Chapter 8 - SEVEN MINUTES MISSINGWe returned to the city before dawn.
Jasper had taken Mother from the medical facility without triggering the main alarm.
That should have been impossible.
The cameras showed nothing.
The guards remembered nothing.
The doors had never opened.
Seven minutes were missing from the security logs.
Exactly seven.
Dr. Voss studied the system.
"Someone didn't disable the cameras."
"What did they do?"
"They edited the records."
I stared at him.
"Can that be done?"
"Yes."
"By Jasper?"
Dr. Voss shook his head.
"Not alone."
The kidnapping was too clean.
Too precise.
Someone had access to hospital systems, financial networks, security teams, and now our family records.
The same someone who had known where we were every step of the way.
Victor Hale.
Except Victor wanted the ledger.
Jasper wanted Isabella's foundation.
Why would they work together?
Then I understood.
Because they wanted different things from the same family.
Jasper wanted money.
Victor wanted control.
Mother was the key to both.
We traced her location through an old emergency transmitter hidden under her skin.
The signal came from an underground parking structure.
We arrived at 4:12 a.m.
The garage was empty.
Too empty.
I stepped from the car.
"Stay behind me."
Isabella nodded.
We moved between concrete pillars.
A light flickered overhead.
Then Jasper's voice echoed.
"Caleb."
He stepped into view.
He was holding Mother by the arm.
Two men stood behind him.
Mother's face was bruised.
Jasper smiled.
"You came."
"You knew we would."
"Of course."
He looked at Isabella.
"She always was your weakness."
I raised my weapon.
"Let her go."
Jasper laughed.
"You still think this is about her?"
He lifted Mother's hand.
A brass key hung from her fingers.
The second key.
"We found it."
My attention shifted.
Mother looked directly at me.
Her lips moved silently.
Don't.
I understood.
Trap.
But Jasper already knew we knew.
He smiled.
"Seven minutes."
"What?"
"The security gap."
He nodded toward the ceiling.
"Seven minutes is how long it took me to get your mother out."
I realized what he was doing.
He was telling us he had full access to the system.
"Who helped you?"
Jasper's smile disappeared.
"You should ask the person sitting beside your mother."
I looked.
A fourth figure stepped out from the shadows.
Dr. Voss.
My stomach dropped.
He was holding a gun.
Isabella whispered:
"No."
Dr. Voss looked at me with tears in his eyes.
"I never wanted this."
Jasper laughed.
"He's been helping us for years."
"You're lying."
Dr. Voss's hand trembled.
Jasper threw a photograph onto the ground.
It showed Dr. Voss meeting Victor Hale.
I stared at it.
"Why?"
Dr. Voss looked at Mother.
"Because he had my daughter."
Silence.
Jasper moved closer.
"Hand over the drive."
I held it up.
"You want this?"
"Yes."
"Then take it."
I threw it.
The drive landed at Jasper's feet.
He bent down.
For one second, everyone looked at it.
That was enough.
I moved.
The first guard went down.
Isabella struck the second.
Mother ducked.
Dr. Voss dropped his weapon.
Jasper ran.
I chased him through the garage.
He disappeared behind a concrete wall.
When I reached the spot, there was no one there.
Only a metal door.
I opened it.
A tunnel stretched into darkness.
On the wall was a message written in red.
YOU KEEP CHASING JASPER.
YOU SHOULD BE CHASING YOUR MOTHER.
I turned.
Mother was standing behind me.
She whispered:
"Caleb, I need to tell you who Victor really is."
May you like
Then an explosion shook the tunnel.
And the ceiling began collapsing.
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