off about the protocol. I respect Mitzy. The woman’s mind is nothing short of chaotic brilliance. Her guesses have to be ten times better than ours, but it frustrates me when she refuses to make obvious connections.
“Tell us what you know.” Skye’s light, lilting voice is just like the rest of her, beautiful but bolstered by steel. She’s not afraid to push Mitzy to the limit of what she’ll infer from the data.
“Ten minutes ago, I received the distress alert. Pretty standard there.” She points to the screen which currently displays the Gulf of Mexico. “We didn’t know how those men got Moira out of the building during the raid to save Zoe, and we’ve been going over what surveillance there is, trying to track all traffic leaving that area at the time of the raid. Nothing gave us anything concrete to act on. Land, sea, or air. Those men moved her by one of the three, but there was no way to know for sure. Honestly, we lost her.”
My teeth grind harder as Mitzy dribbles out information. It’s a game with her, give the tiniest scraps to make the rest of us go insane waiting for the goddam punchline. I swear the little sprite gets off on watching us lesser humans piece together her little crumbs of information.
I’m not sure what expression is on my face, except Axel’s fingers dig in my arm hard enough for me to notice. I’d say something, but Forest catches my eye. He says nothing, but there’s no reason for him to say a word.
Like me, he’s been in a similar position. He knows what it’s like to have someone he cares about taken from him. His look tells me he understands my situation, but even he won’t buck protocol. It’s hard to sit still and not lose my shit, but his look tells me to have patience.
I get it. Rushing in does nothing but create chaos and places unnecessary risk on everyone involved. I hold my tongue, but anger boils inside of me. It’s been nearly four days since Moira went missing. Four long days where anything could’ve happened. But she texted an SOS to the facility. That must mean something.
“Spit it out, Mitz. Is it Moira, or not?” Forest says the words I want to shout.
I take in a breath and try to calm the fuck down while Mitzy does her thing.
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s her.” She points to the map and a red light pops up. “This is Goliath, a cargo container ship which left the port of Barranquilla, Colombia the night we rescued Zoe. The text originated on that ship from an unlisted number. Either she got her hands on a phone and called for help, or her kidnappers sent the text.”
“And why do you think that?” My gut clenches thinking about how Moira’s kidnappers would’ve gotten that information.
Nobody outside Guardian HRS and the Facility knows about that code.
Moira’s smart, level-headed, perhaps too calm, and thinks well under pressure. I imagine her sneaking the phone from her captors and sending the text. As for retaliation, that’s not an issue. The owner of the phone will never know Moira sent a text. The moment the text fires, Mitzy’s technical team sends back a stream of code to the sending device, which wipes all evidence of the text and inserts tracking software on the device.
Mitzy ignores my question. Her briefing is aimed at Sam, CJ, and Forest.
“Where’s the ship headed?” Forest keeps his voice low, but insistent.
“The port of New Orleans. The moment it entered the range of cell reception from land, the text sent. Which is why I’m cautious, and worried. That text could’ve been loaded in the phone at any time. As you know, there’s no cell reception in the Gulf, and the coverage of the cell towers on land only extends so far from the shore. Most phones store any texts, calls, or other electronic transmission, sending them once the device comes within range. There’s no way to know when the text was keyed into the phone and explains why it only now sent.”
“So that’s why you’re hesitating?” Skye taps her fingers on the table, drumming a staccato beat.
“No.” Mitzy gives a sharp shake of her head. “My concern is that she didn’t input her personal code. There are many reasons for that, but the most concerning is she tried to send her SOS and was caught before she could input her personal code. Since the phone wouldn’t