Chapter 3 - The Traitor's Text The deafening alarm sent a fresh wave of absolute panic rippling through the stranded passengers in the terminal.
Richard ordered his private medical team to transport Ethan directly to the secure hospital wing of his corporate headquarters.
He absolutely refused to trust any public facility after hearing his son's horrifying revelation about the underground house.
As the medical team rushed away, Richard turned his attention entirely to finding the mysterious girl with the purple backpack.
He marched toward the restricted employee stairwell, completely ignoring the screaming airport security guards who tried to block his path.
Colin hurried closely behind him, frantically typing messages on his encrypted corporate smartphone.
The assistant tried to convince Richard that pursuing a traumatized, dangerous street child into a restricted zone was sheer madness.
He suggested they simply hand the grainy security footage over to the local police and let the authorities handle the investigation.
Richard ignored his assistant's cowardly advice, kicking the heavy metal door of the stairwell wide open with a violent crash.
He descended into the dark, echoing concrete tunnels that twisted beneath the glamorous airport terminal.
The smell of jet fuel and damp earth hung heavily in the stale underground air.
Richard pulled a small tactical flashlight from his pocket, sweeping the bright beam across the endless maze of conveyor belts.
He called out the girl's name, or at least asked her to reveal herself, promising that she would not be harmed.
Only the mechanical grinding of the luggage carousels answered his desperate pleas.
Behind him in the shadows, Colin deliberately slowed his pace and allowed the billionaire to walk further ahead into the darkness.
The assistant looked down at his glowing phone screen, his sharp face twisting into a cruel, calculating sneer.
He opened a highly encrypted messaging application that left absolutely no digital footprint on standard servers.
He rapidly typed a message to a team of heavily armed mercenaries disguised as airport maintenance workers.
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The message explicitly stated that the missing asset had been located in the lower baggage tunnels and needed to be terminated immediately.
Colin hit send, completely unaware that a small, patched purple backpack was currently hiding directly above him on a steel ventilation grate.
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