On the night everything changed, Marcus stood over Isabella and shouted another number.
"One hundred ninety-nine!"
Across the room, his mother calmly corrected him while writing in a journal.
"No. One hundred ninety-eight."
The correction seemed insignificant, but Isabella knew exactly why the number mattered.
Around her neck rested a sapphire necklace. To Marcus it looked like an expensive piece of jewelry from her former collection. What he never understood was that the necklace contained a hidden emergency transmitter developed years earlier for high-risk international clients.
The transmitter required a specific activation method.
For months Isabella waited for the perfect opportunity.
That opportunity finally arrived when a small cut reopened on her forehead. A drop of blood landed directly on the sapphire stone.
The hidden mechanism activated instantly.
No lights flashed. No alarms sounded.
Everything remained silent.
But somewhere far away, a signal was received.