From the siege this afternoon, one of the deputies dropped it when state investigators showed up. " Nia recognized it immediately. A mobile sync unit for downloading body cam footage. " I grabbed it before they could notice it was missing. " Evelyn's eyes gleamed. "
It was still actively copying when I found it. " Nia's pulse quickened as she took the device. Standard department issue, meant to back up footage in the field. If it had been running during the siege, she could use it. She connected it to her laptop using backup power to stay off the grid.
File fragments appeared. Corrupted video but the audio was intact. Nia's fingers flew across the keys extracting timestamps. The first clip crackled with Larkin's voice. " No warrant yet.
Kessler says we can't wait for processing. Move in now. " " Got you. " Nia whispered. She kept digging through files.
Kessler's distinctive growl "Find that drive before state gets here. Bryce wants everything cleared. " Then another voice, smooth and cultured. It had to be Councilman Bryce himself. " If she keeps resisting, we move the girl.
Clean facility outside town. Off books. " Nia's hands clenched. They had planned to take Tessa all along. The siege, the pressure campaign, Cole's betrayal—it was all orchestrated to force her hand. "
There's more. " Evelyn said. She pulled a folded paper from her sleeve. " Daniel dropped this when they grabbed him. I think he meant for us to find it. "
Nia smoothed out the county map. Daniel's hurried marks showed patrol routes, timing notes, and one location circled in red. An abandoned sheriff's department training facility 10 miles outside town. " The clean facility. " Nia breathed. "
That's where they took them. " She cross-referenced the map against her memory of county radio patterns. Three years as an emergency logistics analyst had taught her how departments moved, how they timed routes, and coordinated vehicles. The training site was perfect, remote enough to hide illegal detention, but close enough to maintain quick response times. The audio fragments confirmed it.