Chapter 676: Found them

Dayo was still standing near the door when Felix finished speaking.

He had heard everything Felix said, but his mind kept returning to the same moment. Luna standing in front of him, crying and furious, telling him he had brought this hell onto her daughter.

My daughter.

He knew she hadn’t said it because she suddenly believed he wasn’t Jennifer’s father. She was hurt, frightened, and angry with him. He understood that. But the words had still cut him deeply, especially coming from the woman he loved.

Felix watched him for a moment before speaking.

"Bro, you need to calm down. I know you’re angry, but you can’t let it get in the way of finding Jennifer."

Dayo turned toward him. "I understand what you’re saying, Felix. I do. But don’t tell me I’m supposed to sit here and act like everything is fine."

"I’m not asking you to act like anything is fine."

"Then let me be angry."

Felix didn’t argue. He knew Dayo well enough to understand that telling him to forget what Luna had said would only make things worse. The situation was already difficult, and the last thing he wanted was to start another argument with him.

Dayo walked back toward the desk and picked up his phone. There were no new messages from the kidnappers. He checked the screen again before putting it down.

"How late is it?" he asked.

Felix glanced at the time on his laptop. "Almost midnight."

"You should go home. You’ve been here all day. We can continue tomorrow."

Felix looked at him with some hesitation. "Are you sure? I can stay a little longer if you need me."

"No, it’s fine. Go and get some rest. You’ve done enough for today."

"There’s still a lot to check."

"And you’ll check it tomorrow." Dayo pulled out a chair and sat down. "I don’t want you making mistakes because you’re tired. I’ll handle things here tonight."

Felix studied him for another moment. "All right. But if anything happens, call me. Don’t wait until morning."

"I will."

Felix began gathering his things. Before leaving, he returned to the desk and picked up the notebook he had been using during the investigation.

"I’ll keep the files with me," he said. "There’s no reason to leave all the information here."

"Take them."

Felix slipped the notebook into his bag, then looked at Dayo again.

"Try to get some rest too."

Dayo gave him a brief look. "I’ll see what I can do."

Felix knew that wasn’t a promise, but he didn’t press him. He left the room, and a few moments later Dayo heard the front door close.

The house was quiet again.

Dayo remained at the desk, looking at the camera footage Felix had collected earlier. He had watched it several times already, but he opened it again and moved through the recording slowly.

The delivery vehicle appeared on the screen. The person driving it had been dressed like an ordinary delivery worker. The security guard had lowered his attention when the vehicle arrived, allowing the man to get close enough to attack him. After that, the others had entered the house.

Dayo paused the footage.

He had already examined the route the vehicle took when it left the house. The kidnappers had avoided cameras along parts of that route, and the footage had not given them a clear destination. But that didn’t mean there was nothing else to find.

He moved back to the moments before the vehicle arrived.

The kidnappers had chosen their approach carefully. They had known which cameras to avoid near the house, but they still had to bring the vehicle to the location somehow. They had come from somewhere.

Dayo opened the other recordings he had access to and began checking the vehicle’s movements before the kidnapping.

He worked through the footage, comparing the vehicle’s appearance and direction whenever it came into view. The process was slow. Some cameras showed only a small part of the road, while others had poor images that made it difficult to identify the vehicle with confidence.

Still, he kept going.

After a while, he found a sequence that appeared to match.

The vehicle had been seen earlier along a road leading away from the area where Jennifer was taken. Dayo followed the footage backward, checking the time and direction each time the vehicle appeared. He couldn’t be certain that every recording showed the same vehicle, but the details matched closely enough for him to keep following the trail.

Eventually, the route led him to an area he hadn’t considered before.

Dayo leaned closer to the screen.

The vehicle had passed through the area several times before the kidnapping. It had also remained there for a period before heading toward his house.

He checked the recordings again, making sure he hadn’t mistaken another vehicle for the one used in the kidnapping.

The possibility was becoming stronger.

That area could be where the kidnappers were staying.

It wasn’t proof that Jennifer was there, but it was the first lead Dayo had found that could take him directly to them.

He picked up his phone and called Max.

Max answered after a few rings. "Dayo?"

"Where are you?"

"At home. What’s happened?"

"I need you and Bella to come over. As soon as you can."

There was a short pause.

"Is it about Jennifer?"

"Yes. I’ve found something."

"We’re coming."

Dayo ended the call and looked at the footage again. He wanted to make sure he had everything ready before Max and Bella arrived.

A little later, the doorbell rang.

Max entered first, followed by Bella. Both looked concerned, and Bella still had the same clothes she had been wearing earlier. She had been trying to reach her brother after receiving the emergency call, and Dayo could tell from her expression that she hadn’t found the answers she wanted.

"What did you find?" Max asked.

Dayo pointed toward the screen. "Come and look at this."

They moved closer to the desk.

Dayo showed them the recordings and explained how he had followed the vehicle backward from the kidnapping location. Max watched the footage without interrupting. Bella stood beside him, paying close attention.

When the recording ended, Max looked at Dayo.

"You think this is where they took her?"

"I think it’s where they came from. There’s a chance they’re using that place as a base."

"Do we know Jennifer is there?"

"No. That’s what we need to find out."

Bella stepped closer to the desk. "Then we should go."

Dayo looked at her. "Before we do anything, I need you both to understand something. We don’t know how many people are there, and we don’t know what kind of security they have. This could be dangerous."

"We understand," Max said.

"I don’t want either of you feeling like you have to come because you work for me. If you want to stay here, you can. I’m not going to hold it against you."

Bella looked at him as if she couldn’t believe he was asking.

"Dayo, Jennifer is missing. You think I’m going to sit here while you go looking for her?"

"I just want you to make the decision yourself."

"I’m coming," she said firmly. "You don’t have to ask me twice."

Max gave a small nod. "I’m coming too. We know what we’re doing, and we’ll be more useful with you than sitting here waiting for a call."

Dayo looked at both of them. He was grateful, but he didn’t have the energy to turn it into a long conversation.

"All right. Then we do this carefully."

He returned to the footage and showed them the area where the vehicle had been seen. Max studied the route, while Bella checked the time stamps and noted the places where the vehicle had appeared.

They spent some time going over the information. None of them wanted to mistake an ordinary location for the kidnappers’ base and waste the night. Dayo needed to be sure they were looking in the right place before they got too close.

Once they had agreed on the location, Dayo began preparing for the trip.

He knew that going there without equipment would be foolish. His late uncle had served in the military, and through the connections Dayo had maintained, he knew people who could help him obtain what he needed. He made a few calls and arranged to collect weapons through a black-market contact.

The process took longer than he wanted, but he didn’t rush it. He needed to make sure they had what they required before leaving.

When everything was ready, the three of them set out.

The drive was quiet for most of the journey. Dayo sat in the passenger seat, going over the route and checking the information on his phone. Max drove, while Bella sat in the back and kept an eye on the surroundings.

Dayo couldn’t stop thinking about Jennifer.

He had only been reunited with her for a few months, and now someone had taken her from their home. The thought made him angry all over again. He wanted to find the people responsible and bring her back, but he knew that charging into an unknown building without a plan could put her in even greater danger.

When they reached the area, Max parked some distance from the suspected location.

"We shouldn’t get any closer until we know what’s there," he said.

Dayo agreed.

They took out the drone and prepared it for use. It was a high-tech model, capable of giving them a clear view of the surrounding area without requiring them to approach the building directly.

Bella checked the equipment while Max helped launch it. Dayo watched the screen as the drone moved toward the location.

At first, the view showed only the outside of the building and the surrounding roads. They adjusted the angle and moved the drone slowly, trying to see as much as possible without drawing attention.

Then they began noticing activity.

There were people moving around the property. Some remained near the building, while others moved between the entrance and the vehicles parked nearby. The activity wasn’t enough to prove they were kidnappers, but the location and the movements were consistent with what Dayo had been expecting.

He watched the screen closely.

"Move it a little to the left," he said.

Max adjusted the controls.

The drone gave them a better view of the entrance and part of the building. They could see several people inside, though the angle didn’t allow them to identify everyone clearly.

Bella leaned toward the screen. "There are more people than I expected."

"Yes," Dayo said. "That’s why we’re not going in without a plan."

They continued observing the location. The drone gave them enough information to confirm that the building was being used by a group of people, but they still couldn’t see Jennifer.

Dayo checked the time and looked at Max.

"I think we’ve found them."

Max kept his attention on the screen. "It looks that way."

Bella looked at Dayo. "What do we do now?"

"We plan our entry. We need to know how we’re getting in and how we’re getting Jennifer out without putting her in danger."

He brought up the footage again and began reviewing the building’s entrances and the people moving around them. Max and Bella joined him, discussing what they had seen and what they still needed to know.

They didn’t have enough information to move yet.

But they finally had a place to start.

At home, Luna sat on the sofa with Amanda beside her.

She had barely spoken since returning from the meeting. Her mind kept going back to Jennifer, and every time she remembered that her daughter was somewhere without her, the fear returned.

Amanda had brought her a glass of water earlier, but Luna had hardly touched it.

"How could he let this happen?" Luna asked, her voice strained. "I told him those men were trouble. I told him to finish everything with them. He had the chance to do it, Amanda."

Amanda sat closer to her. "I know you told him. I remember."

"Then why didn’t he listen? Why did he have to keep dragging it out? If he had finished with them earlier, Jennifer wouldn’t be missing now."

"You don’t know that."

Luna turned toward her. "What do you mean I don’t know that? They took her because of him. They wanted something from him, and now they’ve taken my daughter."

Amanda didn’t answer immediately. She knew Luna was speaking from fear and anger, and she didn’t want to dismiss either of those feelings. But she also knew Dayo was suffering.

"Luna, listen to me for a moment," she said gently. "I understand why you’re blaming him. I do. But Dayo didn’t know they were going to do this. He went home because he wanted to spend time with you and Jennifer. He thought you were safe."

"He should have finished the fight."

"Maybe he should have dealt with them sooner. I’m not saying you were wrong to tell him that. But you can’t say he wanted this to happen."

Luna looked away.

Amanda continued, "He’s trying to find her right now. He’s probably blaming himself more than you know. He has to deal with the kidnappers, and he has to figure out how to get Jennifer back without putting her in more danger. He’s carrying a lot."

"I know that," Luna said, though her voice was still sharp. "I know he’s suffering. But she’s my daughter, Amanda. I can’t just sit here and pretend I don’t feel anything because he’s going through something too."

"You don’t have to pretend. You’re allowed to be angry. You’re allowed to be scared. I’m only asking you not to make yourself believe that everything is his fault when you don’t know what happened."

Luna pressed her hands against her face.

For a while, she didn’t speak. Amanda stayed beside her, giving her time to settle down.

Eventually, Luna lowered her hands.

"I just want her back," she said quietly. "I don’t care about anything else right now. I want my baby home."

Amanda put an arm around her and held her close.

"I know. We’ll get through this. Dayo is doing everything he can to find her."

Luna leaned against her, still crying softly.

She wasn’t ready to forgive Dayo for what she had said, and she was still angry about the way he had handled Michael and Silas. But beneath that anger was the fear she couldn’t escape.

Jennifer was missing, and Luna couldn’t do anything but wait for news.

At the suspected base, Dayo and the others continued studying the drone footage.

They had confirmed that people were using the building, and the vehicle’s earlier movements gave them reason to believe it was connected to the kidnapping. Now they needed to decide how to proceed.

Dayo looked at Max and Bella.

"We move at midnight," he said. "Until then, we keep watching and make sure we understand the place as much as we can."

Max checked the time. "That gives us a little while."

"Then use it. We can’t afford to make a mistake."

Bella looked back at the screen. "We’ll keep watching."

Dayo returned his attention to the building.

He was still angry with Luna. He was still angry with himself. But he couldn’t let either feeling decide what happened next.

Jennifer was inside that place, or at least there was a real chance she was.

He had to bring her home.

And this time, he wasn’t going to wait for Michael or Silas to make the next move.