Andre’s POV
I had a cup of coffee before me and watched Pierre go furiously at the keyboard.
“Any progress hacking into the Inn surveillance?”
Pierre continued to type faster, but soon, he stopped and stared at the screen.
I dropped my coffee and stared at him.
“Well, what is it?” I asked impatiently. “Did you find anything? Do you recognise the man? Is Olivia in the footage?”
I watched Pierre gulp before he turned to me.
“The…the surveillance records have been cleared, Sir.”
I gripped the table in anger and nearly spilled my coffee.
“What?”
“The surveillance footage from that night till present has been removed from the records. There is nothing here.”
I grabbed the laptop violently from him and stared at the screen. He was right. The records were empty. Someone had cleared the footage.
My fingers went furiously at the keyboard, and Pierre looked at me in confusion.
“What are you doing?”
“I am looking for the footage. Are you blind?”
My stern voice deterred Pierre from asking any more questions, and he simply looked at my fingers and dashed across the keys.
I was determined to find the man who had my kitten, and a deleted surveillance wasn’t going to stop me.
I continued to type furiously on the keyboard, and I could feel beads of anticipation-filled sweat on my forehead.
I tried to relax and concentrate. I couldn’t make a mistake while finding my way around the firewalls. The encryption codes were specially written to detect hackers and would permanently erase any form of data in their auxiliary drives.
“How is it going, Alpha?” Pierre asked as he peered at the laptop screen and was momentarily dazzled by the number array.
I remained silent and didn’t answer him. What I was doing required my complete concentration, and I couldn’t falter. I had to be careful.
“89600_57458_576**9.”
I pressed the enter key, but my heart fell, and my decryption code failed to get access to the encrypted auxiliary drive.
I slammed my fist lightly on the table, and Pierre looked at me with concern.
“Whoever hacked into the surveillance footage must have known what he was doing. This is going to take a while.”
I took a deep breath and started all over again. I caught glimpses of Pierre watching me, clearly surprised.
“I didn’t think that you knew how to hack.”
I scoffed proudly but didn’t lose focus of my work.
“You must think very little of me then. How did you think that I built a billion-dollar empire? You didn’t think that it was just by being a good negotiator? Or because I used my Alpha aura in humans?”
Pierre was silent, but I took pride in my abilities, and he was the first to witness me in this phase.
“In the meantime, mobilise our associates in this city and tell them to watch every exit that leads to Virginia. I want every bus stop, train station, and airport watched. We mustn’t let Olivia leave the city to go to Virginia. That’s if she hasn’t left already.”
The thought of her already being in danger made my heart beat even faster, and worry began to cloud my thoughts. My reasoning became blurry, and I found myself having mental images of her crying out for help.
No. I had to stay alert. I couldn’t break down now. I had to stay strong.
I continued to type, and I turned to Pierre, who was mesmerised by the speed of my fingers.
“While you mobilise them, start hacking the surveillance of the borders and keep a lookout for Olivia. We have to have eyes everywhere. We can’t afford to be blind for even a second. Delegate the work to as many people as you can. I want to find Olivia this fucking instant.”
I could feel my hand twitching in anger; my patience was hanging by a strand, and it was taking everything in me not to lash out beyond this.
My princess was missing.
Pierre jolted frightfully and nodded. He pulled out another laptop from the bag and began to hack.
He focused on the screen while connecting his phone to AirPods and kept making phone calls.
He was immediately silenced and continued to make the phone calls.
I resumed my typing and managed to break into the firewall.
“Got it! I’m in.”
Pierre’s eyes grew wide.
“You got it? How did…”
“I’ve forwarded the footage to you. Tell everyone we have on stand-by to look out for this car, a blue Buick Enclave, 2017. The plate number is XVC5609. I want him found as soon as possible. We can’t let him escape…”
I caught up with some work documents while Pierre kept up with the several teams that were on the lookout for Olivia.
I raised my head up after feeling his gaze on me for some time.
“What?”
Pierre was a little startled, but he spoke up.
“It seems that Nicole has caught on with our little expedition, and she knows that you have gone after Olivia. She sent a message to your email…”