Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, Mediterranean villa ~

Friday, October 25, 6:58 AM

(For reference, that is 9:58 AM in New York)

Jeff's and JoAnna's phones beeped persistently and woke them up.

They reached for their phones and saw an alert from Eve.

Jeff kept his phone back and pulled JoAnna into his embrace. It's just a notification that something is not reachable.

"Eve, why are you waking us up?", JoAnna asked lazily. She felt that she should clarify what is going on.

"Sarah's and Aiden's tracking devices are not reachable.", Eve responded.

JoAnna was startled awake. She sat in the bed. "What does that mean?"

"I lost signal from Sarah's and Aiden's GPS tracking devices at 6:56 AM. I attempted a remote diagnostic and reset, but I'm not successful in locating them.", Eve responded.

Jeff held his breath while listening to Eve. "How about their cell phones? Can you call them? Locate them?"

"Cell phones lost signal before rings.", Eve responded.

Jeff and JoAnna exchanged glances. They understand that phones will not have a signal if the battery is dead, or the phone is turned off on purpose, or if the phone is destroyed, which again means that the phone is off. Phones are not the most reliable devices, but the rings should be working.

"What are possible causes for rings to lose signal?", Jeff asked.

Eve gave three reasons: "First case is loss of power. However, both of their devices were above 80% battery life during last check, and I check on every twelve hours, so probability that loss of power is the cause is less than 1%. The second case is that they are destroyed. The third case is that signal is blocked."

"They would not destroy the rings or block the signal on purpose.", JoAnna told Jeff.

Both of them were out of the bed and getting dressed.

"Where is the last place you got the signal from?", Jeff asked Eve.

"Griffith park, Glendale.", Eve responded.

"Do Sophia and Felix know?", JoAnna asked.

"Yes.", Eve confirmed. "I informed them at the same time as you. They are discussing to initiate a video call with you."

"Tell them that we are awake and want to start a video call!", Jeff told Eve while rushing out of the bedroom after JoAnna.

…

Few minutes later, JoAnna, Jeff, Sophia and Felix are on a video call.

"They didn't come home last night?", JoAnna asked Sophia and Felix. They are staying in the Cliffside villa so they should know.

"No. We thought that maybe they went to their apartment or stayed somewhere else. It's not unusual for them to spend the night out.", Sophia responded.

"Ideas?", JoAnna asked.

"We all saw Sarah and Aiden last at the coliseum, when we left after the event and they stayed behind. That was after 6 PM. About thirteen hours later, their signal was lost in a park in Glendale. They have no business there, and they are missing. We all agree that they will not block the signal or destroy both of their rings at the same time on purpose. Something happened.", Sophia summarized what they know. "Can we get ahold of the management at the coliseum? We need to confirm at what time they left and if anything suspicious happened."

Jeff said that he will take care of that. He is frustrated that even at a time like this, Eve does not want to do anything they instruct her to do if it's outside their home perimeters.

"Let's go to Griffith park and start from there.", Jeff responded. "I will send my people to look for…" He stopped his words. What will they look for? Rings? Bodies?

Other three understood why he stopped talking.

"Eve can tell us within accuracy of few meters the last location of the rings." Felix informed everyone. He is the most familiar how the rings work, he created them. "I will bring a metal detector. If signal is blocked it means that the rings are enclosed within a metallic casing. And if rings are destroyed so that GPS does not work, pieces can be detected."

Sophia checked destination and based on the current traffic situation shared: "We will be there in less than an hour."

"We will meet you there.", Jeff responded. "I will get my men to help, and they will come with metal detectors as well."

They ended the video call and Jeff saw that JoAnna is upset. Her whole body trembled.

Jeff pulled JoAnna in his embrace and spoke softly. "They are fine. You know that two of them find themselves in impossible situations, but everything ends up OK. Let's go and find them. OK?"

~ Griffith park, Glendale ~

Friday, October 25, 9:18 AM

There are more than fifty people moving slowly with metal detectors in the area. And about dozen more are looking around in the bushes and unkempt areas.

They started from where Eve told them that the signal was seen last time and expanded from there in all directions.

Jeff instructed his people to be careful as they walk in case there is some evidence on the ground, they don't want to destroy it.

Looking in this park is a long shot, but it's the best they can come up with.

They asked Eve for surveillance videos, but she told them that the park has none. So, they have no chance of seeing how rings entered this area. Was it with Sarah and Aiden? Did they dump the rings and left? It does not make any sense.

They are all aware that in case someone placed rings in a metallic box (how Felix explained), it is possible that the box is anywhere. The moment the rings were sealed, the signal was lost. Very discouraging, but they need to stay positive.

Sophia thought that she will go crazy. Her baby sister is missing! JoAnna was sitting with Sophia on a bench in the park and observed the ongoing search while trying to distract Sophia. But JoAnna was out of it as well so Sophia ended up talking.

"If Sarah is pulling a prank, I'm going to kill her!", Sophia said through her teeth.

"The moment I see her, I will hug her.", JoAnna admitted. "Then I will smack some sense in her."

Sophia looked at JoAnna and smiled bitterly. "I will smack first and ask questions later."

"Master! Over here!", one of Jeff's subordinates called.

Everyone gathered around the man. He found a big blob of aluminum foil in one of the bushes few meters away from the running trail.

Felix unwrapped aluminum foil, revealing a tin cookie box. Inside was a belt, two cell phones, earpieces, earbuds and rings as well as Sarah's and Aiden's wallets.

The moment the box was open, Sophia, JoAnna, Felix and Jeff got notification from Eve in their earpieces that signal with Aiden's and Sarah's rings is established successfully.

"That box can block signals?", Jeff asked Felix.

Felix nodded. "Faraday cage. Enclosure of conductive materials can block electromagnetic fields… and that includes GPS signal as well.", he explained.

Jeff's people scattered while trying to find any other clues.

Four of them went to sit on a nearby bench.

They stared at the open tin container.

"Now what?", Sophia exhaled.

"We know that they didn't do this.", Felix said. "Someone has them. And they are alive, if they are not alive, why bother with keeping these separately?"

"And they hid this away with a purpose to delay us.", Sophia added. "It means that Sarah and Aiden are in a time sensitive situation and we need to hurry."

They all agreed that it makes sense.

JoAnna sighed. "Is it one of those families?"

Jeff stood up. "Eve can give us details on Sarah's and Aiden's movements from last night until now. I will get my men to check every place they visited."

Sophia agreed. "And we should tell our parents. They can help."

Sophia looked at Felix. "I want to trace that path as well. I know that I should sit put somewhere, but I can't. By going myself at least I have a feeling that I'm doing something."

At the end, all four of them went with another three cars of Jeff's men and started tracing Sarah's and Aiden's movements from the previous night.

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