Luke had gone missing, and whether he was dead or alive was uncertain. If Luke had really fallen into Michael’s hands, he would definitely die a horrible death. That expert from the TV station had only said a couple of unpleasant things and was already beaten so badly, and the station had even concealed a lot of key information; for instance, the expert’s family had also been affected. It was clear that Michael was the kind of person who held deep grudges and would make anyone who offended him pay dearly.
“I’ll take a look for you. There are quite a few encrypted surveillance feeds in Impelia—all locked down and monitored by relevant departments, not widely known to outsiders. I have a map showing all the encrypted surveillance locations. Come take a look and see which road it was.”
The two of them huddled together and studied the map carefully. Chris began to ponder, was it really Michael who had done this? On the way, Jessica’s call finally got through. She said the heavy rain in the mountains had caused the poor signal, and several calls hadn’t connected.
She told Chris to use all the Wilder Group’s resources however he liked and fully cooperate with Roy’s investigation. Anything involving the Hall family was a major matter for them as well. Chris was more concerned about the situation at Montvue Tower. Rain had become even heavier in the city center, and even on the road, it felt like the drops were growing denser. Once they got out of the car, it only took a few minutes for them to get completely drenched.
“This is the place. Take a close look. If you spot Luke’s car or any suspicious vehicle, lock it down and take screenshots for me.”
Ashley lowered his voice and asked Chris, “Are you worried about Ms. Wilder?”
“Yeah, going into the mountains in this kind of heavy rain was never a good idea. Now there’s no signal in the mountains, and I can’t reach her at all.”
“She had no choice. Such business trips of theirs aren’t easy to reschedule.”
They stayed in Jennifer’s office for two hours. Sticking to his principle of ‘better to wrongly suspect than to overlook,’ Roy pulled up all suspicious vehicles. Jennifer took the opportunity to dig up the contact details—including Michael’s.
Chapter 251
+15 BONUS
“When Michael returned to the country, he stopped using his old number. The one he uses now has triple-layer encryption. If we dial it, the communication signal first gets routed overseas before being redirected back to his phone. It’s a form of anti-tracking.”
No one understood anti-tracking better than Roy. As soon as he heard “triple-layer encryption,” he knew the secrets behind Michael had to be complicated. Hardly anyone in the country used this kind of communication—it was basically satellite-level tech. They couldn’t access Michael’s private number directly. They had to break through the triple encryption, and it did take Jennifer some time.
“There must be a top IT expert working with Michael. I can trace him, but it’ll take a while. Don’t get your hopes up—people like this clean up all traces of themselves.”
“It’s fine. Do it.”
Before the three of them left, Ashley stopped by the finance department to grab something. When he came back out, Roy and Chris were already waiting in the car, and the atmosphere between them was somewhat tense. One was worried about his wife, the other about the case. They hadn’t received a call back from Jessica yet—instead, it was Jaden who called.
“Mandy, as the chief reporter of Hurricane Media, has already gone to the Hall family,” said Jaden.
When it came to the Hall family, how could they forget Jaden? Over the phone, Roy shouted, “Don’t go stirring up trouble. I’m already swamped here. Luke’s been missing for days, and we don’t even know if he’s alive.”
Jaden chuckled softly. “We’re going in with press credentials. All the paperwork is in order. Don’t worry.”