In the early evening, he made his way to his brother's office. He had Isaac's map and his letters with him and was already fully equipped so that he could set off again immediately after the meeting.
In a noticeably better mood than he had been over the past two days, he pushed open the door to the office, where his brother was sitting at his desk in consultation with Moz. Both immediately looked up when he entered the room.
"Good evening, dear brother," he greeted his brother.
Vincent raised an eyebrow, and Moz looked at him as if he had completely lost his mind. For once, Noctis was even glad to see Moz. He immediately turned to him without wasting another second.
"Check the cameras in the outskirts of the city."
"The outskirts?" Vincent asked.
Noctis nodded.
"Narrow it down to the cameras located near supermarkets, gas stations, or other larger stores."
Moz frowned.
"How did you suddenly come up with the outskirts?" Moz asked. However, a moment later he was already typing and focusing on the screen again.
Vincent crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'd like to know that as well," he said. "As you know, we were planning to focus on other parts of the city tonight."
"Not important," Noctis waved off.
He closed the door behind him and walked straight to the desk, where he placed Isaac's map. He looked at his brother intently.
"Isaac got in touch."
For a moment, silence filled the room.
Moz looked at him over the edge of his laptop.
"How did he get in touch? As far as I know, no carrier pigeon flew in here."
"Oh, Moz, it's time you started thinking a little more creatively," Noctis replied with amusement, tapping the map. "Isaac doesn't need a carrier pigeon or a phone. He created a small portal," he said with a grin.
Vincent burst out laughing.
"That's brilliant!" For a brief moment, he looked genuinely impressed. But his delight quickly gave way to a worried expression. "How is he?"
Noctis's grin vanished instantly.
"He tried to downplay it, so I'm guessing he feels like absolute shit. A concussion, a few broken ribs, and he somehow managed to get himself shot again," he replied grimly. "But he had information too, even if it's not particularly useful yet."
"That's why you're focusing on the outskirts of the city?"
Noctis nodded.
"He saw the city lights from a greater distance last night," he said. "He told me he'll send Ashe out whenever possible so she has to go shopping. Maybe that gives us a chance to spot her on the cameras. She's almost certainly replaced the footage again, but if Isaac contacts us shortly after she leaves…"
"…then we'll find her on the cameras we're pulling up now. Ooooh, that's brilliant," Moz said, surprised. "Boss, we should get more laptops or monitors so I can access all the camera feeds more quickly. If we include all the cameras outside the city center, that comes to a total of eighteen."
Vincent nodded immediately.
"Send someone to get everything we need. We should still have some equipment at the other hideout. We'll buy whatever is missing. The less we have to purchase, the less conspicuous we'll be."
Moz nodded. "Understood."
He grabbed his phone and began making calls.
"Did he say anything else?" Vincent asked.
Noctis sighed.
"Not much. They actually seem determined to make sure he's doing reasonably well." He gestured toward the letters. "He mentioned that his window is barred."
Vincent considered that for a moment.
"Unfortunately, that barely narrows down the possibilities."
"Unfortunately not," Noctis agreed with a sigh. His gaze fell to the map. "I hope he contacts us again soon."
"I wish I could talk to him," Vincent said.
"Any news from the informants?" Noctis asked.
Vincent shook his head.
"Neither from ours nor from Ben's," Vincent replied. "As you know, one of my people saw him on the day Isaac was abducted, but since then no one has seen Ashe, Levi, or anyone else from the Syndicate."
"So we keep fumbling around in the dark until Isaac can give us more information," Noctis concluded.
Vincent nodded. "Did he say when he planned to contact us again?"
Noctis ran a tired hand through his hair.
"Unfortunately not. Ashe seems to be taking care of him, so I don't know how often he's alone. He only wrote two letters. Nothing more."
A quiet curse escaped Vincent. He walked over to the wall where they had hung an old-fashioned map.
"If we at least knew roughly where he is, we could narrow down the area further," he muttered.
The door opened, but neither Vincent nor Noctis paid any attention to the newcomer.
"Do I even want to know why there are fingers on the desk?" the cop behind them asked.
Fingers?
Noctis turned around, and his gaze immediately fell on Isaac's map, where, just like before, Isaac's fingers were sticking through the paper. A broad grin instantly spread across his face. He was already making his way toward the desk. Carefully, he took the note from Isaac's fingers and gently brushed his fingertips over them, which were still protruding through the small portal.
"Hello, darling," he murmured with a smile.
The fingers immediately moved and briefly curled around his hand, as if wanting to confirm that he was really there.
For a moment, Noctis forgot everything else.
Then Isaac's fingers disappeared back into the map.
This note was considerably larger than the previous ones.
Carefully, Noctis unfolded the paper. As he did, another sheet came loose and drifted downward. Reflexively, he reached out and caught it before it could touch the floor.
It was a drawing.
Isaac had made a sketch.
Noctis spread both sheets out on the desk.
"Is that the view from his window?" Vincent suddenly asked from behind him.
"What the hell is going on here?" the cop interjected. "What was that just now?"
"What the hell is happening here?" the cop asked, bewildered. "What was that?"
"Isaac," Noctis and Vincent answered in unison, both focused on the sketch.
"That was Isaac? But how did he...?" the cop asked, clearly bewildered.
Noctis looked up from the drawing.
"He can create portals. Did you forget already?" he scoffed. "Come over here instead. He sent us a sketch of where he's being held."
The cop looked as though he wanted to say something, but curiosity seemed to win out. He walked over to Vincent and examined the sketch, his expression immediately turning thoughtful.
While Vincent and the cop studied the drawing, Noctis turned his attention to the letter.
Darling,
I managed to make a sketch of the view from my window. Unfortunately, I don't have any more information at the moment. I sketched the metal bars on the back as well—maybe that will help.
I'm tired and will contact you again tomorrow.
I love you.
Isaac
Noctis slowly lowered the letter.
So the portal had closed again.
I would have liked to talk to him a little longer...
It saddened him that he couldn't exchange a few more words with Isaac. At the same time, he was glad Isaac was getting some rest. When they got him out of there, he would need enough strength left to at least walk a few steps on his own.
"What did he write?" Vincent asked.
"Nothing else," Noctis sighed. "He also sketched the metal bars on his window and said he was going to get some sleep."
Vincent nodded. "That's probably for the best. Especially with a concussion."
"Do either of you have any idea where that view could be from?" Noctis asked.
Vincent shook his head. "I'll forward the sketch to the informants."
"It's the south side of the city," the cop muttered.
The words came so suddenly that everyone looked up at once. The cop was still leaning over the drawing. His eyes remained fixed on the sketch.
Vincent frowned.
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
Noctis slipped Isaac's letter into his pocket and turned back to the others. He studied the sketch once more, trying to understand what the cop was seeing. He knew how to navigate the streets when tracking a target. However, he usually operated in the dark and relied on entirely different landmarks—ones that had nothing to do with Magnolia's skyline.
The cop pointed to several details in the drawing.
"This is the Petal Inn," he explained. "The largest hotel in the city. Isaac's sketch is pretty accurate, so I'm fairly certain that's the building. Besides that, you can also see several other corporate skyscrapers in the background, and if I'm not mistaken, all of them are visible from the south side of the city."
Vincent smirked.
"Now that you mention it, I can see it too. Go on."
The cop shrugged.
"There are several reference points we can use to narrow down the location."
He picked up the sketch and walked over to the map. Taking a pen, he roughly drew a cone of vision.
"He also included the transmission tower. It's located northeast of the Petal Inn. Then we have this wooded area. It's probably Orchid Park. Judging by the rows of houses..."
The cop paused to think for a moment before drawing a smaller circle over a residential district.
"...I'd say we're somewhere around here," he concluded.
"You know the city well," Vincent said appreciatively.
The cop smiled at him.
"Unlike you night owls, I actually spend most of my time out in daylight," he replied. His expression quickly turned serious again. "The real question is how we're supposed to figure out exactly where Isaac is without drawing attention to ourselves—and how we're going to get him out of there. I'd really like to get back to my normal life at some point."
"With violence," Noctis scoffed.
"I'll send my men to scout the area," Vincent said at the exact same moment.
Vincent fixed Noctis with a stern look.
"You're staying here until we know where he is."
For a brief moment, Noctis didn't know what to say. He had to have misheard. Yet the expression on his brother's face made it clear he was completely serious.
"What?!" he burst out. "You can't be serious!"
"I am," Vincent replied. "I don't want you charging in blindly."
Noctis rubbed a hand over his face. Then he raised an eyebrow.
"You do realize I can just put every single one of them to sleep?" he scoffed. "Thanks to Isaac, I have an entire deck full of wonderful nightmares I could unleash on them, and I wouldn't even have to try."
Vincent shot him a challenging look.
"If you use the cards, Isaac will be affected too."
"I can control it," Noctis growled.
"Isaac is injured, and you'd be in there alone if you went through with it," Vincent pointed out. "If he gets hurt, there's nothing I can do until you deactivate the card or get Isaac out of there."
Noctis didn't really have an argument against that. Knowing Isaac, there was a very good chance he had downplayed his injuries yet again. Just as he always did.
Nor did Noctis truly believe that Isaac had simply agreed to whatever Levi wanted. More likely, Levi had tortured him for fun until Isaac finally gave in.
Noctis would only know the truth once he was finally holding him in his arms again.
Vincent sighed.
"Besides, I want some of them alive so I can squeeze information out of them."
"You just want to blow off steam," Noctis scoffed.
A cold smile spread across Vincent's face.
"Maybe. The last few weeks have been stressful, as you know."
"Just tell me which ones, and I'll wrap them up and deliver them to you as a package," Noctis hissed. "We know roughly where he is now! What exactly are you waiting for?!"
"Because I don't want to rush this!" Vincent snapped. "Right now, they may not be hurting Isaac because Levi needs him. But don't you think that psychopath will disappear immediately—or do something to Isaac—the moment you march in there?!"
Vincent slowly exhaled.
"I understand that you want to get him out as quickly as possible, Noc. But at least let me figure out where they might be first. You have no idea what he and Ashe have planned, and she's almost certainly monitoring every camera in the area," he continued, much more calmly now. "We need to find out where they are, dismantle every security measure they have in place, and then hit them when they least expect it. Okay?"
Noctis pressed his lips together but said nothing.
"Besides, Levi probably has his own spies watching the streets from dark corners," the cop pointed out. "If any one of the three of us, Moz, or Lucy shows up there, it could end very badly."
Vincent's expression softened.
"He's right," he agreed. "That's why I want to send people with less recognizable faces."
Defeated, Noctis leaned against the edge of the desk. They were right. Every word they said made sense.
And yet all he wanted was to get his beloved out of Levi's grasp as quickly as possible.
Vincent placed a hand on Noctis's shoulder.
"I know you want to get him out of there as soon as possible. But we have to approach this carefully. You know what Levi did to him back then when they were children. As an adult, he'll be far worse."
Noctis looked at him darkly.
"I want Levi alive."
"You'll get him alive," Vincent promised, his tone equally dark.
Noctis sighed.
"So? Shall we start planning?"