“Nothing. I saw her heading to the bathroom but nothing after that. It’s like she disappeared out of sight from the cameras. But I think you need to head to the back exit.Something is going on involving Celeste’s security. I’ll meet you in the alley.” I can hear panic in Beckett's voice and the sound of a car door shutting.
I look towards the back exit and notice the guy who was with Celeste and a few others rushing out the door. I’m really hoping it’s just a bar fight or something stupid, but something in the way Beckett's voice was in a rush and had him flying out of the van he was working from had me thinking otherwise. Making my way through the crowd, I squeeze through the moving bodies and try really hard to watch my movements so it doesn’t look like I’m onto something in case I’m being watched as well as bringing unwanted attention.
“You didn’t think to mention that you lost sight of her after thirty minutes?” I growl as I finally get to the door and slip out.
Once outside, I notice the men who work here rushing towards the end of the alley and make a turn. I’m joined by Beckett and we race after them to see what the hell is going on. They keep going through different alleys until they suddenly stop. We catch up to them nearly out of breath. Spooking the shit out of them, they draw their guns at us. We raise our hands up to show them we aren’t of any concern and they lower their guns.
“Fuck, warn someone before you sneak up like that,” one of the men grumbles before holstering his gun at the back of jeans.
The guy that was with Celeste doesn’t spare me a glance and heads toward the opposite direction. His body is rigid and I noticed a hint of panic before he turns his back to us. The other two follow suit and they come to an immediate stop at a pile of items on the side of the road. We rush over to a string of curse words and a metal trash can being hurled in the air, crashing onto the road.
“What the hell is going on?” My eyes follow to where thepile is and I notice a bag, clothes, and blood. In the pile, I notice fabric that matches what Monroe was wearing. Panic begins to surface with a million thoughts running through my mind.Hehas her, but how did he get her out without anyone noticing?
One of the men I haven’t seen before crouches down and sifts through as if looking for something. I cringe at the fact that his DNA is now all over the potential evidence, messing everything up.
“Stop touching that! We need to take it into forensics and notify the team for back-up. This is now a crime scene. Beckett, contact Johnson to get down here,” I order.
“No cops, other than the two of you,” the angry one snaps, moving his hand towards his gun.
I reach for mine just the same. Does he not remember the club is crawling with them? We need to report this to them and we need the manpower to start a search, immediately.
“Are you mad? Why the hell would I not call this in. There’s clearly blood and my partner's dress is along with it. I have to report this. What the hell do you know?” I grow impatient.
If the rumors are true, clearly the Mafia wants nothing to do with the law unless they need something, and this clearly has something to do withhim.
“Got it, Antonio.” The one messing with the pile holds up something small in between his fingers. “He carved the chip out of her. How the hell would he have known she had one? That explains the blood.”
Antonio grabs the chip from the man and squeezes his hand into a fist. His whole body trembles, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.
“Now we have no way to track her down. He can be doing god knows what to her and we won’t get her out in time. I told her not to fucking do this. This was reckless!” Antonio yells in fury. “You two, come with us. If you make that call and the fedsswarm the club, causing an uproar with the customers, I swear I’ll end you before you can even take another breath.”
“I need you to tell me who’s blood that is and who was taken,” I demand stepping into him in challenge. “If you’re expecting me to hold off from calling my boss, I need you to give me a goddamn reason. I owe you nothing and you allowed us to come to this club to seek out our suspect and now my partner's clothes are on the ground. This involves us whether you like it or not.”
“CELESTE! He has Celeste!” Antonio erupts. The two men with him rush to his side, pulling him back.
Everything seems to come to a standstill. He’s yelling but I can't hear him. Ringing pierces my ears and my breathing starts to pick up.Hetook her. One of my biggest fears comes true. I tried to tell her that she shouldn’t host this event, it was too dangerous. No, they have to be wrong. That's not her clothes, not her blood. They have it all wrong.
“What do you mean he took her? How did you let this happen? She was heavily guarded. I noticed all eyes on her and someone was always near her. You have this wrong, she’s inside. So help me, she better be inside!” I erupt, grabbing him by the shirt.
Beckett is at my side, trying to pull me away but I don’t care. I could kill him for letting this happen to her.
“We need to move this inside before we grow an audience. We’ll explain once we’re in the office. Both of you, get yourself in check before we step into the club.” The one from earlier pushes us apart and shoves us back towards the club.
We finally agree not to call our director or inform the others just yet. We follow them back to the club after the items are gathered. We slip back through the door and gather into the elevator without a word. My mind is reeling, anxiety is bursting at the seams, and every sense in my body is telling me that she really isn’t upstairs as I’m hoping she will be.
Once we exit out of the elevator, we gather in a conference room except for the one who found the chip. He went the opposite direction towards an office. We stand in silence, animosity hanging in the air. Every ounce of control is hanging by a thread and the tension is heavy. He comes back into the room, setting down a laptop on the table and motions for us to sit. We all hesitate, eyeing each other until we finally take a seat.
“Since we’re going to be getting real cozy with each other, pleasantries are in order. I’m Samson, Celeste’s eyes and ears. You’ve met Antonio, her cousin and right hand. Larson is her second and childhood friend. You’re Alaric Solace and Fin Beckett who work for the FBI. Now that we have been introduced, we have work to do.” Samson starts typing furiously into his computer.
That explains why Antonio is so protective over her. I thought that he was maybe an ex or someone trying to catch her attention. I was so infuriated with how close she seemed to be with him and the trust I saw in her eyes as never ending. I envied what I observed they had in those few minutes and now I feel absolutely stupid. He looks like he may be holding on by a thread as much as I am. He’s quiet, finally taking a seat at the head of the table, stiff as a board.
“Your suspect was indeed here tonight. That was the whole point of this event. We didn’t set it up just to throw another party, we wanted him to show face.Hetook one of ours andCeleste didn’t take that very lightly. She allowed you to be here, I’m still not understanding why but we didn’t argue. The performance she gave, unfortunately, wasn’t for you, but to piss him off enough to come after her,” Larson begins explaining.
I’m confused why Celeste would wanthimto come after her. She knew we were there for him and she just let the unsub take her willingly?
“Why would she do that? She knew we were onto him and we had our agents all over this place. Why would she make herself a target?” Beckett asks with his face scrunched in confusion.
My knee begins to bounce under the table and my hands begin to sweat. She seemed off tonight and I should have known she was up to something. I stay quiet, taking in all the information they give us. I have the same questions he has but at this moment I can’t voice them because if I do, I might just lose it. It’s taking everything inside me not to flip this damn table upside down and walk out of here to go search for her. But clearly, there’s more to it that I need to know.
