails.
The door opened again, and Richard Lewis entered. Camille’s father looked haggard, aged years in the hours since learning of his
daughter’s abduction. Margaret, too distraught to participate, remained at the lake house under heavy security.
“I’ve been going through our property records,” Richard said, placing a folder on the table. “There might be something we’ve
overlooked.”
Alexander nodded for him to continue, eyes fixed on the folder.
“The cabin in the Adirondacks,” Richard said, his voice heavy. “We sold it just after Camille’s supposed death in the car accident.
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When we all thought she was gone.”
“Rose knew about this cabin?” Alexander asked sharply.
Richard nodded. “She loved that place. Said it was where she felt most like part of the family.”
Stefan leaned forward. “You sold it after you thought Camille was dead? When Rose was still living with you?”
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“Yes,” Richard admitted, shame evident in his face. “Rose was devastated when we decided to sell it. Said we were erasing
Camille’s memory by getting rid of family properties. But we… we couldn’t bear to keep it. Too many memories.”
Alexander and Stefan exchanged glances, the first moment of real connection between them.
“Rose only left the family five months ago,” Stefan said, thinking aloud. “After Camille returned and the truth about Rose
attempt on Camille’s life”
“And she’s had time since then to plan all this,” Alexander continued the thought. “To track down properties with emotional
significance to the family.”
Richard’s hands shook slightly as he opened the folder. “The sale records show the cabin went to a development company. They were supposed to tear it down, build vacation homes.”
“But did they?” Alexander was already reaching for his phone. “Jason, I need everything on a property in the Adirondacks.” He
rattled off the address from Richard’s papers. “Previous and current ownership. Any construction permits. Satellite imagery.
Everything.”
Victoria moved to Alexander’s side. “The FBI is still checking the Catskills location. Should we redirect them?”
“No,” Alexander decided. “We split our resources. FBI continues there, my team heads to the Adirondacks.” He looked at Stefan.
“Are you coming?”
It was the first direct question he’d asked Stefan since this began. A moment of truth between them.
Stefan nodded without hesitation. “Yes. I know how Rose thinks. What she might have done to the place.”
Alexander turned to Richard. “Stay here with Victoria. Keep looking through those records for anything else that might help.”
“Actually,” Victoria interrupted, “I’ll be joining you.”
“Victoria…” Alexander began to protest.
“This is not up for discussion,” she cut him off, her voice leaving no room for argument despite her weakened state. “Camille is my daughter. I’m coming.”
The fierce determination in her eyes silenced any further objections. Alexander simply nodded, then turned to make the
necessary arrangements.
Twenty minutes later, Alexander’s phone chimed with an incoming message. Jason had found something.
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“The cabin property was purchased by a shell company called Phoenix Rising LLC just two months ago,” Alexander reported,
showing them the screen. “Just weeks after Rose left the family. The development company never tore it down, they went
bankrupt before starting construction.” (1
“Phoenix,” Victoria noted. “Like Camille’s foundation.”
“Rose would love that irony,” Stefan said grimly. “Using Camille’s own symbol against her.”
Alexander continued reading. “Satellite imagery shows the original structure still standing, with some recent modifications. And there’s a vehicle there now, a black van that matches the description of the one used in Camille’s abduction.”
The room seemed to hold its collective breath.
“That’s it,” Stefan said with certainty. “That’s where she has Camille.”
Alexander was already moving, issuing orders through his phone. “Full tactical team. Helicopter transport. We move in one hour.”
“One hour?” Richard protested. “My daughter is in that monster’s hands right now!”
“It’s a three–hour drive to the location,” Alexander explained, his voice tight with controlled urgency. “The helicopter gets us there in under an hour. We need time to prep the team, coordinate with local authorities, and develop an approach strategy.”
Victoria placed a hand on Richard’s arm. “He’s right. We can’t rush in without a plan. Rose will be expecting us.”
As the room erupted into coordinated activity, Alexander stepped away briefly, staring out the window at the darkening sky. Thirty–five hours since Rose had taken Camille. Thirty–five hours of her in Rose’s hands.
He felt Stefan’s presence before the man spoke.
“We’ll find her,” Stefan said quietly. “Rose won’t kill her quickly. That’s not what she wants.”
“And what does she want?” Alexander asked, not turning around.
“To make Camille suffer. To break her. To make her watch as Rose destroys everything she loves.” Stefan’s voice was hollow with the weight of his knowledge. “She wants Camille to feel as alone and abandoned as she felt when the family turned against her.”
Alexander finally turned, studying the man who had once been married to Camille, who had betrayed her with Rose. “You knew what Rose was. What she’s capable of. And you still chose her over Camille.”
Stefan flinched as if struck. “I was blind. Manipulated. I didn’t see who Rose really was until it was too late.”
“And now Camille is paying for your blindness.” The words came out sharper than Alexander intended, driven by fear and exhaustion.
Stefan didn’t defend himself. “Yes. That’s why I have to help find her. Why I have to make this right.”
A heavy silence fell between them, broken only when Victoria called them back to the tactical planning.
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The FBI team reported in again as they prepared to depart. The Catskills property had been another dead end, empty except for a
laptop playing a continuous video feed of the cabin in the Adirondacks. Rose had been watching them chase false leads all along.
“She’s playing a game,” Agent Chen said through the speakerphone. “Leading us exactly where she wants us to go.”
“Then we change the rules,” Alexander replied. “Radio silence from this point forward. We go dark.”
Victoria nodded approval. “If she’s monitoring our communications, she won’t know we’re coming.”
As they moved toward the helipad on the roof, Richard Lewis pulled Alexander aside.
“Bring my daughter home,” he said, his voice breaking. “Please.”
Alexander clasped the older man’s shoulder. “I will. Whatever it takes.”
The helicopter flight passed in tense silence. Alexander reviewed the tactical plan on his tablet, while Stefan stared out the window at the darkening landscape below. Victoria sat with her eyes closed, gathering her strength for what was to come.
They landed three miles from the cabin, in a clearing scouted by Alexander’s advance team. Vehicles waited to transport them the rest of the way.
“Thermal imaging shows five heat signatures in the cabin,” the team leader reported as they gathered around a portable display. “Four moving, one stationary in what appears to be the main room.”
“Camille,” Alexander murmured, staring at the glowing figure on the screen.
“Rose and three others,” Stefan added. “Hired muscle, most likely.”
Alexander turned to the assembled team, his own security personnel plus FBI tactical units who had arrived from the nearest field office. “We move in quiet. Two teams. Alpha team creates a diversion at the rear of the property. Beta team enters through the front and extracts Camille. No one engages Rose unless absolutely necessary.”
The team leaders nodded, distributing night vision equipment and tactical gear.
“What about me?” Victoria asked quietly.
Alexander had expected this question. “You stay in the command vehicle with Agent Chen. We’ll be on comms the entire time.”
Victoria looked ready to argue but then nodded, understanding the logic.
Stefan checked the bulletproof vest Alexander had insisted he wear. “And me?”
“You’re with me,” Alexander said after a moment’s hesitation. “You know Rose. You’ll recognize any traps she might have set.”
As the teams moved into position, darkness finally falling completely over the forest, Alexander felt time slowing around him. Every second stretched into an eternity, knowing Camille was so close yet still in danger.
The command came through his earpiece. “Teams in position.”
Alexander gave the signal. “Execute.”
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Ahead in the darkness, the cabin’s windows glowed with warm light, a deceptively peaceful scene in the middle of the forest.
From this distance, no one would guess the nightmare unfolding inside.
Alexander moved forward with his team, every sense hyper–alert, every muscle tense. So close now. So close to Camille.
Then a sound cut through the night, an alarm blaring from the cabin. Lights suddenly flooded the surrounding forest, illuminating the approaching teams.
“We’ve been made!” someone shouted through the comms. “Motion sensors in the trees!”
Alexander cursed, abandoning stealth for speed. “Move in! Now!”
Gunfire erupted from the cabin windows. Alexander’s team took cover behind trees and rocks, returning fire with precise bursts.
Through his earpiece, he heard Victoria’s voice from the command vehicle. “Alexander! The thermal signatures are changing. They’re moving Camille!”
Stefan crouched beside him behind a fallen log. “Rose would have an escape route. A contingency plan.”
Before Alexander could respond, an explosion rocked the night, flames erupting from the rear of the cabin where Alpha team had been positioned.
“Alpha team report!” Alexander shouted into his comm.
Static answered him, then broken voices. “Trap… booby–trapped… two men down…”
Alexander made a split–second decision. “Beta team, with me. Front entrance, now!”
They rushed the cabin, bullets splintering wood around them. Alexander kicked in the front door, gun raised.
The main room stood empty except for an overturned chair with cut ropes lying beside it.
Empty.
Camille was gone.
