I shake my head. “No. I never thought of putting our tracker in her things. But can you locate her phone?”
“You got it. I’ll also add Merida’s trackers to the system now.”
I put him on speaker and open the screen-sharing app on my phone. It takes a few seconds before Gavin’s screen emerges. He adds Clementine’s phone number in our system.
I hold my breath, hoping this will give us some idea about where she is. This is our only hope. But the pressure building in my chest doesn’t reduce when a red dot appears on the map at my home address. He dials her number and a sensation of resignation hits me as I find her phone hidden under the couch cushion.
There are a few missed calls from someone named Em.
“What the hell is that?”
Hearing Gavin, I look up from Clementine’s phone to my screen. Three dots appear on the same map.
“How is this possible?” I ask, more to myself.
“I’m…not sure. I added Merida’s two trackers and Lukas’s phone. You see this, this is the safe house location.” He points with his cursor, where a blue dot for Lukas and a green dot for Mere are next to each other. “But this is another part of the town. Did Mere lose her tracker?”
I scratch my chin in confusion. “It’s an industrial area. Why would Mere even go there? It’s nowhere near anything that would interest her.”
Gavin hums before muttering, “But a perfect place to hide a kidnapped or a dead body.” His words send a chill down my spine.
“That’s what she was hiding. The tracker,” I whisper as a mix of relief and hope hits me.
“We have the location. How do you want to play it?”
“Were you able to find anything on the kidnappers?”
“They are men for hire. Not associated with any group in particular but one Russian name keeps popping up. I need to dig more.”
“I’m heading back to the campus. I want to discuss with Connor how to arrange a task force. I need a team of four plus one technician.” I explain my plan to Gavin while marching out of my house.
“I need two trainees outside my house in case those fuckers return.” I get into my car.
“You got it. Let’s show these assholes they messed with the wrong guys,” Gavin announces and ends the call.
I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about Clementine.
19
KEITH
Gavin sets up his thermal imaging equipment outside the half-constructed building.
“I’m all set,” he says before turning on the camera.
The computer screen lights up with a false color image. He moves the camera around, scanning the entire building starting from the top floor. Everything is dead quiet until he reaches the ground floor.
“I’m getting some heat signature.” He works with his equipment and three human forms appear on the screen.
“She’s tied to the chair,” I whisper, but everyone can already see the form seated in the middle of the room.
“There’s no one else in the building apart from her and the two kidnappers.” Gavin cocks his eyebrow at me.
“What about the others?” I point toward the two neighboring buildings.
“Nothing,” he confirms. “Either these guys are too cocky or too reckless.”
“They thought we wouldn’t be able to track them. Thank fuck for the tracker.” I’m so proud of Clementine. Most people in her situation are too scared to act sensibly.