Chapter 138: Black water point
Third person’s POV
Raina’s phone rang while she was standing beside the hotel window.
She glanced at the screen and answered immediately when she saw Zach’s name.
"Did you find anything?"
"I traced the number as far as I could," he said. "It’s a burner, but Anna made one mistake. She kept it active long enough for me to catch the signal."
Raina straightened. "Where?"
"Blackwater Point."
She frowned. The name meant nothing to her.
"Where is that?"
"About twelve miles from where you are, along the western coast of the county."
Raina looked toward the window. "What’s there?"
"Not much that I can tell from here. It’s outside the main city area, and the phone isn’t giving me an exact address. I’ve got its position based on the cell towers it’s connecting to, but the coverage gets less precise the farther it moves from the populated areas."
"Can you give me the coordinates?"
"I already sent them."
Her phone vibrated in her hand. Raina opened the message and brought up the location.
"How recent is it?"
"Very. The phone was active there less than twenty minutes ago."
Her grip tightened around the phone. "Then she’s still there."
"Maybe," Zach said. "A phone’s location doesn’t necessarily mean the person carrying it is standing in that exact spot. Don’t assume too much from it."
"I understand."
"And don’t go alone."
Raina was already reaching for her bag. "I’ll be careful."
"Raina."
She paused.
"Thank you, Zach."
She ended the call and looked at the coordinates again.
Blackwater Point.
She had never heard the name before today, but Anna had chosen it for a reason, and if the phone had been active there less than twenty minutes ago, it was the first real lead Raina had been given since Ethan disappeared.
She slipped her phone into her pocket and left the room.
somewhere in the city.....
Ethan woke with his throat burning.
For several seconds he remained still, trying to understand what had disturbed him. There was no movement beneath him, no distant vibration and no machinery rumbling somewhere beyond the walls. The silence was so complete that it made him uneasy.
He drew in a breath.
The air was warm and stale.
Ethan sat up and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. As the shapes around him slowly became visible, his stomach tightened.
Steel walls.
A cargo container.
Again.
" No-No- No ... Not again "
He got to his feet and went straight to the doors, running his hands along the edges and searching the seams. He checked the corners and then the walls, feeling for the narrow gaps that had allowed air into the previous container.
There were none.
He pressed his palm against the steel.
Completely sealed.
Ethan stepped back and forced himself to breathe slowly.
The first container had been cramped and filthy, but at least fresh air had found its way inside. This one was different. Whoever had put him here had made certain there was no opening anywhere.
He crouched and searched the floor, running his hands across the cold steel until his fingers found a short piece of metal. He picked it up and returned to the doors, examining the hinges before wedging the metal into the narrow space beside them.
He pushed.
Nothing.
He changed his grip and tried again, putting more of his weight behind it.
The metal slipped from his hand.
Ethan caught it before it struck the floor.
His breathing had become heavier.
He stopped and closed his eyes until it settled.
Wasting energy would accomplish nothing. Neither would panicking.
He looked at the doors again and moved closer to the hinges.
Then he started working.
The metal scraped against the steel as he tried to force it into the narrow gap, using every angle he could find. The hinges did not move. He tried again, harder this time, until his arm began to ache.
Nothing.
Ethan lowered the metal.
He stood there for a moment, listening to his own breathing.
The air felt warmer now.
Or perhaps he was simply beginning to notice it.
He took another breath and held it for a moment before slowly letting it out.
There was no way to know how much air was inside the container or how long it would last. The only thing he knew for certain was that every breath he took reduced whatever remained.
Ethan looked down at the piece of metal in his hand.
Then at the doors.
He moved back to the hinges and began again.
Raina watched the road through the windshield as the city gradually disappeared behind her.
Several miles back, the buildings had thinned out and given way to stretches of undeveloped land and narrow roads that seemed to lead nowhere. She had never been to this part of Atlantic County, and the farther she drove, the less familiar everything became.
Zach’s coordinates remained open on her phone.
Blackwater Point.
She had never heard the name before today.
The road narrowed as she followed the route. There were no signs pointing toward the location, only occasional intersections and long stretches of empty pavement. Every few minutes she glanced at the tracking screen, watching the location indicator update as the phone connected to different towers.
The closer she came, the more precise the location became.
Then, suddenly, the accuracy began to fluctuate.
Raina slowed.
She checked the screen again.
The tracking circle had widened.
She called Zach.
He answered almost immediately.
"Raina?"
"I’m getting closer, but the location has changed."
"That’s because the phone is moving between towers. You’re getting farther from the strongest coverage area."
"So what does that mean?"
"It means I can’t give you an exact point yet. Keep following the coordinates. If you get closer to the device, the location should narrow again."
Raina looked at the road ahead.
"There are several roads."
"I know."
"Which one?"
"I can’t tell you."
She exhaled slowly.
"All right."
"Raina, don’t rush into anything. If Anna knows you’re coming, she may have expected you to reach this point."
"I know."
She ended the call and continued driving.
The road eventually opened onto a quiet stretch of coastline, and the ocean appeared beyond a line of trees. Raina slowed as she looked around.
There was no seaport here. No cranes. No rows of shipping containers.
Only a quiet coastline, a few old structures scattered farther inland and several narrow roads branching away from the main one.
She checked the coordinates again.
This was it.
Raina pulled onto the shoulder and stopped.
For a moment she remained behind the wheel, staring through the windshield.
Nothing moved.
She looked at the tracking screen.
The circle had narrowed again.
She was close.
Raina stepped out of the car and pulled her coat tighter as the cold wind came off the water. She looked along the road, searching for anything that might explain why Anna had brought her here.
Nothing.
No Anna.
No Ethan.
No obvious sign that anyone had been here.
Raina started walking.
She followed the nearest road, keeping her phone in one hand while watching the location update with each movement. The tracking circle continued to shift, sometimes widening and then narrowing again as the phone connected to different towers.
Then it began narrowing steadily.
Raina stopped.
The signal was no longer fluctuating as much.
She looked at the screen and then toward the road ahead.
Whatever was carrying Anna’s phone was somewhere nearby.
She started walking again.
A few hundred metres ahead, a narrow dirt track branched away from the road and disappeared between the trees. Fresh tire marks cut through the mud.
Raina crouched beside them.
She touched the edge of one track.
Fresh.
She stood and followed the tracks into the trees.
The road behind her disappeared within seconds, leaving only the sound of the wind moving through the branches and the distant rush of the ocean.
Raina checked her phone again.
The tracking circle had tightened further.
She looked ahead.
Something stood beyond the trees.
A building.
Old and abandoned, with dark windows and part of the roof collapsed near the rear.
Raina stopped.
Her eyes moved from the building to the phone in her hand.
The device was close.
Very close.
She tightened her grip on the phone and took another step toward the building.