Chapter 175

The jet landed at Portland International Airport. A motorcade of black SUVs with the Navarre royal crest was waiting on the tarmac. The Bourbon family’s private security team, dressed in dark suits and earpieces, stood by the vehicles. The three sports cars and the Ducati were already parked nearby, gleaming under the Oregon sky.

Angelique stretched. “It’s good to be home.”

“Your home is amazing,” Cherish said, looking at the mountains in the distance. “It’s so green.”

“It rains a lot here,” Angelique said. “But it’s beautiful.”

“I don’t mind the rain,” Cherish said. “It makes things grow.”

“It does,” Angelique said.

They got out of the jet. A Dominion Guard officer walked up to Louis.

“Sir. The Browns are in their apartment. The team is waiting for you.”

“Good.” Louis turned to Philip and Maria. “We will see you at the mansion in the evening.”

“Be safe,” Philip said, hugging Angelique. “And call us if you need anything.”

“We will,” Angelique said.

Maria kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry about dinner. We will have it ready for you when you get back.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Angelique smiled.

The Bourbons got in one of the SUVs. The motorcade drove away.

Louis looked at the women. “Let’s go to the cars. We have a long day ahead of us.”

He got in the Mustang with Savannah and Cherish. The others got in the other cars. Maeve started the Ducati.

“Where to?” Savannah asked, looking at the GPS on the dashboard.

“Plymouth Apartment in Buckman,” Louis said. “That’s where Emily Brown lives.”

“Got it,” Savannah said. “Let’s go.”

The Mustang’s engine rumbled as he drove out of the airport. The Bugatti, the SLR McLaren, and the Ducati followed. Two Dominion Guard SUVs joined them. A moment later, they joined the traffic in the highway.

“Portland is so pretty,” Cherish said, looking out the window.

“It is,” Louis said. “A lot greener than Los Angeles. And more relaxed.”

“I like it,” Cherish said. “It feels peaceful.”

“Enjoy it while you can,” Savannah said. “Because I got a feeling we gonna ruin that peace soon.”

“Probably,” Louis said.

Gladice’s voice came over the comm system. “Hey, Louis. Are we going to race to the apartment? Because I think I can beat you.”

“You can try,” Louis said.

“I will,” Gladice said. “Get ready to eat my dust, pretty boy.”

“In your dreams,” Louis said.

Gladice laughed. “We’ll see about that.”

She accelerated, and the Bugatti shot past them with sirens wailing.

“Show-off,” Savannah said.

“She’s always like that,” Louis said, smiling.

He floored the accelerator. The Mustang surged forward, closing the gap between them.

“That’s more like it,” Gladice said.

Willa’s voice came over the comm. “Are you two done with your pissing contest? We are trying to maintain a low profile.”

“Sorry, Willa,” Gladice said. “But a girl’s gotta have some fun.”

“I understand. But try not to attract too much attention.”

“Or what? You’ll hack us?” Maeve’s voice crackled from the Ducati’s helmet.

“I might,” Willa said.

Maeve laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Willa said.

They drove through the city, the traffic moving aside for the motorcade. Louis kept the Mustang at a steady pace.

“Look,” Cherish said, pointing at the city beyond the river. “Is that the downtown?”

“Yes, it is,” Louis said. “I wonder if we can see the Bourbon Mansion from here.”

“We can’t,” Angelique said. “It’s in Hillside. We will see it later.”

“I’m excited to see it,” Cherish said.

“You will love it,” Angelique said.

Savannah looked at her phone. “Emily Brown’s apartment is just a few blocks away. The team says the neighbors are getting curious. They are asking questions.”

“We’re almost there,” Louis said.

He turned onto a quiet street and parked the Mustang in front of a six-story apartment building, where two armored SUVs were already blocking the road. A Dominion Guard officer stood by the entrance. The others parked behind him. Maeve parked the Ducati on the sidewalk and took off her helmet.

“Let’s do this,” she said.

They got out of the cars. The Dominion Guard officer met them at the entrance.

“Sir. The Browns are in apartment 403. The mother is distressed. But she agreed to talk to you. The baby is sleeping.”

“Good,” Louis said. “Let’s go.”

They went inside. The agent led them to the fourth floor. Two guards stood outside a door marked 403. The agent knocked.

“Mrs. Brown. Mr. Collins and his companions are here to see you.”

The door opened. A young woman with red, puffy eyes and a messy bun stood in the doorway. She wore a gray sweatshirt and black leggings.

“Emily Brown?” Louis asked.

“Yes,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Please, come in. I’m sorry about the mess.”

Louis and the women walked into the apartment. A baby girl lay in a bassinet in the living room, crying. A half-eaten bowl of cereal sat on the coffee table. A Dominion Guard sniper was standing in the balcony door, looking out.

“What do you want from me?” Emily asked, wringing her hands. “I already talked to the other agents. I told them everything I know.”

“We are looking for your husband,” Louis said. “And the people he was working for.”

“I don’t know where he is,” Emily said, her voice breaking. “He was called in early. For a meeting. Then he just… disappeared. I called him, but his phone went straight to voicemail. I’m scared. I’m really scared.”

Donya walked over to the bassinet. “She’s beautiful. What’s her name?”

“Anne,” Emily said. “After my mother.”

“How old is she?” Donya asked.

“Three weeks,” Emily said. “She’s my whole world.”

“I’m sure she is,” Donya said, gently rocking the bassinet.

Emily looked at Louis. “Why does the Supreme President’s son care about my husband? Why are you here?”

“Because your husband worked for an organization that sold our personal information to a media company that used it to harass us,” Willa said. “And because we think that organization is connected to the people who abducted us.”

Emily’s face turned white. “What? No. That’s not possible. Ethan is a good man. He would never do something like that.”

“He might have been coerced,” Angelique said. “Or tricked. We just want to find out the truth.”

“The truth?” Emily said, starting to cry. “I don’t know the truth. I just want my husband back.”

“Help us,” Louis said. “And we will help you. The state has resources. We will find him.”

Emily looked at him, then at the crying baby. “Okay,” she said, wiping her tears. “What do you need?”

“Anything he left behind,” Louis said. “A phone, a laptop, a notebook. Anything that might give us a clue.”

“We have a tablet,” Emily said. “We share it. But I don’t think he used it for work. He always used his work laptop for that.”

“And where is it?” Willa asked.

“At the office,” Emily said. “He always brings it with him.”

“What about a personal phone?” Louis asked.

“He has one,” Emily said. “But he took it with him. I tried to call it, but it’s off.”

“Did he say anything before he left?” Donya asked.

“Not much,” Emily said. “He just said it was an emergency. And that he loved me. And Anne.”

“Did he seem scared?” Angelique asked.

“A little,” Emily said. “It was not the first emergency call he got. The foundation has had a lot of them lately.”

“Do you know why?” Willa asked.

“They said they were restructuring,” Emily said. “That they were closing some offices and laying off some people. He was worried about his job. But they said he was safe. That he was a valuable employee.”

“That’s what they said to all their employees, I bet,” Maeve said.

“Probably,” Louis said. “Can we take a look at the tablet?”

“Sure,” Emily said. “It’s on the kitchen counter.”

Willa walked to the kitchen and picked up the tablet. She sat on the couch and turned it on. Emily sat next to her.

“What are you looking for?” Emily asked.

“Anything,” Willa said. “A deleted file. A hidden folder. A secret account. Anything that can tell us more about his work.”

“I don’t think you will find anything,” Emily said. “He is a very private person. He doesn’t like to mix work and home.”

“Maybe he did this one time,” Angelique said.

Willa opened the tablet’s browser and checked the history. It was mostly about TV shows, movies, and baby products. Then she found a deleted browser session from yesterday evening. She clicked on it.

“What is this?” Emily asked. “I didn’t know he was looking at this.”

The screen showed a list of porn websites. Mostly amateur. Some were violent.

“He was just looking at porn, right?” Emily said, her face red.

“Maybe,” Willa said. “Or maybe he was looking for something else.”

She clicked on one of the links. The website loaded. The video was titled ‘Captive Slut Gets What She Deserves.’ The thumbnail showed a young woman in white dress, bound and gagged, with tears in her eyes. It was recorded outdoor. The background was a farm with a fence and a barn. The woman looked unfamiliar. Willa’s fingers flew across the screen, opening more videos. Each one featured a different woman in the same location. Some were black, some were white, some were Asian. They all looked terrified.

“Turn it off,” Emily said, covering her eyes. “Please.”

Willa closed the browser. “I’m sorry, Emily. I had to check.”

“I don’t understand,” Emily said. “Why would he look at this? He’s not like this. He’s a good man. He loves me. He loves our baby.”

“I’m not saying he’s not,” Willa said. “But this is a clue. And we need to follow it.”

Louis looked at the website’s name on the tablet. ‘Country Pleasures.’ He took out his phone and forward the name to Robin.

“What does this mean?” Angelique asked.

“It means the foundation might be involved in more than just data trafficking,” Willa said. “They might be involved in sex trafficking.”

“Or maybe this guy is just looking for porn to jerk off,” Gladice said. “Like any other man.”

“Where was it filmed?” Savannah asked.

“I don’t know,” Willa said. “But it looks like a farm. There are mountains in the background. Maybe it’s in the Central Union. Or the Great Lakes Alliance.”

“Or in the Dominion,” Angelique said. “We have farms too.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Gladice said. “It could be staged. With actors.”

“Maybe,” Savannah said. “Or maybe it’s real. And those women are victims.”

“If it is real, it is even more reason to find them,” Angelique said. “And to stop this.”

“Let’s focus on Ethan.” Louis turned to Emily. “Did he mention any trips? Any meetings? Any new projects?”

“No,” Emily said, shaking her head. “He said he was just doing his usual work. Researching records, updating the database, writing reports.”

“Did he use AI for that?” Willa asked.

“I think so,” Emily said. “He said it made his job easier. Faster.”

“We need to access his Tengri account then,” Willa said. “See what he was working on.”

“Can you do that?” Emily asked.

“I can try,” Willa said. “But I think his account is deleted.”

“Let’s check,” Louis said.

Willa opened the Tengri app on the tablet and searched for Ethan Brown. No results.

“He’s gone,” Willa said. “Like he never existed.”

“I can call Mr. Cruise,” Louis said. “He can help us retrieve the data.”

“Do that,” Willa said.

Louis walked to the balcony. The sniper nodded at him. Louis took out his phone and dialed Mr. Cruise’s number.

“Mr. Cruise, it’s Louis Collins.”

“Mr. Collins. I’m glad you called. I cannot express how pleased I am to hear your safe return. And that of your companions.”

“Thank you. I need your help. We have a Tengri account that has been deleted. We need to recover the data. The user is Ethan Brown. A researcher at the Common Roots Foundation.”

“I see,” Mr. Cruise said. “I will put my best team on it. They will try to retrieve the data from the backup servers. But I can’t promise anything. Sometimes the deletions are thorough.”

“I understand,” Louis said. “Just do what you can.”

“I will,” Mr. Cruise said. “And I will let you know as soon as I have something.”

“Thank you,” Louis said.

“Anything for you, Mr. Collins.”

Louis hung up and walked back inside.

Willa looked up. “What did he say?”

“He’s on it,” Louis said. “We should hear back soon.”

“Good,” Willa said. “Robin just sent messages. The porn site, ‘Country Pleasures,’ is hosted on a server in the Central Union. The payment processor is a shell company in Canada. The videos are uploaded by a user named ‘FarmerJohn.’”

“FarmerJohn,” Savannah repeated. “How original.”

“But does the foundation have anything to do with this?” Cherish asked. “Or was Ethan just a customer?”

“I don’t know,” Willa said.

“There is something else,” Donya said, walking to Louis. “Emily told me Ethan has been different. For the past few weeks. He has been quiet. Distant. Not sleeping well. And he talked about quitting.”

“Did she say why?” Louis asked.

“Just that the job was not what he thought it would be,” Donya said. “But he needed the money.”

“I have an idea,” Willa said. “Didn’t you mention the Dominion monitor all the public spaces? All the streets, all the buildings?”

“Yes. For security. What about it?” Louis asked.

“I wonder if that cover the balcony here too.” She stood up and went to the balcony door. The others followed. The sniper stepped aside.

She leaned out and looked up. “There it is.” She pointed at a small black camera below the streetlight.

“But it ain’t pointed at the balcony,” Savannah said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Willa said. “We need the audio. Maybe he talked on the phone here. And the camera might have picked it up.”

“Good thinking.” Louis opened the secure channel. “Robin, we need the audio from the security camera outside 403, Plymouth Apartment in Buckman. From yesterday evening to this morning. ASAP.”

“On it, sir,” Robin’s reply came.

“How fast can they get it?” Angelique asked.

“A few minutes,” Louis said. “If he made a call from the balcony, they will find it.”

“What if he didn’t?” Maeve asked. “What if he made a call from the bathroom? Or the kitchen?”

“Then we are out of luck,” Willa said. “But we have to try.”

Louis sat back on the couch. The others settled around him. Cherish looked at Emily.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Emily shook her head. “I don’t know. I feel like my world is falling apart. I don’t know what to believe. About my husband. About my life. About anything.”

“I understand,” Cherish said. “I felt like that too. When I left home. Everything was different. Scary. But then I found them. And they helped me. They will help you too. We all will.”

Emily looked at Cherish, then at the others. “Why? Why would you help me? You don’t even know me.”

“Because we know what it’s like to be lost,” Cherish said. “And we want to help others find their way.”

“Thank you,” Emily said, wiping a tear.

“You’re welcome,” Cherish said.

Louis’s phone buzzed. A message from Robin.

We have the audio. One call. From 2:45 a.m. to 2:48 a.m. From the balcony. We could only hear his side. The other side is too faint. Sending you the file.

Louis opened the file and put it on speaker. A man’s voice came from the phone. It was calm, but tense.

“Why do you need the research team? This is an IT problem. A server glitch. It shouldn’t take this long.”

He listened for a moment.

“Another emergency meeting? At this hour? Again?”

Another pause.

“Fine. I’ll be there. But this has to stop. This is not what I signed up for.”

The call ended.

“He was not happy,” Savannah said.

“No,” Angelique said. “But he still went.”

“Because he had to,” Maeve said. “Or he would lose his job.”

“Or worse,” Savannah added.

Louis’s phone buzzed again. A message from Mr. Cruise.

We recovered the date you requested from the backup. I have forwarded the whole archive to you.

Louis opened the file. It was a compressed folder of Ethan Brown’s Tengri data. It was smaller than he thought. He opened it.

“Not much here,” Willa said. “Most of it is food and pets.”

“Scroll down,” Louis said.

Willa scrolled down the list of files. At the bottom, there was a photo of a house. It looked like an ordinary suburban house. A car was parked in the driveway.

“What’s this?” Savannah asked.

Willa opened the photo. She zoomed in on the car’s license plate.

“It’s local,” she said. “A Portland plate.”

“What about the house?” Donya asked.

“I think I know it,” Emily said, looking at the photo. “It’s in Raleigh Hills. A suburb. I saw it on a real estate website a few months ago. Ethan and I were looking for a bigger place.”

“Why would he save a photo of a random house?” Maeve asked.

“Maybe it’s the house he wanted to buy,” Savannah said.

“Or maybe it’s something else,” Angelique said. “Something related to his work.”

“Like a safe house,” Willa said.

“Let’s find out,” Louis said. He sent the photo to Robin. Find this house. Check the ownership. And check for any activity.

Robin’s reply came quickly. Louis held the phone out so the others could see.

The house is owned by a couple named Joe and Leslie Davis. Dominion citizens. Retired. No connection to the foundation. They are currently on vacation in Hawaii.

“Hawaii?” Gladice’s eyes lit up. “Maybe we should go there now. I could use a break.”

“Focus, Glads,” Angelique said.

“I’m just saying,” Gladice said. “We are going to live there anyway. Why wait?”

“Because we have a mystery to solve,” Willa said.

“Fine,” Gladice said. “Spoil my fun.”

“What about the car?” Savannah asked.

Robin’s message continued. The car is a 2028 Ford Fusion. Rented two months ago from a company called ’Arcadia Car Rental.’

“Arcadia Car Rental,” Willa repeated. “Let me check.”

She typed on her laptop. “Arcadia has locations in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. And they specialize in long-term rentals for business travelers. They look legit.”

“Maybe,” Angelique said. “But I have a feeling they are not.”

“Who rented the car?” Louis asked.

Robin’s message came back. The rental was made online. With a prepaid credit card. The name on the rental agreement is John Smith.

“John Smith,” Maeve said. “How original.”

“Almost as original as FarmerJohn,” Gladice said.

“Are they the same person?” Angelique asked.

“Maybe,” Willa said. “Or maybe they are both fake names used by the same organization.”

“Like a code,” Savannah said. “John Smith for cars. FarmerJohn for porn. What else?”

“A lot of things,” Louis said. “I think we need to check the house. I’ll send a team of Dominion Guard to check it. Then we can join them.”

Emily looked at Louis. “Are you going to find Ethan?”

“We will try,” Louis said. “But no promises. He might not be there.”

“But you have to try,” Emily said. “Please.”

“We will.” Louis stood up. “Let’s go.”

“Can I come with you?” Emily asked.

“No,” Louis said. “It’s safer here for you and the baby. The team will stay with you.”

“Okay,” Emily said, her eyes filling with tears again. “But please, call me. If you find him. Or if you find out anything.”

“I will,” Louis said.

He turned and walked out of the apartment, the women following him. Maeve shut the door gently.

“Poor woman,” Donya said. “She must be going through hell.”

“I know,” Louis said. “But she gave us a lead. And we are going to follow it.”

They went downstairs and got in their cars.