Rebirth of a Rose

76. And it did

A fluffy golden pup was left whining in a cage. It struggled to get out of the small metallic box like structure. It scratched and chewed the metal, to be released. The dog who was treated like a prince in his life had been abruptly demoted to a caged prisoner. Next to it was another cage,  the occupants of which had already gone to sleep. The cats had curled up together, softly purring in each other's warmth.

The room was filled with smoke and a strong stench of alcohol. A few men, half-naked, with huge biceps, tattoos covering their arms and forehead, played poker nearby. The hacker was tapping on the keyboard keys sitting on a comfortable couch. His team leader was cleaning the guns. His expression was cold and grim, he was pissed about their failure to capture the target.

The door was opened and a man wearing a long mahogany-colored jacket walked in. In his early thirties, his head was shaved clean and his demeanor was cold. His eyes were deep black, his stare felt like it could pierce through one's soul. He wore a diamond earring in his left ear and a thick platinum chain hung around his neck. By his looks one could describe him handsome, however, he wasn't the type to make it to the cover photo. Though he was a businessman, he looked more like a dignified gangster with a tattoo on the side of his neck.

His approach made the room fall to pin-drop silence. Other than his footsteps and a dog barking, nobody made a sound. He asked one of his men to take the animals outside. He strode towards the group of men who were gossiping. He looked at the items displayed on the table before him, "Is this everything you found in Feng Sui's apartment?"

The team leader who was cleaning the machine guns earlier stood next to his employer, "Yes, sir. This is everything related to Dong Fu's death. There were some material and news articles found in Sam's house, but nothing was as concrete as found at the other's place. Feng Sui's investigation was pretty deep. As much as we know, he is looking for Dong Fu's original Will."

The boss turned his gaze towards the hacker, "Did you find his location?"

The hacker shook his head and reported the details, "The shopping mall's parking surveillance didn't give out anything. They were smart, didn't have to work hard. They cut the wires to the entire CCTV system of the mall. We didn't find the SUV in there, I checked the traffic cameras, but that particular SUV didn't leave the building either. I can't track their cellphones too. They must have used some other vehicle, altered their looks, clothing, I.... I really can't say."

The boss took a seat nearby, "So, you are telling me, that you are useless."

The team leader replied in the hacker's place. After all, it was his responsibility to manage the team and they had screwed up, "Though we didn't find where they went, we did find who took him."

The hacker nodded and tapped a few times on his laptop. He played the CCTV of the blondie showing them her middle finger. "Her name is 'Emilia Turgenev', the Interpol has a file with her name on it."

The boss mocked, "you can't find the SUV, but found Interpol data."

The hacker shrugged his shoulders, "It's easy to find information stored on the computer, not a car. But I am still looking into it. Back to Emilia, there is no personal information about her, her origin, family, where she is from, nothing. Six years ago, she attended a birthday party in Moscow. The birthday boy was a rich old billionaire who died in the middle of the birthday celebration."

"Emilia was an escort accompanying someone attending the party. She was talking with the birthday boy before he ended up dead. She was a witness and authorities interviewed her. Two years later, Interpol found some dirty money linked to the man who had died. They had doubts that the initial investigation was covered up, so they re-investigated it from the very beginning. At that time, they tried to contact Emilia to review her statement, but she didn't exist. Her entire profile of an escort was fake. So, they started looking for her."