Chapter 577: Queen's Adversity (3)

Styles and the others tried to observe and check for clues from Castle, but Parker hadn't been there for almost two days now. He wasn't in his office, and the mission board was running like usual under one of Parker's assistants running the floor while he wasn't there.

Because Damien and the team were all distracted by their mission with Alliance, they weren't aware of the message that Parker sent to agents near Harbor City to capture Katherine as she was spotted in the hospital. She had already been careful, but even so, Shadow still got to her.

The team had the chance to talk to Noah for a few minutes in the hospital before he fell asleep again. He had broken bones all over his body, and he was even lucky that he was still alive after getting beaten up so badly. He confirmed that they were Shadow agents because Katherine recognized a couple of them, and before he lost consciousness, he heard one of them saying that Parker was waiting for them.

…

Safe House

Felix asked if they could just contact Parker right away and trace his call to know where he was holding Katherine, which was what Damien was also thinking. However, Chris and the rest shook their heads right away. If it were that easy to track Parker, they would have already done that in the beginning.

"Parker's phone is… unlike the ordinary," Chris began. "His phone number is variable."

"What do you mean?" Damien asked.

When Chris exchanged looks with Styles, the latter elaborated, "Let's simply put—his number changes… almost daily."

"How's that possible?" Felix frowned. It was the first time that he had heard of it.

"He has disposable phone numbers. The only way to get in touch with Parker is if he calls you first, or you call him through the current disposable phone number that he's using. There's an app that prompts him to send you his current phone number so you can get in touch with him. And only a few people in Shadow have that privilege." Styles looked at Chris, knowing that he was one of those privileged few.

"I ditched my phone as soon as I became their target," Chris added.

"So there's no way to call him…" Damien muttered. He was so desperate to find Katherine that he didn't care who he was facing now.

Shrugging, Styles let out a sigh of frustration. He was also pissed for feeling useless at the moment. "I say we go and ambush Castle and demand for Katherine. But that's just highly—"

"Let's do it," Damien agreed, catching everyone's attention.

They had been closely watching for any activities in Castle, but there wasn't any indication that Katherine was there. And suddenly going in without making sure that she was there might only put her in grave danger if they provoked Parker for invading his territory. They had to be smarter.

However, at the moment, it seemed like it was their only option. Amelia and Chris exchanged looks. Both of them were convinced and also fearful of what they had to do. But if this was the only way to get Katherine back, then come what may.

"Wait… What about Connor? Has Hughes responded yet?" Amelia asked.

"They're still investigating. She said she'll contact us when she gets more information," answered Chris.

Connor's case was too big for them to handle as it was an international organized crime, so there wasn't much they could do except trust Hughes to do her part. Turning to Styles, Damien probed with a determined look on his face, "I have an idea. How fast can you access Castle and override their system for a few minutes?"

Styles straightened in his seat. "Fast," he confidently answered.

…

"Ready?" Styles shifted his gaze to Damien, Chris, and Amelia, waiting for them to give their signal. As soon as they nodded, he pressed the enter key on his keyboard.

In the next nanosecond, they were connected to Castle, taking over their system. There was a window in one of Styles's monitors that showed Shadow's central area where the operations were controlled. Several people with headphones attached to their heads and facing a computer were found on the floor, awaiting and following orders from a man in his forties.

The front wall had so many screens filled with different kinds of information from the missions they were currently handling. They hadn't noticed what Styles had done yet as they worked like normal—not until Styles interrupted their works. Overriding their computers, their monitors turned black before green 0's and 1's filled the entire screen. The people on the floor of Castle's command center were surprised at what was happening; they could only stare at the screen.

"Greetings. I don't come in peace," Styles muttered, his voice loomed the entire area.

"Mr. Styles?" the man who was in charge of the floor questioned.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Oscar. No Mister. Just Styles. Jeez." Styles rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"But… I thought… you were dead?"

While everyone else was speechless, one male computer expert gasped, "Oh, my god. Is this really him? Styles?! Sir—I am a huge fan!"

"Why, thank you. Well, this is my ghost talking," Styles bit out. Chris slapped his head with the back of his hand, and he cleared his throat before adding, "I'm not here to catch up with you, Oscar. But I need you to do something for me."

"What do you want?" asked Oscar, the floor manager, in a toneless voice.

"I know you have my Queen. So I want you to patch me to Parker."

The older man mockingly chuckled, finding his statement ridiculous. "And what makes you think I'm going to do what you ask me to?"

A mischievous smile formed on Styles's face. Although the people in Castle couldn't see him and could only hear his voice, he still felt powerful, and therefore, he was cocky. "Oh… Oscar, I'm not asking. I'm ordering you what to do."

With an unimpressed tone, Oscar crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And if I don't?"

Styles glanced at Damien, who nodded at him, giving him a go-signal. Then he answered, "Easy… I'll just have to crash your system and wipe out every—single—data."

"You wouldn't." Oscar gritted his teeth.

Styles was fast on his keyboard, and a couple of seconds later, a timer appeared on Castle's screens. "Try me. I'll give you thirty seconds to decide." As soon as he said that, the timer began counting down.

Everyone on the floor panicked, and Oscar demanded the floor to override whatever Styles was doing. However, despite their efforts, no one could do anything. Just before the timer went below five seconds, Oscar gave up and agreed to contact Parker.

…

After a moment, Damien and the rest were now waiting for Parker to pick up the call. It took him eight rings before he managed to answer.

"Hello?"

"Parker," Christopher muttered the other's name.

"Ah… If it isn't Christopher…" Parker let out a soft chuckle that sounded derisive. "That took you long enough."

"Where's Katherine?!"

"Oh, she's here. I thought I would have to start pulling out her teeth. She's a feisty one—you'd know that already."

Pissed, Damien could no longer hold back, and so he spat, "You son of a bîtch! Don't you dare touch her!!!"

"Who is this?" Parker wondered, but almost instantly realized, "Ah… Am I speaking to Mr. Park? Don't worry… I never laid a hand on her—not once. But… I can't say the same for my subordinates."

Before any of them could respond, Parker's video was turned on. However, instead of seeing the man's face, what they saw broke their hearts as the camera was pointed at Katherine's current state.

She had both of her wrists restrained together with black straps above her head and attached to a chain from the ceiling. Her once white tank top was now wet and had bloodstains here and there. Her head hung low, looking lifeless while her feet barely touched the ground.

"Katherine…" Damien's heart dropped to his stomach.