Chapter 11 - THE SECOND SUV
Traffic analysts found another vehicle pattern near the produce-market raid.
A white SUV entered the area before police.
Later a black SUV left.
Reverse coating.
Adrian reused the trick.
But Ryan noticed something:
The new black SUV had no cracked taillight.
Different vehicle.
Adrian had access to a fleet.
Through an industrial wrap warehouse.
Police searched Northline Graphics.
Owner:
a cousin of Adrian.
Inside:
temporary coatings,
magnetic panels,
plates,
vinyl,
garage bays.
One bay contained a white SUV matching the original.
Michael’s jacket fibers inside.
Animal protein traces in cargo area.
Human DNA:
Michael.
Also Victor Hale.
Then under rear seat:
a receipt.
Freight yard fuel station.
Time:
3:44 a.m.
Location:
East Mercer Rail Depot.
Ryan stared at the name.
Mercer.
Old family property once owned by Adrian’s father.
Now controlled by Hawthorne Civic.
Police moved.
Then Voss’s attorney tried to block entry over warrant scope.
Too late.
A judge signed emergency expansion based on kidnapping evidence.
Ryan arrived with tactical units.
Freight trains thundered nearby.
Exactly what rescued victims remembered.
Inside an old dispatch building:
cameras.
Locks.
Beds.
No Michael.
No Victor.
Then Ryan found a live monitor.
Adrian standing with Michael and Victor inside a moving freight maintenance car.
Train number visible.
Ryan shouted:
“Where is that train?”
Dispatch traced it.
Heading west.
Next stop:
seventy miles.
No police unit close enough to intercept safely before then.
Ryan looked at the route.
One maintenance siding crossed a rural service road fifteen miles away.
May you like
He knew exactly where Adrian would leave the train.
Because a black SUV waited there.
