Over the next five hours, the palace turned into a madhouse as every man and woman available was assigned to last minute jobs. Between Jacob and Cas’s leadership, there were multiple teams operating to investigate the cell phone, the rebels who held Iris captive, and the other security systems in place that may have been breached by the Scourge. The king had wanted to be in charge of the search task force of course, but Jacob pointed out that that fell in his wheelhouse, so he took over that role while Cas received reports from the other military leaders who were running sweeps of their software coding for traces of invaders. It was mind-numbing work to comb through everything, but everyone was diligent in their efforts, uncovering a few pieces of evidence that rebel hackers had been inside their system. They even found clues that one of their own men had been feeding information to an outside source, and another team was dispatched to have the culprit arrested at his house and interrogated to find out who he had been communicating with. Through it all, Caspian felt sick. While the royal security made progress on improving their firewalls and removing spyware that would better protect the military, they had yet to figure out exactly where Iris was located. The carrier for the phone that had sent the texts was identified and ordered to hand over everything it had on the device’s owner, but it was clear from a glance that the user was working behind a fake identity—not uncommon for a member of the Scourge. They weren’t sure if the address on file was accurate either, so the only option left was to search the photos in the text thread for details that would allow them to narrow down the location. That was where Jacob came in. Before he’d taken over as the head of security, he’d developed his skills as a talented tracker, among other things, so he scoured the pictures Ethan had sent for over two hours, taking down notes and assigning other security workers to research information about specific districts that the rebellion controlled. With his expertise, the team was finally able to narrow down their parameters to just one district not too far from the place he’d dropped Iris off the last time they’d crossed paths. It was then that Cas came by to check on their progress, and the guard beckoned him over with a wave of his hand. [color=#b97703]“Do you have something?”[/color] the king asked hopefully, leaning over to see all the haphazard papers the other man had been working with. There were scribbles and pins and lines drawn across pages, all interspersed with scratch marks where Jacob had ruled out the places she couldn’t be located. “I believe she is most likely in this neighborhood here…” the older man nodded, tapping a finger against a digital map that zoomed in over a satellite view of a few houses. “Or here.” With a swipe, he brought the view to a different street in the same district, about five miles away from the first. [color=#b97703]“Send a team to each one,”[/color] Cas nodded, his heartbeat quickening with excitement. They were so close. [color=#b97703]“You can head one and I’ll take the other. Between the two of us—”[/color] He faltered when the guard held up his hand, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I must insist you stay here,” Jacob frowned. “Aside from the fact that you don’t have military experience, I’m certain that the man behind this is using her to lure you out. I cannot allow you to make yourself vulnerable by walking into a trap.” [color=#b97703]“You seriously expect me to stay here and wait around?”[/color] Cas scowled. Jacob held his ground, unperturbed. “It’s your responsibility, Your Majesty. However, if it would make you feel better, we can bring along two drones to record everything, so you can watch the raids from the safety of the palace.” Cas shifted his weight from his left foot to his right. He didn’t like the idea of being so uninvolved, but he could tell his guard wasn’t going to waver on this. And, as much as it pained him to admit it, the other man was right. [color=#b97703]“Fine,”[/color] he grumbled, turning his head away. [color=#b97703]“Do it.”[/color] And with permission given from the Aspirian king, two teams of seven were established, and the troops were dispatched by air to search both neighborhoods for the kidnapped girl.