Chapter 4 - The Hunt for Milo
The genetic report arrived at 8:12 PM. Desmond Cole didn't even need to speak; he simply handed Marcus the printed document from the local laboratory.
Marcus stared at the paper. For seven years, he had believed he was a man alone, a king ruling over a kingdom of glass and gold. Now, he was a father. And somewhere out in the freezing, dark streets of Seattle, his five-year-old son, Milo, was hiding from men who wanted him gone.
"Desmond, look at the weather outside," Marcus said, his voice cold and precise. "A five-year-old boy cannot survive three nights in a Seattle winter without shelter. If he ran away from Haven Bridge’s transport vehicle near the downtown corridor, where would he go?"
"Wren told Renee that Milo carried a small green plastic toy tractor," Desmond explained, pulling up a digital mapping grid of the city. "Iris’s father used to own a small farm in Snohomish before it was foreclosed. Milo was obsessed with old tractors. If the boy was looking for his mother or grandfather, he’d look for something familiar."
Scouring the UnderbellyMarcus didn't hesitate. He pulled out his satellite phone and dialed his corporate logistics manager.
"Deploy every private security team we have on the payroll. I want forty men on the ground in the industrial district near the shipping docks. Hire every off-duty police officer available for overtime. Offer a fifty-thousand-dollar cash reward to every homeless shelter, transit driver, and street worker who spots a five-year-old boy in a yellow rain poncho."
"Marcus, the media will notice a mobilization that large," Desmond warned.
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"Let them," Marcus said, pulling on a heavy waterproof tactical jacket. "Thomas Sterling wants to play a war of attrition. He thinks I value my shares more than my blood. Let's show him how wrong he is."
They moved out into the storm, the powerful engines of Marcus’s armored vehicles roaring to life against the wind. As they tore through the dark streets, Marcus looked down at his hands. He had used them to sign contracts worth billions. Tonight, he would use them to tear the city apart until his boy was safe.
