The smoke cleared slowly.
Flashlights cut through the gray, bouncing off metal walls and broken concrete. Officers shouted orders. Radios crackled with confusion.
Grace stayed on her knees, one arm around Lauren, the other pressed to the floor to steady herself.
"Mark!" Lauren cried, trying to stand.
Grace held her back.
"Wait," she said. "Let them clear it."
The police swept the warehouse in layers. Ground floor. Stairwells. The catwalk above.
Nothing.
No Mark.No blood.No restraints.
Just empty space.
A lieutenant approached, his jaw tight.
"He was here," Lauren said desperately. "We heard him."
The officer nodded grimly.
"We believe you," he said. "That's the problem."
Grace stood.
"You were used," she said calmly. "All of you."
The lieutenant didn't argue.
"He rerouted our response time," the officer admitted. "False pings. Dead zones. Our systems showed you were somewhere else."
Grace felt a cold clarity settle in.
"He wanted witnesses," she said. "He wanted you to arrive after."
The officer looked at her sharply.
"You've dealt with him before."
"Yes," Grace replied. "And he never improvises."
Outside, the warehouse was already filling with patrol cars. Too many. Too late.
Lauren collapsed against Grace.
"He took him," she whispered. "He really took him."
Grace didn't correct her.
Because she knew something worse.
Ted hadn't taken Mark to hide him.
He had taken him to move the story forward.
At the station, hours later, the tone shifted.
Not panic.
Concern.
Technical teams ran diagnostics. IT specialists spoke in clipped voices. Words like breach, external access, ghost routing floated through the room.
Grace sat alone in an interview room, staring at the table.
Detective Harris entered quietly.
"He anticipated every move," Harris said. "Including ours."
Grace nodded.
"He always does."
Harris hesitated.
"There's something else."
He slid a tablet across the table.
On the screen: a single video frame.
Dark. Grainy.
Mark sat in a chair, hands bound, face bruised but conscious.
A timestamp blinked in the corner.
Twenty minutes ago.
Lauren gasped behind her.
Grace's pulse stayed steady.
"What does he want now?" Harris asked.
Grace looked at the image.
Then she said something that surprised even herself.
"He doesn't want leverage anymore," she said. "He wants escalation."
Her phone vibrated.
One message.
Blocked number.
You came closer than I expected.
Grace exhaled slowly.
Then replied.
So did you.
Harris watched her carefully.
"You're not afraid," he said.
Grace met his eyes.
"No," she said. "I'm done waiting."
The screen on the tablet flickered.
The video vanished.
Replaced by text.
Phase Two.
Grace understood instantly.
Ted wasn't running.
He was building.
And this time—
He wanted Grace fully awake.