Chapter 7
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However, Ethan didn’t answer Derek and walked toward the elevator. “Let’s go to Waylen’s room,” he said.
Hearing his words, Derek was confused and asked, “Why are we going to Waylen’s room? Don’t tell me that she might be hiding
in his room.”
“She got out of the car within ten miles of the hotel.” Ethan finally gave Derek an answer.
When Derek heard his words, he was startled momentarily before laughing out loud. “Say, do you think that she has outsmarted
herself? She must have thought that you were going to chase after her. That’s why she left the car as soon as she got out of the
hotel and told Billy to drive away alone in order to keep you busy. Never would she have expected that Caleb and Liam would
catch up to him in an instant. Moreover, she wouldn’t have guessed that Waylen is a weirdo and had surveillance cameras all
around the hotel within ten miles.” As he spoke, his smile widened, and he continued.
“Magnificent Hotel is located on the outskirts, so there won’t be any cars passing by at this late hour. If she can’t get a ride after
getting out of Billy’s car, she must be hiding somewhere nearby. All we have to do is check the surveillance cameras, and we’ll
know where she is. At that moment, we will be able to get our hands on her.”
When the elevator door opened, Derek went in and hurriedly pressed on the 33rd floor.
Both Waylen’s and Ethan’s rooms were on that floor. One was Room 3301, while the other was Room 3302.
Since Ethan knew the password to Waylen’s room, he inserted it and pushed open the door when it unlocked. As soon as he
stepped inside the room, his eyebrows twitched as he sensed the smell of cigarettes. Although the smell of cigarettes was faint,
it indicated that someone had just entered this room not long ago. However, Waylen had gone abroad a month ago.
Thinking about it, Ethan quickly scanned the room. However, he then noticed nothing wrong with the room besides some odd
details.
“Is Waylen back?” As the chief of the police office, Derek had keen eyesight. When he saw the room, he said, “No, that’s not it.
It’s not him. I smell mint cigarettes!” His investigation ability was great too. In a matter of time, he had found a cigarette butt
under the living room chair. “Boss, did she enter Waylen’s room? If that’s the case, she seems suspicious.”
On the other hand, Ethan didn’t answer him and was looking at the surveillance camera. Although Alice had destroyed the
hotel’s surveillance cameras, the camera in Waylen’s room was different from the hotel; it was from the outer part of the hotel.
Hence, Alice did not destroy it. Then, Ethan inserted the time and place according to Liam’s intel and opened the surveillance
video of that particular area.
The clip showed that after Billy’s car left the hotel, he stopped at the first corner. Then, the car door was opened, and a black
umbrella appeared while someone had gotten out of the car. From the surveillance camera’s view, the person was entirely
blocked by the umbrella; not even their legs could be seen.
“She is quite sneaky, and I’ll give her credit for that. Did she know that there would be cameras?” Derek felt his lips twitching,
livid. “No, she wouldn’t have known. If she knew there would be cameras, she wouldn’t have left the car, right? Is she naturally a
cautious person, or is she hiding something? However, she had gotten out of the car in an open space, and there was no place
for her to hide. Isn’t she afraid that we will see her?”
Hearing his words, Ethan squinted his eyes. To be honest, he felt that Alice had made the right decision and got out of the car as
soon as she left the hotel since it was the safest thing to do. After all, those men that had been frightened by the grenade had not
reacted, and he couldn’t catch up to her on time. However, she exposed herself in an open area and was holding an umbrella,
which would cause a scene since it wasn’t raining in the middle of the night. As someone smart, she shouldn’t have made such a
common mistake.
Staring at the clip, Ethan didn’t blink as he saw the black umbrella move quickly toward the middle of the road. Her movements
were fast, almost equivalent to a well-trained person’s speed.
When Derek saw the clip, he frowned before widening his eyes. “What is she doing?”
The next moment, they saw her jump over the guardrail and go to the opposite side. The guard rail on the road was high, and
most people couldn’t jump over it easily. However, during the whole process of crossing it, the umbrella Alice was holding had
been covering her all along.
When Derek watched the clip, his face turned serious, commenting, “She has some skills, Boss. There is something off about
her. I’m starting to get suspicious of her.”
Ethan didn’t answer him and was still staring at the clip.
In the clip, Alice was still holding the umbrella as she crossed the road and entered a gas station by the roadside. Then, she
went straight into the gas station’s supermarket. Although the view of the camera couldn’t look at the inside of the supermarket,
there was only one exit at the gas station. Since there was no one or any vehicles outside the gas station at this hour, it didn’t
affect Ethan’s investigation when he sped up the clip. While he was forwarding the clip, Alice had never left the supermarket.
At that moment, Derek was slightly excited by what was going on. “There is only one exit at this gas station, and so does the
supermarket. So, she must still be in there, right? We will be able to catch her if we go now, Boss.”
Hearing his words, Derek didn’t move, and his eyes darkened. Then, he started to change the screen of the clip. However, he
realized that no matter how he changed it, the screen didn’t have any changes. It was obvious that the screen had been frozen.
Since there wasn’t anyone or anything moving on the screen, one wouldn’t be able to tell the differences from the start. Most
importantly, the screen was flickering while he was looking at it, making it seem like the surveillance camera was still working.
However, he knew that the surveillance camera had been hacked and stopped at the very moment as soon as Alice entered the
supermarket. Still, he couldn’t figure out how she made the flickering effect. When he tried to look at the other clips, he noticed
they were working properly except for this particular scene. At that moment, he realized that a skilled hacker had done this!
Then, Ethan knew that Alice had already left the gas station. It looks like I have underestimated what Little Fox is capable of. She
has indeed escaped from me.
On the other hand, Derek’s eyes unconsciously widened, and he stared at the screen in a daze for a long time. “Boss, should we
send someone over to check it?” He was unwilling to give up and didn’t believe that someone would actually escape from
Ethan’s grasp.
Even though Ethan knew that Alice was not at the gas station, he still had to check it. Then, he called Caleb and told him to go to
the supermarket. After all, it was impossible for a person to disappear without a trace. Hence, that had to be some clues they
could find.
After Ethan hung up the call, he looked at the clip again. Suddenly, he asked Derek, “Is Leah still in the hotel?”
“Yes,” replied Derek. Although he had arrived late to the scene, he was clear about what occurred and knew that Leah was one
of the people who had helped Alice escape.
Only Ethan averted his gaze from the screen when he heard Derek’s words. “Bring her to the reception room on the first floor.”
As he spoke, a glint flashed across his eyes.
Although you run off this time, I’ll get to you sooner or later. After all, there isn’t anything that I can’t find out.
Ethan had many clues about her, from her bag, her belongings, and fingerprints on the cuff. Hence, even if she had escaped
from him at this moment, he would find her by all means.