Third POV limited
"I don’t know yet, but it wasn’t following by accident." Milo revealed, shifting his gaze from the laptop to Saint’s face, whose lips were now pressed into a thin line.
The words stung Saint in the heart, worse than a nail would have. Alyssa had been under his care since she was four years old, and never once had she been abducted or gone missing, not even for a single day. His hands curled into fists at his sides until his knuckles cracked.
"The bus signal was deliberately interrupted, and I think..."
"Someone appears to have manipulated the bus’s communication or tracking system," Saint finally chimed in, his eyes scanning the words on the laptop.
"They just messed with the wrong kid. Now I need everything about the other bus, right now, no jokes, and I mean it when I say right now, like ASAP." He said through clenched teeth, hard enough that the outline of his jaw pressed sharp against his skin.
"Okay." Milo muttered, fingers already tapping across the keyboard, the clacking sound filling the room. "To make it faster, before they move the kids, what if we bring in the hacker who breached the warehouse? I believe he’s a smart kid." Milo suggested, while Dax and Dr. Quinn exchanged a confused look, totally unaware of the warehouse breach.
"And neither of you thought to tell us about that?" Dr. Quinn pointed out, staring intently at Saint’s face before turning back to Milo, since Saint clearly wasn’t planning to answer anytime soon.
"Maybe we should talk about that later. Right now let’s focus on the kids," Milo said, unwavering.
"If you think the kid can pull this off, tell Adrian and the guards to visit him at the Chicago private hospital. They’ll find him there. Don’t ask me how I know, I did my homework," Saint replied, nonchalant.
A few minutes later, the hacker and Adrian stepped into the mansion.
"Whoa, I wasn’t expecting a kid, like an actual kid, I mean, you know..." Milo stammered, gawking at the young hacker, a laptop bag still clinging to his shoulder.
"You’ve got some nerve, kiddo," Dax added.
"Either you fill him in, or I let him go back," Saint muttered, his commanding tone pressing through an otherwise calm face.
"Is this about the kids on the excursion bus?" the hacker asked, already sounding like he knew more than he should.
"Yes," Milo nodded.
"Your wife’s kid is among them?"
Instead of answering, Saint turned his head, eyes immediately meeting Aurora, who stood pressed against the staircase wall, eyes red and puffy like she’d been crying, Nina standing behind her, trying to offer some comfort.
"You’re not here for a question and answer session. You’re here to assist." His voice narrowed and sharpened at once.
"Okay, I was working on the case a few minutes ago on my laptop, back at the hospital." He pulled the bag off his shoulder and opened it, bringing out his laptop. "I examined the tracking data, and I found out the bus signal was redirected before it disappeared. Before you ask how I got the information, my sister’s friend, who works with the police, filled me in to help her check something, which I did, but I also wanted to look into the relevant stuff myself so I could gather it and hand it over to the FBI or DEA." He adjusted his glasses.
"Meaning?" Saint questioned, impatience bleeding into his voice, while the hacker typed quickly, the screen reflecting in the lenses of his glasses.
"Meaning this wasn’t just a simple technical failure, or some inexperienced driver getting lost in the woods, because the driver’s been driving that bus for more than ten years, according to his ID and the information I was able to pull." He raised his head, meeting several sets of eyes fixed on him, waiting for his next word.
"Umm... I’m feeling a little nervous, can you guys... never mind. I also found a partial identifier connected to the interference. S.S. I had my sister’s friend run the name, and it came back with nothing, meaning there’s no ID under that name."
"S.S." Both Milo and Dax, who had been listening closely, rasped out at the same time.
"Does that ring a bell?" Saint asked, his patience already thinning.
"S.S. came up during the investigation into the poisoned champagne. We’re guessing Marcus Stellano was the one Nicole bought the champagne from. One of his workers, currently being held at the other penthouse, mentioned the name S.S. We tested more of the champagne, and it killed several rats almost instantly. Either this S.S. is someone under Marcus Stellano, or something bigger. We still don’t know who they really are." Milo revealed.
"And we still don’t know if they’re directly responsible for the poisoning, or just connected somewhere along the supply chain," Dr. Quinn added.
"But one thing’s certain, whoever this S.S. is, he’s got a hand in this too," the hacker said, though not entirely sure. "And..." He trailed off.
"And what?" they urged him to finish.
"I just found a network trace connected to the bus’s disappearance, but one of my flaws is that I’m not great at narrowing down a signal properly."
"I can," Milo chimed in, hands already moving across the keyboard.
"An isolated location," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "The bus was likely taken to an isolated location. I’m fairly certain of that."
"Look there." Saint pointed at the laptop screen. "Another vehicle connected to the same trail arrived there shortly afterward."
"That vehicle definitely has a connection to our man, S.S.," Dax added.
"We’re going to meet them. Everyone be ready to leave." Saint declared, heat rising up his neck and face, his voice dropping low, hands shaking at his sides, jaw clenched tight. "They really messed with the wrong family."
This wasn’t just about finding whoever took the children anymore. Somehow, the same mystery surrounding his poisoning might be connected to Alyssa’s disappearance, and the others’ too.