Chapter hundred and forty two

Oliver

We had seventeen hours left. Nineteen hours had been spent on planning and searching every possible place for Dallas. All our efforts had come up futile but I wasn't going to give up. Neither were my friends, it seems.

“I sent the case the memory card came in to the lab to check for fingerprint. The results was just emailed to me.” Xavier said, walking into my home office.

We had decided to come here directly from the hospital. Alberto and his son were still held at our previous hideout, flanked by several of my and Xavier's men.

I wasn't letting him go and risk losing him again when I could still use his help.

“What does the result say?” I asked.

Ethan looked up from his laptop, his eyes fixed on Xavier.

“Nothing we didn't already assume. The case had Mandy's fingerprints all over it. It confirmed what we already knew. That she was at the warehouse and was probably the one who started the fire.” Xavier said.

Ethan and I groaned simultaneously, expressing our disappointment. We've already came to that conclusion hours ago.

I was expecting something tangible to come from the lab results, maybe a tiny clue about where she came from. But it was also a dead end.

Time was running out and we weren't getting anywhere. I tried not to think about what would happen if we couldn't find her before we ran out of time.

Even if I got engaged to Jenna like Ron asked, there was no guarantee that he would keep to his words and not harm Dallas. We needed to work fast.

“I've sent some people back to the warehouse to scour for any clues about what she started the fire with. Maybe if we find it, we can trace it back to Mandy's location.” Xavier added.

I gave him a simple nod. It was probably pointless going back to the burnt warehouse, but if there was any chance of finding any clue, I'll take it no matter how hopeless it may seem.

“I've put an alert on all surveillance cameras in the city for any glimpse of Ron, Mandy, and Lucien. The only place Ron had gone in the past hours was Jenna's apartment then back to his house. There has been no sight of Lucien or Mandy.” Ethan said.

I wasn't expecting Ron to go directly to where he was keeping Dallas captive. He knew we were onto him. But I was at least hoping for a glimpse of Lucien. He'd certainly gotten good at sticking to the camera's blindspots.

“How about we search all the city cameras blindspots and all abandoned warehouses. Surely, they'd be in one of them. We could split ourselves to make it faster. Or look into the details of some popular drug lord. Ron should know one of them, and they might lead us to him. Or something.”

I was panting now, pacing to and fro in the study. My mind was going crazy searching for ways to find them. But everything that came out of my mouth was wild and time consuming. And we definitely can't afford to waste time.

“Come on, start searching.” I yelled.

Ethan didn't throw a snide comment about my ridiculous request. He simply stared at me with a sad expression on his face and nodded.

“Calm down, brother. We will find her.” Xavier said and clasped a hand on my shoulder.

Brother. The word hit me and I recalled everything Ron said about the Brothers. I shook the thoughts away. I had more things to worry about than thinking about the secret assassin club.

An idea hit me then.
“Ethan, search the dark web for anything you can find about the Brothers. Ron is the current leader and has been for almost twenty years now. Maybe we can find something that will lead us to him.” I said.

I didn't have to explain who the Brothers were to the both of them. They had both watched the clip recorded in the memory card. Turns out there was a voice recording device in the room too.

Ethan nodded and began typing away. Xavier and I stood beside him watching as he worked.

We heard footsteps coming but we tear our gazes from the screen. The only person in the house other than us was Heather.

But when the person entered and I heard a soft clink on the glass center table, I turned to look at who it was. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Xavier and Ethan breaking concentration to do the same thing.

It was Heather, of course.

“I brought you something to drink while you work.” She said, gesturing to the coffee she had set on the table.

She sounded really exhausted but she was trying her best to act strong. My eyes softened as they landed on the bandage wrapped around her head.

She was discharged, alongside me, earlier today and came home with us. But she hadn't gotten much rest despite that the doctor had encouraged it. She had lost so much blood by the time Xavier got to the hospital but was lucky to be revived on time.

Heather blames herself for letting Jenna take Dallas. I wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault but I knew she wouldn't listen. I knew first-hand how guilt works.

“Thank you, Heather.” I offered her a small smile despite myself. Xavier muttered his thanks and picked up the coffee mug.

She gave us a simple nod, her lips pressed tightly together.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” She asked, desperation clawing in her voice.

We were all processing this situation differently. I was losing my mind while searching for any clues for where they might be, and Heather was trying to help as best as she could.

“Nothing, we're good. Please get some rest, you're not properly healed yet.”

She seems to be a hair breath away from collapsing.

Ethan glanced at her but she avoided his gaze. He sighed before turning back to the laptop. He had refused to leave her side while she was unconscious, but now they won't even look at each other.

As curious as I was about why that might be, we had more pressing issues at hand.

“Sure, I'll go rest now.” She said, but made no move to leave the room.

I wish there was something she could help with that would stop her from thinking so much.

“Okay so, the Brothers.” Ethan said.

I tore my gaze away from Heather and faced Ethan.

“They're a group of highly trained assassins. They've been around for about a hundred years. Started by a man named Park Ji Won bla bla… these are just history.” He muttered.

“You can't find anything?” I asked.

“Hold on. It says here that the Brothers was started as a group of people who take justice into their hands. They killed rapists, child traffickers…”

“I don't fucking care about their goddamned history, Ethan. Find something useful.” I basically yelled.

My eyes involuntarily went to the clock mounted against the wall. We had sixteen hours and twenty minutes. Time was running out.

“You're not going to find anything useful on the web.”

Three heads swerved to the direction of the voice and we all froze. I recovered first and immediately grabbed my gun. I aimed it at the intruder standing at the entrance of my study with a bored expression on her face.

Jenna fucking Jang.

I was going to fucking kill that bitch.