The restaurant hummed with a strange, manufactured quiet.
Eleanor kept her eyes locked on Ruiz while Duncan's voice whispered in her earpiece:
"Mole confirmed. Identity incoming."
Ruiz leaned forward. "You should take the deal."
Daniela's hands stayed flat on the table, calm but coiled. "We both know you don't plan to let us walk away."
Ruiz smiled thinly. "Actually, I don't care what happens after this. My job is simple."
Eleanor tilted her head, reading him.
"Simple?" she asked softly.
Ruiz glanced briefly at one of his men near the back exit — a signal.
That was all Duncan needed.
"He's here. The mole is in the exit corridor. Name: Deputy Director Mason Caldwell."
Eleanor's heart jumped. Caldwell. One of the highest-ranking officials inside the DOJ task force.
Inside the surveillance van parked across the street, Duncan ordered his team into motion.
"Secure the corridor. Quiet. We need Caldwell alive."
As his agents moved, Leo's voice shook beside him.
"Mason Caldwell? He was briefed on every operation. Every safehouse."
Duncan nodded grimly. "That's how they always stayed ahead."
Meanwhile, back inside, Eleanor stalled for time.
"You really thought we wouldn't figure it out, Ruiz?" she said.
Ruiz arched an eyebrow. "You don't know anything."
But the tremor in his voice betrayed him.
Daniela leaned forward now, cold fury in her voice.
"We know everything."
In the back corridor, Caldwell moved quickly, pulling a burner phone from his jacket. He barely got two steps before armed agents swarmed him.
"Federal agents! Drop it!"
Caldwell froze, breathing hard. The burner clattered to the floor.
"Caldwell," Duncan said as he approached, weapon drawn. "You're done."
Caldwell tried to maintain composure. "You have no idea what you're interfering with."
"Oh, I do," Duncan shot back. "You sold out your entire department for blood money."
"Not money," Caldwell whispered. "Survival."
Duncan's eyes narrowed. "Whose?"
Caldwell's lips twitched, bitter. "You'll see."
They cuffed him and dragged him away.
The call came less than thirty minutes later.
Santos stood at his penthouse window, watching the city lights.
Ruiz delivered the news. "Caldwell's burned."
Santos exhaled slowly. "Then the Bureau knows."
Ruiz shifted. "Do we abort?"
"No," Santos said, his voice cold but certain. "We escalate."
Ruiz hesitated. "The girl?"
Santos nodded once. "Send the video."
Back at the safehouse, Duncan debriefed everyone as Caldwell sat cuffed in a soundproof room nearby.
"He confirmed Santos has multiple off-site locations for witnesses. Ella is being held in one of them."
Leo swallowed. "Which one?"
Duncan shook his head. "That's where Caldwell clammed up. He doesn't know."
Eleanor sat, fists clenched, waiting for the next move.
Then her phone buzzed again.
This time: a live video stream.
Ella, tied to a chair, blindfolded but unharmed. A man's voice — not Santos, but one of his lower lieutenants — spoke calmly.
"Decide carefully, Eleanor. We don't need her alive to control you."
The video cut out.
Eleanor's hands shook.
Daniela wrapped her arms around her, whispering fiercely. "We're getting her back."
Eleanor whispered back. "Or we burn the entire city to the ground trying."
In prison, Kayleigh received yet another update.
Caro stood beside her, almost impatient now. "Santos is exposing too much."
"He's panicking," Kayleigh agreed softly.
"Do we step in?"
Kayleigh's eyes gleamed. "Not yet. Let Santos tighten the noose himself."
Caro frowned. "But Eleanor—"
Kayleigh interrupted. "Eleanor will make her next move soon. And when she does, she'll either succeed or break."
She smiled faintly.
"Either way, I win."
Later that night, Duncan gathered everyone around the safehouse war room.
"Caldwell won't talk. But he gave us something else."
He pulled up a schematic — a private airfield outside city limits. Recently leased under one of Santos' shell companies.
"Santos isn't just holding Ella. He's preparing for extraction."
Leo's voice trembled. "He's going to vanish."
"Unless we stop him," Daniela added.
Duncan nodded. "We have one shot at this."
Eleanor stood, resolving to harden into steel.
"Then we hit him. Full force."
.
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To be continued