Chapter 3 - The Digital Ghost
Gabriel immediately snatched the diaper bag from Mia's shoulder and hurled it into a nearby industrial dumpster.
The freezing rain soaked through Mia's torn clothes, making her shiver violently as they sprinted down the dark, empty alley.
Marco hotwired a rusted delivery sedan parked behind a diner, ushering them into the vehicle with practiced efficiency.
"We cannot go back to the Gold Coast penthouse or any known Romano properties," Gabriel commanded from the passenger seat.
Marco nodded, steering the stolen car toward an anonymous, off-the-grid apartment located deep in the industrial district.
They arrived at a bleak, concrete building that looked entirely abandoned from the outside.
Inside, the apartment was a sterile fortress equipped with medical supplies, untraceable weapons, and a highly secured computer terminal.
Mia sat on the edge of a leather sofa, wincing in pain as Gabriel carefully cleaned and bandaged the deep cut on her shoulder.
"You handled yourself remarkably well in that tunnel, Mia," Gabriel noted, his dark eyes studying her face intently.
"My father was a commercial locksmith," Mia lied smoothly, avoiding his penetrating gaze.
Gabriel paused his meticulous first-aid work, his expression hardening into a terrifying mask of authority.
"A commercial locksmith does not teach his daughter how to hotwire a biometric box truck while under heavy automatic fire," Gabriel stated coldly.
Mia swallowed hard, realizing she could not easily deceive the most dangerous man in Chicago.
"He was a professional thief who specialized in corporate espionage," Mia finally admitted, staring down at her bruised hands.
"He taught me how to break into places, and I used accounting to learn how to completely disappear."
Gabriel did not look angry; instead, a strange glimmer of profound respect flashed in his dark eyes.
Marco interrupted them, typing furiously on the secure computer terminal mounted to the concrete wall.
"Sterling has completely jammed our cellular network, and I cannot reach any of our loyal captains," Marco announced in frustration.
Mia gently placed the sleeping baby in a secure armchair and walked confidently over to the computer terminal.
"Let me try something," she offered, gently nudging the highly trained security chief out of his chair.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard with blinding speed, bypassing the encrypted firewalls Sterling had erected to isolate them.
She ran a reverse trace on the GPS signal that had been broadcasting from Leo's discarded diaper bag.
Lines of green code rapidly cascaded down the black screen until a single, terrifying address blinked into existence.
"I found the source of the tracking signal," Mia whispered, her blood running completely cold.
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Gabriel leaned over her shoulder, reading the coordinates on the screen, and his face instantly drained of all color.
The signal had originated directly from the heavily fortified estate belonging to Sarah Romano, his grieving sister-in-law and Leo's mother.
