Charlotte wiped her face, breathing hard. “I need him back,” she said, barely a whisper now. “Because I never told him the truth. Even if he wants to end our relationship, I want him back.”
For once—Charlotte Everhart didn’t hide. She broke. Openly. Honestly.
Ethan swallowed hard. “Charlotte, I can’t predict where your relationship will head, but everyone in this room wants Alex home.”
Noah blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Charlotte. He does love you. But that love won’t find him.” He slammed his hand down, voice sharp. “We need to focus on the investigation. What are we doing about Stokes? He has to know something.”
Ethan’s eyes cut to him, razor-sharp. “Sad to say, Stokes is an FBI agent dispatched to my command from the Sioux Falls resident agency. Both our agencies fall under the larger Minneapolis field office, which serves South Dakota, Minnesota, and North Dakota. I’ve got a tap on his phone and a tail on his car. Thanks to Noah’s hard work, we caught him talking to someone on a secure line—unlisted frequency, military-grade. He’s involved. But we still have nothing.”
Ethan opened his phone and played a conversation. “This was recorded before Alex went missing.”
Nathan Stokes: Yeah, no, it wasn’t just a casual drop-in. Killian and Marcel went out there with a purpose. Straight to the prison.
Unknown Male Voice: Who’d they meet with?
STOKES: Dr. Fields and Warden Shepler. Killian could get a nun to give up her vows. Marcel plays it cool and relaxed. Between the two of them, I’m sure they got what they wanted. And Hayes. He doesn’t play things fast and loose.
UMV: This about Ward?
STOKES: Yeah. Who do you think they went to talk about? They’re digging deep.
UMV: What’s the connection?
STOKES: What do you think? These questions are stupid. What, are you recording the conversation? You damn wellknow, if the task force—or actually Killian and Marcel—are knocking on those doors, it means Ward’s not just a ghost in the system anymore. They want answers.
UMV: You think they know?
STOKES: If they don’t yet, they’re close. Too close.
Graham ran a hand through his hair. “From that recording, it’s clear Stokes has no idea what he’s protecting or anything to do with the program’s goals.”
Noah snapped his pencil. “I hacked into his financials.”
Ethan rolled his eyes.
“If where they have Alex is a black site, they’d get word of any warrant we issue. Since the task force convened, he’s been receiving five grand every other day from an unlisted direct depositor. He’s definitely compromised, but by whom is unknown.”
“Where do we go from here?” Brad asked.
Ethan’s voice dropped into a growl. “I’m going to that damn prison myself. You’re coming with me. That warden and that doctor are still hiding something. And if we have to turn over every concrete block in that place, we’ll do it.”
A moment passed. Everyone was processing their own version of the same storm.
Charlotte finally spoke, low and clear. “We’re running out of time. If they’re trying to reprogram Alex, we need to move soon. You saw Henry’s autopsy and Mara’s physical.”
Ethan nodded, deadly calm. “We continue to burn the clock.” There was no time to sleep. No luxury of second-guessing. The clock started the moment Alex went dark.
“We split in twos. Noah, Olivia—you hit the cell tower grids. Start with the last confirmed ping from Alex’s phone and trace the surrounding data traffic. Look for anything that spikes and dies fast. That’s your ghost signal.”
Olivia already had her tablet out. “We’ll check for brief, hidden messages sent in quick bursts. If someone used a military-grade relay to scrub him, we’ll find the echo.”
“Brad,” Ethan continued, turning toward him, “gear up. We hit the prison before first light. No courtesy call, no warning. We show up hard and ask louder than we did last time.”
Brad was already reaching for his phone. “I’ll pull transport logs, maintenance records, everything from the last five days before Alex disappeared. If someone moved Alex through that facility, we’ll see the gaps.”
“Tristan,” Ethan said, “I want you and Izzy to go through the psychological profile the police psychiatrists performed on Ward. Everything the court psychiatrists flagged—any sign of off-the-chart behavior. Anything. And maybe we can find Elias.”
“Molly, Sophie, go through the records on Mara and Henry Byron. Look for commonalities and if there were particular markings or medical anomalies. Maybe we can find out what made them. Something to indicate who is running the site.”
