Inside the small taxi company office, the manager leaned back in his chair while scrolling through the dispatch records on his computer. Ryan stood in front of the desk with both hands resting on the edge, his posture tense but controlled. His eyes never left the screen as the man searched for the driver's details connected to the number plate Ryan had written down. After a moment, the manager nodded slightly.
"Yes, here it is," he said while turning the screen slightly toward Ryan. "Driver name is Daniel Davis, he was on the evening shift on November twenty-first."
Ryan's jaw tightened slightly. "Can you call him?" he asked.
The manager nodded and picked up the phone. After a short conversation, he handed the phone to Ryan.
"He's nearby. You can talk to him."
Ryan stepped outside the office, and within ten minutes, a yellow taxi pulled up in front of the building. A man in his early forties stepped out, adjusting his jacket as he approached Ryan.
"You're the one asking about the passenger from that night?" Daniel asked.
Ryan nodded. "Yes, she got into your taxi outside the apartment complex on November 21st, around five in the evening."
Daniel immediately recognized the description. "Oh yeah," he said. "I remember her."
Ryan's eyes sharpened slightly. "You do?"
"Yeah. She stood out," Daniel replied. "Not because of how she looked… but because she seemed in a hurry."
Ryan listened carefully. "Hurry?"
Daniel leaned slightly against his car while thinking back. "She kept checking her phone every few seconds," he explained, "and kept asking me to hurry up."
Ryan's fingers tightened slightly around his phone. "Did she say where she wanted to go?"
Daniel nodded. "The airport."
Ryan's expression didn't change, but his mind was already processing the information. "Which airport terminal?" he asked.
"International departures," Daniel replied. "She told me to drive fast. Said she was already late."
Ryan lowered his gaze for a moment. "Did she say anything else?"
Daniel shook his head. "Not really. Just that she needed to catch a flight."
He paused before adding something else. Ryan inhaled slowly. Everything was beginning to connect the call logs, the rushed departure, the taxi ride. Without saying another word, Ryan thanked the driver and turned toward his car. His next destination was obvious. The airport.
****
Back inside Maya's apartment, Kai and Alina were now standing near the dining table where they had gathered every clue they had found.
The printed New York flight ticket lay on the table. Beside it were the receipts Alina had collected. Kai had also taken notes about the missing luggage and clothes. The evidence was small, but it formed a pattern. Kai pointed toward the wardrobe again.
"Missing travel bag." Alina nodded.
"And several clothes are missing from the rack."
Kai tapped the ticket with his finger. "Flight ticket to New York."
Alina folded her arms while thinking. "And the date matches the last time she spoke to me."
Kai looked toward the window for a moment, piecing everything together like a puzzle. "If she packed in a hurry and left that evening," he said slowly, "then she must have gone straight to the airport."
Alina immediately looked at him. "You think she actually boarded the flight?"
Kai shook his head slightly. "I don't know."
He looked back at the ticket. "But the airport will have records,security cameras, check-in logs, boarding information…" Kai finished the thought calmly.
"Exactly." Then he picked up the ticket and slipped it into his jacket pocket. "Let's go to the airport."
Alina looked at him. "You think we can find something there?"
Kai gave a small nod. "If Maya was really there, someone must have seen her."
Alina grabbed her jacket immediately. "Then what are we waiting for?"
Kai moved toward the door.
****
Ryan's car was already moving through traffic at high speed. His hands were firm on the steering wheel while his mind replayed everything the taxi driver had said. Heading toward the international terminal. If she had boarded that flight, there would be records. If she hadn't… Then something had happened at the airport.
****
At the same time, Kai and Alina stepped out of Maya's apartment building and headed toward the main road to catch transportation. Neither of them realized something important. Ryan was already heading to the same place. Three different people. Three separate investigations. But all are leading toward the same destination. The airport.
The international terminal of the airport was crowded with movement and noise. Travellers hurried across the wide marble floor, dragging suitcases behind them while announcements echoed through the enormous hall. Bright lights reflected against the glass entrance doors as taxis stopped one after another to drop off passengers rushing toward their flights.
At almost the same moment, two cars pulled up near the international departure gate. Ryan's car stopped on one side of the curb while another vehicle stopped a few meters behind it. For a moment, neither driver noticed the other as both were focused on the same thought that had been pushing them forward since the evening.
Ryan stepped out of his car first. His expression carried the same urgency he had been wearing since leaving the taxi company office. He closed the door and began walking toward the entrance of the terminal, his eyes scanning the busy surroundings instinctively as if he expected to find Maya somewhere in the crowd.
Just as he stepped forward, another car door opened behind him. Kai stepped out. The two men saw each other at the same moment. Ryan stopped mid-step.
"Kai," he murmured under his breath, surprised.
Kai looked just as shocked. "Ryan?"
Before either of them could process why the other person was there, the passenger door of Kai's car opened suddenly, and Alina jumped out. The moment she spotted Ryan standing near the terminal entrance, she hurried toward him without even glancing at Kai.
"Ryan!" she called anxiously.
Ryan turned fully toward her. Alina stopped right in front of him, slightly out of breath from rushing across the pavement. Her eyes were filled with worry.
"Maya?" she asked immediately. "Did you find her?"
"She's missing." The words landed heavily.
Kai had already walked closer by then, and the three of them now stood together under the bright airport lights while people continued passing by them in every direction.
For a brief moment, none of them spoke. The situation had suddenly become strange—three separate searches had somehow led all of them to the same place.
Ryan broke the silence first. "You two should tell me why you're here," he said calmly.
Kai glanced at Alina once before answering. "We searched Maya's apartment."
Ryan's attention sharpened immediately. "What did you find?"
Alina stepped forward, speaking quickly but clearly as if she were presenting evidence in an investigation.
"Her wardrobe was disturbed," she explained. "Several clothes were missing, and the travel bag she normally keeps in the lower drawer wasn't there."
Kai took the folded paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to Ryan. "We also found this."
Ryan opened the paper and read it carefully. "A flight ticket to New York," he said quietly.
"It was printed four days ago," Kai replied.
Alina added, "That was the last time she spoke to me on the phone."
Ryan looked up from the ticket. "Then you should see something."
He took out his phone and opened the CCTV recording he had collected earlier. Turning the screen toward them, he played the footage. The video showed the entrance road outside the apartment complex.
After a few seconds, a woman appeared on the screen carrying a travel bag. She walked quickly toward a waiting taxi and stepped inside before the car drove away. Ryan paused the video.
"This footage is from the apartment CCTV," he explained. "The taxi driver confirmed he dropped this woman off at the airport."
Alina leaned closer to the screen and watched the clip carefully. Her expression slowly changed. After a few seconds, she shook her head firmly. "That's not Maya."
Ryan immediately looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"That's not her," Alina repeated with confidence.
Ryan frowned slightly. "How can you be so sure?"
Alina pointed directly at the paused frame on the phone screen. "Look at what she's wearing."
Ryan looked again, but still didn't understand. "It looks normal."
Alina folded her arms. "No, it doesn't. Maya would never wear something like that."
Kai watched the screen again, now paying closer attention. The woman in the footage wore high heels and walked with an elegant posture.
Alina shook her head. "Maya hates heels. She complains every single time she has to wear them."
Ryan's eyes slowly narrowed. "You're saying someone tried to look like her?"
"Yes," Alina replied immediately. "Someone tried to dress like Maya, but it's not her."
Kai's gaze remained fixed on the phone for a few seconds before he spoke quietly. "It's a trap."
Ryan turned toward him. "What?"
Kai slipped his hands into his pockets and looked toward the terminal entrance thoughtfully. "Someone wanted us to see that footage," he said slowly.
Ryan listened carefully. "They knew that if Maya disappeared, we would check the CCTV cameras," Kai continued. "So they replaced her with someone else to mislead anyone who tries to follow the trail."
Alina thought about it for a moment before adding another possibility. "Or someone edited the CCTV footage," she said. "It's possible to alter recorded clips."
Ryan nodded slightly. "That would explain why the clothes don't match Maya's style."
The realization settled heavily between them. Whoever had planned this had expected someone to investigate.
Ryan looked at the flight ticket again. "Wait."
Kai and Alina both turned toward him. "This ticket… New York."
Ryan tapped the destination printed on the paper. "That's where Maya's parents live."
Alina's eyes widened immediately. "Oh, my God."
She placed her hand on her forehead in sudden realization. "How could I forget that?"
Kai spoke without hesitation. "Call them."
Alina hesitated slightly while pulling out her phone. "I'm not sure they'll pick up. It's late there."
Kai looked at her steadily. "Call anyway."
Alina scrolled through her contact list until she found Maya's parents' number. Her finger paused for a brief second before pressing the call button. The phone began ringing.
Ryan and Kai both watched her silently as the call continued—one ring... then another... then another. Standing in the middle of the busy international terminal, surrounded by strangers rushing toward their flights, the three of them waited for someone thousands of miles away to answer a call that might finally explain where Maya had gone.