Page 202 of Unexpected Hero

My brain processes the details, shuffling action steps into a logical order.

He cricks his wrist to check his watch. “It’s been three to five minutes since I ended the call with Leo. After that, I contacted Sammy’s mother to have her lock down her house, notified Chief Heller at CPD, and walked down here. That’s all we know. What do you need?”

Because he knows how I think, he laid out most of the timeline for me. Except one thing.

“Did Lionheart call you immediately after they found her phone?”

“Affirmative. From the alley.”

“So that means she was taken between,” I glance at the clock and do a quick calculation, “1845 and 1915, give or take.”

While tapping frantically across the screen of his Redleg tablet, he mutters, “Agree. See what footage you can find during that window.”

And then he’s on the move again.

On his way out of the lair, he announces, “I’ll scramble resources and inform you when I head to the bar to help the guys.”

“Copy. Searching for feeds now.”

Despite the gravity and tension of the situation, my training takes effect immediately, enabling me to block out everything but the most crucial tasks.

Diving in through back door channels I’ve used for past cases, I access multiple traffic camera sources in the bar’s vicinity and begin spooling their feeds for analysis.

While that runs, I identify five other businesses that might have helpful surveillance feeds. I don’t have an easily accessible route to most of these. It’ll be easier if we can get in legally.

Without delay, I dial Leo.

“T, do you have anything for me yet?”

My mouse continues clicking as I set up filters and narrow parameters in my analysis programs. “Negative. Does the bar have cameras viewing the rear of the building?”

“No, they don’t fucking have any out there,” he seethes. “I can’t believe this is happening. Help me find her, please. We can’t lose her again.”

Shaking off his unhelpful emotional response, I redirect our conversation. “I’m compiling traffic feeds now. Given you’re at the scene, it’ll be faster for you to visually inspect the alleyway and direct me to which businesses might have cameras facing the dumpster area. Get out there and tell me what you can see in the vicinity. I’ll let you know if I find anything on traffic cams.”

“Copy.”

“Update me with anything you find or any new leads.”

“Got it.”

He hangs up, allowing me to return to my growing task list.

Minutes later, I’ve got the most relevant traffic footage pulled up on three screens. Popping my head out of my office, I look toward our remote monitoring team. I need a warm body.

“Listen up, team. I need two of you with me. Now. Top priority. The rest of you will need to team up to cover their stations.”

I return to my desk, hearing them chattering about who’s doing what. Two minutes later, I have the voluntolds poring over footage to find anything that’ll help us locate Sammy.

Leo sends a message with bad news shortly thereafter. No cameras with a view of the area.Shit.

Maybe I can get more intel if I go to the scene. I might see something that can help.

Grabbing my phone, I call Boss to give him an update.

“Go, T.”

“No cameras facing the back alley. But I’m pulling traffic cam footage in droves for review by my team. There’s a fuck ton of footage, so it’ll take a while for it to spool. They’re reviewing it as it comes, but even with my filters, it’ll take time to assess it. Unless you have something else for me now, I’ll meet you at the scene to assist with recon as soon as I’m at a stopping point. I need another three or four minutes before I’m stuck in limbo.”

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