Chapter 27:Shadows of suspicions
881 Words
Damien Sinclair did not trust easily.
And when he did trust someone, it was only after they had been tested in ways most people would never survive.
Adrian had not yet passed that test.
If anything, Adrian had become the center of Damien's suspicion.
The timing was too perfect.
Too convenient.
Women had begun disappearing shortly after Adrian arrived at Sinclair Cyber Security. Each victim had been twenty-five years old. Each disappearance had happened within areas connected, somehow, to Sinclair Media or its surrounding buildings.
Damien stood in his office late that night, staring down at a file spread across his desk.
At the very top was a photograph of Adrian.
Sharp eyes.
Beautiful face.
Too beautiful, Damien thought bitterly, for a man.
He tapped the photograph with his finger.
"You appeared," Damien muttered quietly to himself, "and suddenly women start disappearing."
His jaw tightened.
"Coincidence?"
Damien didn't believe in coincidences.
He turned toward the large digital screen on the wall and began typing commands rapidly.
Background check.
Identity verification.
Travel history.
Birth records.
Every database he could access.
The system scanned endlessly.
Then one by one the results appeared.
Clean.
Completely clean.
Adrian Knox's records went back ten years without a single inconsistency.
School.
Employment.
Identification numbers.
Passports.
All legitimate.
Damien leaned back slowly in his chair, eyes narrowing.
Impossible.
Nobody was that clean.
No one.
It felt... manufactured.
But even his powerful systems could not break through whatever wall had been built around Adrian's past.
Dominic had done his job well.
Adrian's old identity had been erased so perfectly that even the most advanced digital systems in Korea could not trace it.
Damien closed the file slowly.
But suspicion still burned in his chest.
"Then why do I feel like you're hiding something?" he murmured quietly.
The Underground Prison
The woman's scream never fully escaped her throat.
The killer caught her before she could run.
One powerful hand wrapped around her arm, dragging her violently back down the stairs she had tried so desperately to climb.
She fought him.
With everything she had.
Kicking.
Scratching.
Struggling like a wild animal.
But he was stronger.
Much stronger.
Her body slammed painfully against the concrete floor as he forced her back into the corridor.
Her terrified eyes searched desperately for help that would never come.
The other prisoners were locked behind metal bars.
Their lips sewn together.
Their cries trapped inside their throats.
They watched helplessly.
Their muffled sobs echoing through the underground cells.
The killer's breathing remained calm.
Controlled.
He studied the woman as though she were a puzzle that had briefly amused him.
"You disappoint me," he said softly.
His voice held no anger.
Only cold observation.
"You were smarter than the others."
He tilted his head slightly.
"But not strong enough."
The woman's body trembled violently.
Tears streamed down her face as she tried to push herself away from him.
But the corridor behind her had nowhere to go.
Nowhere to run.
The killer crouched down slowly in front of her.
Their faces inches apart.
"You should understand something," he whispered.
"I am patient."
His gloved fingers gripped her wrist tightly.
"I have searched for her for twenty-five years."
His voice hardened slightly.
"Do you really think a door... or a staircase... would stop me?"
The woman sobbed silently as he dragged her back toward the cell.
The other prisoners squeezed their eyes shut.
They already knew what would happen next.
Their muffled cries filled the underground prison.
And somewhere above them...
The world continued as if nothing terrible existed beneath its streets.
Sinclair Cyber Security - Investigation Room
Adrian stared at the glowing screen in front of him.
Thousands of records scrolled down the monitor.
Hospitals.
Birth certificates.
Dates.
Names.
All connected to the same night.
Twenty-five years ago.
Adrian rubbed tired eyes.
The killer had said something important during earlier crimes.
Witnesses had remembered fragments.
Police reports mentioned the same phrase repeatedly.
"A girl born that night."
Adrian focused the search further.
One hospital name appeared repeatedly in police files.
A hospital in another country.
The place where the killer believed his target had been born.
Adrian whispered the name slowly.
"St. Maria General Hospital..."
The screen filled with birth records.
Hundreds of babies born between midnight and sunrise.
Adrian leaned closer.
"What are you looking for?" Damien's voice suddenly spoke from behind.
Adrian turned slightly.
Damien stood in the doorway, arms crossed, watching him carefully.
Suspicion flickered openly in his eyes.
Adrian remained calm.
"Birth records."
Damien raised an eyebrow.
"That's an odd place to search for a serial killer."
Adrian turned back to the screen.
"I think he isn't killing randomly."
Damien stepped closer.
"Then why?"
Adrian spoke quietly.
"He's searching."
Damien frowned.
"For what?"
Adrian's fingers paused over the keyboard.
"For a woman who escaped him."
The room fell silent.
Damien stared at Adrian carefully.
Studying him.
Judging him.
Trying to read something hidden beneath that calm face.
And yet...
The more he watched Adrian...
The more confusing the young man became.
Because Adrian's eyes did not look like the eyes of a killer.
But Damien still couldn't shake the feeling that something about him was dangerously wrong.
And until Damien understood what that something was...
Adrian Knox would remain his prime suspect.
- Writer
