Chapter 2 - The Empty Bed
Camilo stared down the barrels of six guns held by men he had trusted for a decade.
He did not reach for his own weapon on the table.
He realized Silas had been planning this coup long before Joanna ever walked into the house.
Joanna let out a quiet gasp of terror.
Gabriel stepped in front of Joanna to shield her with his own body.
Silas stood up and adjusted his tailored suit jacket.
He told Camilo that the organization needed a businessman, not a bleeding heart.
Silas ordered his loyalists to lock Camilo and Gabriel in the basement.
Camilo calculated the odds and gave Gabriel a subtle nod to stand down.
They needed to survive the morning to dismantle Silas's network.
The traitors shoved Camilo and Gabriel down the concrete stairs.
They locked the heavy steel door from the outside.
Camilo immediately went to a loose brick in the wall and pulled out a hidden backup phone.
He dialed the private number for the Evanston nursing facility.
He needed to secure Eileen Callahan before Silas's men could reach her.
The administrator answered after three agonizing rings.
Camilo ordered them to put a lockdown on Eileen's room immediately.
The administrator hesitated and stammered over her words.
She apologized profusely to Camilo.
She explained that Eileen was no longer in their care.
Camilo demanded to know where they had taken her.
The administrator said a medical transport had arrived ten minutes ago with transfer papers.
The papers had been signed by Silas Rener.
Camilo ended the call and punched the concrete wall.
Gabriel asked what they were going to do next.
Camilo pressed a hidden button under the basement stairs that opened a narrow smuggling tunnel.
He told Gabriel they were going to hunt Silas down.
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Just as they stepped into the dark tunnel, Camilo's backup phone buzzed with a text message.
It was a picture of Joanna tied to a chair in the Cicero laundry facility.
