C361 It Was A Trap

When we finally arrived at the abandoned warehouse, the atmosphere immediately felt wrong. The place was silent. Too silent. No shouting. No gunfire. No sounds of struggle. Nothing. Mark didn't hesitate. The moment his car stopped, he jumped out and sprinted toward the entrance. "Alicia!" he shouted. "My child! Alicia!" His voice echoed through the empty building.

I ran after him while Chris and Quinton followed closely behind. "Alicia!" "Answer us!" But there was no response. Then Quinton suddenly stopped. "Wait." He pointed toward the ground. All of us looked down. There were bloodstains. Fresh blood. A trail of it. The blood started from inside the warehouse and continued toward the road outside. For a moment, nobody spoke. My heart sank. "No..." I whispered. Mark's expression turned pale. Without another word, we rushed inside, following the trail. The deeper we went into the warehouse, the heavier the atmosphere became.

Then suddenly Chris stopped. "Over there!" We turned. Lying on the floor was Jack. Motionless. A pool of blood had formed beneath his head. His eyes were open. Empty. Dead. For a few seconds, nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The sight was so shocking that our minds simply froze. Finally, Quinton broke the silence. "Did... did Alicia shoot him?" Mark immediately shook his head. "No." His answer came too quickly. Too firmly. "It can't be Alicia." He stared at Jack's body. "My daughter has never killed anyone." His voice carried both certainty and worry.

Then all of us remembered the blood trail again. I looked toward the warehouse entrance. "If Alicia didn't shoot him..." I swallowed hard. "Then whose blood is that?" The question made everyone's faces turn ugly. Chris immediately became restless. "Wait." He looked from the blood trail to Jack's body. "How do we even know it's Alicia's blood?" "What if it's Sarah's?" The possibility made all of us freeze. Nobody knew. Nobody knew who had been injured. Nobody knew what had happened

Nobody knew if Alicia had been taken. Or if it was Sarah. The uncertainty was suffocating. Chris's eyes slowly turned red. His voice became hoarse. "What do we do now?" "How do we search?" "Where do we even start looking?" For several seconds, nobody answered. Because nobody had an answer. Meanwhile... Sarah was racing back toward the city. Her hands trembled on the steering wheel. Her face was covered with tears. The old car Alicia had arrived in rattled as it sped down the road. She wanted to return to the warehouse. She wanted to help Alicia. But she knew she couldn't. Not alone. Not while she was pregnant. Not against armed men.

The only thing she could do was get help. The moment she reached a small roadside garage, she slammed on the brakes. She jumped out and rushed inside. "I need a phone!" The mechanic looked startled. "Miss..." "Please!" Seeing her condition, he quickly handed over his phone. Sarah immediately dialed her mother's number. Back at the Wood Residence, Tracy was sitting on the couch crying. Kelvin was pacing back and forth. Samantha looked equally terrified. Nobody knew where Sarah was. Nobody knew whether she was alive. Then suddenly Tracy's phone rang.

Everyone froze. Tracy looked at the screen. Her eyes widened. "Kelvin..." "An unknown number is calling!" The entire room jumped up. Samantha practically snatched the phone from her mother's hand. She immediately answered and placed it on speaker. "Hello!" "Who is this?" On the other side, Sarah's hurried breathing could be heard. "Sam..." Her voice trembled. The moment Samantha heard it, tears rolled down her face. "Sarah!" "Where are you?" "What happened?" Sarah tried to calm herself. But her voice still shook. "Jack kidnapped me."

The room instantly fell silent. Even Kelvin stopped moving. Samantha's knees almost gave way. "Are you okay?" "Did he hurt you?" "Where are you?" Sarah took a deep breath. "Listen to me." "Jack used me." "He used me to lure Alicia." The moment Alicia's name was mentioned, everyone became even more alarmed. "What?" Sarah continued. "He released me." "Then he kept Alicia." "It was a trap." Tracy covered her mouth. "Oh my God..." Samantha's voice cracked. "Where are they?" "The first abandoned warehouse outside the city."

Sarah's breathing became uneven again. "Please tell Mike to hurry." "Alicia stayed behind." Then the call ended. Sarah handed the phone back to the mechanic, thanked him, and rushed back toward the car. Back at the warehouse... We were preparing to leave and continue following the blood trail when my phone suddenly rang. I quickly pulled it out. The screen showed Samantha's name. I answered immediately. "Samantha?" Her crying voice came through the speaker. Without thinking, I switched the call to speaker mode. They all listened. "Mike..." "Alicia has been kidnapped."

My entire body went numb. Samantha continued. "Sarah escaped." "Jack used her to lure Alicia." "They were at the warehouse outside the city." I stared blankly ahead. My mind struggled to process her words. Then Chris suddenly stepped forward. "Samantha." "We're already here." "We found Jack." "He is dead." Silence. Then Samantha's shocked voice sounded. "What?" "Did Alicia kill him?" Chris shook his head instinctively even though she couldn't see him. "No." "We don't know." "There is blood everywhere." "But Alicia isn't here."

Samantha's breathing became heavier. "So she escaped?" Chris looked around the empty warehouse. His voice became grim. "No." "She's gone." The call ended shortly afterward. For several moments, none of us moved. Then I felt my legs weaken. My wife was missing. My child was missing. The image of Alicia walking away earlier kept replaying in my head. I had let her go alone. I had let her face danger alone. Tears finally rolled down my face. I couldn't stop them.

Quinton immediately pulled me into a hug. "Son." His voice was steady. "We'll find her." "We'll bring her home." I nodded weakly. But the fear remained. Then suddenly Mark froze. A thought flashed through his mind. His eyes widened. "Wait." Without explaining, he rushed back into the warehouse. All of us followed. When we reached Jack's body again, Mark crouched beside it. Years of police experience immediately took over. His eyes carefully examined the wound. The angle. The entry point. The position of the body. Several minutes passed. Nobody interrupted him. Finally, Mark released a long breath.

Then he stood up. "Jack wasn't shot from inside the warehouse." We stared at him. "What do you mean?" Mark pointed at the wound. "This was a sniper shot." Everyone froze. "A sniper?" Mark nodded. "The bullet entered cleanly through the head." "One shot." "One kill." "No struggle." "No second shot." "The shooter was highly trained." My eyes widened. "Father..." "What does that mean?" Mark looked toward the warehouse entrance. "If Jack was killed by a sniper..." His expression became thoughtful. "Then the Harris family probably didn't take Alicia."

Chris frowned. "Why?" Mark answered slowly. "Because Jack was one of them." "If they wanted Alicia, they wouldn't kill their own man first." The realization hit all of us at once. Which meant only one thing. A third party had arrived. Someone else had been watching. Someone else had intervened. Someone else had taken Alicia. The question was... Who? And were they friend or foe? None of us knew. The uncertainty was almost unbearable. Finally, Mark sighed heavily. "We're getting nowhere standing here."

He looked at Chris. "Sarah is the only witness." "Let's hear everything she knows." Everyone nodded. With heavy hearts and worried minds, we got back into our vehicles and drove toward the Wood Residence. None of us said much during the journey. Each of us was thinking the same thing. Where was Alicia? And would we find her before it was too late?