Page 163 of Morally Corrupt

"That's one of those storage places in the Bronx, isn't it?" Marcel studies the map on the screen.

"I think so," Vlad concurs.

I don't have time for this. The moment I have the location, I do a one-eighty, already heading for the door.

"Do you want to save your wife, Hastings, or go to your own death?" Vlad makes a tsk sound that stops me in my tracks.

"We can't waste any time. You know that the first few hours after a kidnapping are the most important," I address Marcel, who's also seen his fair share of such cases.

"Yes, but there's also the element of surprise. And we can only bank on that if we know the details of who took her. Don't be hasty."

"I can't just sit around, Marcel." My voice betrays the emotion I feel inside. If Carlos took her…

My mind keeps on imagining the worst.

"Patience, Hastings." Vlad shakes his head. "Now, tell me where you found her phone."

I give Vlad the coordinates and watch as he swiftly pulls the CCTV feed. At this point, I'm not even interested in how he's done that. All that matters is seeing what happened to Bianca.

"When was the last time you talked to her?" he asks me.

"Around ten." When she'd told me about her plans at the foundation.

Vlad starts the feed from ten, and we go through the footage until I point out Bianca's car coming to a stop.

"There's another car." Right behind Bianca, another car stops. We watch as she gets out of the vehicle and heads towards the other car, knocking on the window. Simultaneously, a man walks around the car and takes her by surprise, likely with a chloroform-infused material. After she slumps against the man, she's loaded into the car.

"Stop." I point to the frame that allows the best view inside the open window.

"Zoom in." Vlad zooms in, and I spare a glance at Marcel. It looks like him.

"Carlos? " he asks, and Marcel and I nod.

"We need to go there."

"Wait," Vlad says again, and I get annoyed with all his interruptions. He pulls up more CCTV footage, this time from the storage unit in the Bronx.

"There's a lot of traffic." Marcel frowns and asks Vlad to search for other angles.

We see a few trucks pulling up at the industrial entrance. Switching to some inner cameras, the trucks are being unloaded and craters are being carried inside the buildings. There's also an excessive number of staff climbing out of the vehicles.

"What do we know about that storage company?"

"It's been closed for more than a year now and was recently acquired by an offshore account… Do you think?" Vlad looks at Marcel when he asks this, and he nods.

"It could be Jimenez's new operating base," Marcel speculates. "It would make sense why the increased traffic now, since Agosti is out."

"You think he moved in so quickly?"

"To get the best part of a carcass, a scavenger must be the first one at the scene." Vlad's voice turns wistful.

"Thanks for the imagery," I add drily.

"Welcome." He beams.

"You can't simply barge in there. We need a plan," Marcel tells me. "It's likely they have an army in there." He paces around, thinking of something. "Vlad, can you find the blueprints of the building?"

"I'll try," Vlad replies and gets to work.

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