Chapter 3 - The Target
Cameron stared at the photograph, his pulse pounding furiously against his ribs.
Someone was inside the hospital watching them right at this very moment.
He grabbed Hope by the shoulders and quickly pulled her into an empty consultation room.
He locked the heavy wooden door and drew the blinds shut.
Hope looked up at him, her lip quivering as she sensed the sudden shift in his demeanor.
Cameron forced a reassuring smile, promising her that they were just playing a game of hide and seek.
He pulled out his phone and ordered his security team to sweep the entire hospital building floor by floor.
While they waited in the dimly lit room, Cameron noticed Hope clutching a small canvas backpack.
He gently asked if he could look inside to see if her mother had packed any identification.
Hope nodded and handed over the worn, faded bag.
Inside, he found a few cheap coloring books, a broken crayon, and a small zippered pouch.
Cameron unzipped the pouch and pulled out a heavy, encrypted titanium flash drive.
His breath hitched as he recognized the unique serial number engraved on the side of the metal casing.
It was a proprietary storage device belonging to the research and development division of his own company.
This drive was supposed to be locked inside a biometric vault at his corporate headquarters.
Cameron realized with horrifying clarity that Elena was not a random victim he happened to stumble upon.
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He plugged the drive into his secure mobile tablet to see what she had stolen.
The screen illuminated, displaying a single video file addressed directly to Cameron West.
