Adrian Knight crouched beside the curb and studied the tiny pieces of automotive glass scattered across the pavement.
“Breaking into a car like this wouldn’t have been quiet,” he said while examining the fragments.
“The window shattered completely, but nobody reported the break-in.” Kim Burgess moved closer and looked down at the glass with him.
She had always been curious about Adrian because he had gone straight from the academy into Hank Voight’s Intelligence Unit and had already survived cases that would have overwhelmed most rookies.
After everything that happened with Derek Keyes, his reputation around the 21st District had only grown.
“What do you think it means?” Kim asked.
Adrian stood and looked around the block.
“Somebody broke into the car, stole the wallet, and still nobody called us.” His eyes moved toward the surrounding houses as he added, “Maybe someone around here really doesn’t want police attention.” Kim remained beside him while Adrian slowly scanned the neighborhood.
His new Microscopic: Perceive Criminal Detail skill seemed to pull small inconsistencies out of the background before he consciously understood why they mattered.
Windows, doorways, gutters, flower beds, and parked vehicles all seemed sharper than before.
Then Adrian’s eyes stopped.
Near the corner of one building was a small flower bed with what appeared to be an automatic sprinkler head sticking out of the ground.
At first glance there was nothing unusual about it, but Adrian frowned as he studied the soil around the device.
Something about the scene didn’t fit.
A few yards away, Antonio Dawson was still on the phone.
“Check cameras around this block and run the nearby properties,” he said.
“If anything looks connected to Sara Fraser, call me immediately.” Adrian raised one hand.
“Antonio.” Antonio ended the call and walked over.
“What?” Adrian pointed toward the flower bed.
“Does anything about this look wrong to you?” Kim and Sean Roman joined them, and all three officers stared at the small sprinkler head.
Nobody immediately saw what Adrian had noticed.
Antonio eventually shrugged and asked, “What am I looking at?” Adrian crouched again and gestured toward the ground.
“The soil is completely dry.
It doesn’t look like this bed has been watered in a long time.” He pointed toward the sprinkler head itself.
“But that looks almost new.” Antonio’s expression changed slightly.
Adrian continued, “If somebody recently installed a sprinkler, why would they never use it?” The others looked again, and this time the inconsistency was obvious.
It was a tiny detail, the kind most people would walk past without ever noticing.
Adrian reached toward the device and carefully pulled it free from the soil.
It wasn’t a sprinkler.
A thin wire ran from the housing into the ground, and hidden inside the plastic casing was a small camera lens.
Kim stared at it in disbelief.
“That’s a camera?” Antonio’s reaction was immediate.
He drew his sidearm and looked toward the nearby house while Sean did the same.
Kim followed a second later, suddenly understanding that someone had been secretly watching the street where Sara Fraser’s stolen credit card had entered their investigation.
Adrian studied the concealed device.
“It’s wired.” Antonio looked toward the house associated with the flower bed.
The hidden camera, the unreported vehicle break-in, and the active missing-person investigation were enough to make the property impossible to ignore.
“Kim, Sean, check the back.” Then Antonio looked at Adrian.
“Come on.” Adrian drew his Glock 17 and approached the front entrance with Antonio behind him.
They moved carefully through the doorway and began checking the interior, keeping their attention on every corner and adjoining room.
The house was unnervingly quiet.
“Clear,” Adrian called after checking the first room.
Antonio cleared another area.
“Clear.” Kim and Sean entered from the rear and announced the same.
The four officers searched the main floor and then moved through the rest of the house, but nothing immediately explained the hidden surveillance equipment outside.
There were no obvious signs of Sara Fraser or whoever had been using the property.
Then Kim’s voice came from farther down the hall.
“Found a basement.” Antonio gestured toward Adrian, and the two joined her and Sean at a narrow stairway leading underground.
The basement below was dark and cluttered, forcing everyone to use their flashlights as they descended.
White beams cut through the shadows and revealed shelves, boxes, and old furniture pushed against the walls.
The four officers moved deeper into the basement.
Adrian and Antonio were in front when they reached a hanging partition curtain that divided part of the room.
Antonio grabbed the edge and pulled it aside.
Behind it was a small workspace.
A desk and lamp sat against one wall, while a computer monitor glowed in the darkness.
Several surveillance feeds were displayed across the screen, immediately revealing that the hidden camera outside was part of a larger system.
Antonio stared at the monitor.
“This connected to the one you found outside?” Adrian stepped closer and examined the different camera angles.
“More than that.” He pointed toward the screen.
“There are at least three others.” One camera covered the front entrance, another watched the rear of the property, and another faced the street.
Whoever had set this up wanted to know exactly who approached the house and when.
That made the entire situation considerably more disturbing.
Before Adrian could examine the feeds further, Kim called out from another part of the basement.
“There’s a door over here!” Adrian and Antonio immediately moved toward her.
The four officers gathered in front of a thick gray metal door.
It wasn’t locked with a key, but a heavy metal bolt had been secured across it from the outside.
The fact that someone wanted whatever was behind the door unable to open it from within was enough to make everyone tense.
Adrian and Antonio kept their weapons ready while Sean reached for the bolt.
He pulled it back with a heavy metallic click.
Then he slowly opened the door.
Adrian entered first.
The space beyond was completely dark.
A foul, stale smell filled the air, and there were no windows or lights inside.
Their flashlights swept across the floor and walls until Adrian’s beam suddenly stopped.
His entire body went still.
Three iron cages stood inside the room.
Two of them were occupied.
A young woman sat inside each cage, both appearing exhausted, filthy, and frighteningly thin after what looked like prolonged confinement.
Their clothing was torn and dirty, and their expressions remained blank for several seconds as the sudden flashlight beams passed over them.
Kim inhaled sharply behind Adrian.
Antonio didn’t say anything.
Neither did Sean.
One of the women slowly moved toward the bars.
Her hands trembled as she wrapped her fingers around the cold metal, staring at the armed strangers standing beyond the cage as though she couldn’t understand whether they were real.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Don’t…” She tightened her grip on the bars.
“Don’t hurt us…” 500 = +1 Chapter] [Review Goal: 10 = +1 Chapter]