Chapter 135
Chapter 135:
A wave of desperate relief moved through her, so overwhelming it nearly took her legs out from under her. He had answered. The King was coming.
But as the echo of his promise faded, the cold arithmetic of the situation crashed back down — the distance, the traffic, the red dot moving steadily away from them on the screen.
Twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes was an eternity when her daughter’s life hung in the balance.
𝘚𝘩𝘢𝗿𝗲 yo𝘶𝗋 𝘧𝖺𝘃𝗈𝗋𝘪t𝗲𝘴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝘮.с𝘰m
Cailin grabbed her keys from the counter. The metal bit into her palm.
Ashely stepped in front of the door, her face pale, her eyes wide with a terror she was working hard to conceal for the boys’ sake.
“You are burning up,” she said, reaching for Cailin’s arm. “You cannot drive. You will kill yourself before you get there p>
Cailin shoved her aside — not a gentle nudge, but a push fueled by adrenaline and pure, animalistic desperation.
“Get out of my way,” Cailin snarled.
“Signal lost!” Aron shouted from across the room.
Cailin went rigid. Her hand hovered over the doorknob. “What p>
“They entered a tunnel!” His fingers were a blur on the keyboard. “Midtown. We lost the lock on the watch p>
“Which tunnel?” Cailin spun around.
“Midtown Tunnel,” Davy said, typing furiously on his tablet. “The GPS just died. We don’t know which exit they’ll take p>
The room seemed to tilt. The fever simmering in Cailin’s blood roared back to life, turning the edges of her vision gray. If they lost the signal now, in the labyrinth of New York’s underground corridors, Elia was gone. Standard GPS wasn’t enough. Hilliard was fast, but he was blind. She needed eyes that could see through concrete.
She needed military-grade oversight.
She dialed the number.
It rang once.
“Cali p>
Kegan’s voice was smooth and unhurried — the voice of a man who controlled everything within his reach.
“Kegan. I need the Eye. Now p>
Cailin coughed — a wet, tearing sound that ripped through her lungs. She tasted copper.
The silence on the other end lasted less than a second. When Kegan spoke again, the warmth had left his voice entirely, replaced by the cold precision of a weapon being readied.
“What happened p>
“Someone took Elia. Midtown Tunnel. Gray van. Stolen plates p>
Cailin pressed her shoulder against the doorframe, fighting to stay upright.
“Accessing. Hold on p>
She heard rapid electronic clicking in the background — faster than any ordinary keyboard. Kegan wasn’t just typing. He was executing commands on a secure terminal that bypassed public infrastructure entirely.
Cailin ran to the elevator. Ashely followed, snatching a coat and pulling the keys from Cailin’s hand in a single motion.
“I’m driving,” Ashely said. Her voice left no room for argument. “You navigate p>
Cailin didn’t fight her. She slumped into the passenger seat as the elevator doors slid shut.
“Got them,” Kegan said. “They switched lanes inside the tunnel. They are exiting at 34th Street p>
“Send the live feed to my phone,” Cailin ordered.
“Done. Deploying resources.” His voice dropped an octave, turning dark and deliberate. “Who took her p>
Cailin watched the floor numbers tick downward.
“Charla English p>