Page 78 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

I nod once, already turning back to the remaining functional monitors. "Get geared up. Check weapons. I'll have a plan by then."

Sunny's fingers dig into my arm. "I'm staying. I need to see—I need to help."

"Okay." I guide her to a chair, positioning her where she can see the screens. "Help me spot anything unusual in the footage leading up to this."

Levi hesitates by the door. "Z..."

"I know." I meet his eyes briefly. "We'll find her."

But as I start reviewing the footage again, my gut twists with uncertainty. This is just the beginning of whatever game Garrett's playing. And we're already three moves behind.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Zane

Istareatthescreens until my vision blurs, fighting the exhaustion that threatens to pull me under. Twenty hours since Jade disappeared. Twenty hours of nothing.

The front door slams downstairs, followed by heavy footsteps. Colt appears in the doorway, dirt streaked across his shirt, his eyes hollow. He doesn't say anything—doesn't need to. The defeat is obvious with every step he takes.

"The warehouse off Highway 9?" I ask, though I already know the answer.

He shakes his head, slumping against the doorframe. "Empty. Just like all the others." His voice is hoarse, probably from shouting Jade's name into abandoned buildings for hours.

"Any info on the truck?" Wolf's voice crackles through my earpiece.

"Dead end." I rub my eyes, trying to focus on the data scrolling past. "Reported stolen three months ago. No prints, no cameras, no witnesses."

The sound of power tools from downstairs makes me wince. Colt left behind a lot of damage last night. It leaves us vulnerable at a time we can't afford it. At least we'll have the gate repaired in the next few hours.

Colt grabs his laptop and I watch him head to the kitchen and take a seat.

Our biggest lead right now has been learning that the code he found during the power outage turned out to be elaborate misdirection. It was hiding the real backdoor into our system—the one that let whoever is working with Garrett override our door locks and trap Jade outside. Colt's positive that he'll be able to find something now that it's been discovered.

"Z?" Chase appears in my doorway, his face grim. "The new monitors are here, but we're having trouble with the installation. Something's corrupted in the base coding."

"Of course it is." I push back from my desk, muscles protesting.

Sunny's curled up in the armchair by the window, finally asleep after refusing to close her eyes all night and most of the day. Levi sits at her feet, his hand wrapped around her ankle like he's afraid she'll disappear if he lets go.

"Any word on her phone?" Levi asks quietly as I pass.

"Nothing." The word tastes bitter. "Either destroyed or being blocked. Wolf's still trying, but..."

A crash from downstairs makes us all jump. Sunny stirs but doesn't wake. Through the security feed, I watch Colt slam his laptop shut and stalk outside making his way down the driveway.

"I've got him," I tell Levi before he can move. "Stay with her."

I find Colt by the remains of the front gate, staring at the scorched dirt and weeds where the truck exploded. His shoulders are rigid with tension.

"The code was perfect." His voice is raw. "Every piece of it was a perfectly crafted decoy. I really thought our system was clean, Z. I really thought there was no way for him to get in."

"We'll find her." The words feel hollow after the past twenty hours.

"Will we?" He turns, and the devastation he feels shows in his eyes. "Because right now all we know is that a professional team managed to infiltrate our security, plant sophisticated, untraceable code into our system, coordinate a multi-point attack, and disappear with her without leaving a single lead to track."

I can't argue with him. Every angle we've pursued has led nowhere. The runners who breached the gate vanished into thin air. The truck's explosion destroyed any evidence it might have contained. The security footage shows nothing useful—just a couple of masked figures moving with military precision.

"She trusted me." Colt's voice cracks. "She trusted me to keep her safe, and I couldn't even... I was right there. Right fucking there, Z."

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