Email From: [email protected]
"How can a scammer get through the security firewall?" Erion muttered, frowning as he clicked the message open.
Help me, please!
My friend was kidnapped! I think it's the same case from the news. Please help me!
Here is her location: ..**1.90 — it will send you a real-time position.
The police won't help me. So please, I'm begging you!
Erion's eyes narrowed. How did you even get into our system?
He reached for the desk phone.
"Cyber Information Department," came the voice on the other end.
"It's Erion. I'm sending you something. I need the sender's location." His tone was calm, but it carried an authority that couldn't be ignored.
"Yes, Major!" The man answered without hesitation.
Erion hung up and glanced at the map on the wall. The coordinates matched a location in the Perigo Cube.
His stomach tightened. If she's there, that's their base. We've been chasing them for months.
But one question nagged him—how did this stranger track the victim? He'd been plotting that very thing for weeks without success.
The plea echoed in his head. Please help me!
This could be a trap… or a cry for help no one else would hear.
INT – CYBER INFORMATION DEPARTMENT – 11:00 AM
The room was dark, windows tinted, walls covered in glowing monitors. Fingers clattered on keyboards, the air thick with concentration.
Every department in this building was soundproof. No one outside would hear the data wars fought in here.
"What do you mean you can't track it?" Erion's voice cut through the clicking.
"She's masking her location," one of the senior techs replied without turning. "Could be a high-rank decipher master… or an Originator."
"Or a criminal," Erion said flatly.
"I tried everything. No address ping from the phone, but the model number was still there. It's rare. I cross-referenced every owner in the city. Closest match was less than a minute before your email arrived—sent from the police station downtown."
"Good. Thank you." Erion turned to leave.
"She might not be there anymore, Major," the tech warned. "That's just where she sent it from."
ROAD – HIGHWAY, ORIS PROVINCE – 12:00 PM
EXT - ZONE 7: CALI'DUS
Erion's black pickup rumbled down an empty road, lined with nothing but trees.
He'd stopped at the police station earlier.
"Everything's fine," the officer at the door had said. "Well… except for that overreacting lady claiming her friend got kidnapped. Can you believe it? She's not even rich. Bet her friend's not worth kidnapping either."
Erion had walked away without comment, his disgust buried. In his experience, that kind of arrogance was normal.
Help me. Police won't help me.
The words from the email wouldn't leave him.
He told himself he was only going to check the coordinates. Desperate people sometimes lied, but they also sometimes told the truth no one wanted to hear.
The window was down, wind sweeping his dark hair back and exposing ice-blue eyes locked on the road ahead.
This place was outside his jurisdiction. The safest choice would be to turn back.
But his grip on the steering wheel only tightened.
I'll just check.
He didn't know it yet, but this decision would change everything.