Chapter 271: Chapter 271: The Hidden Camera

The car began to enter the bustling downtown area. Helen Lloyd steered the vehicle closer to the hotel, but she entirely bypassed the magnificent main entrance. Instead, she skillfully executed a wide turn, veering into a small, secluded alley hidden from the main street. After navigating through a maze of narrow passageways for a while, they finally saw a secret underground ramp gradually coming into view.

Helen Lloyd parked the car in the designated spot and explained in a low voice: “Since this hotel frequently hosts prominent figures who naturally despise being bothered by the paparazzi, the management has designed and arranged a few underground tunnels leading directly from the garage to private areas. Of course, not everyone has the privilege of knowing all of these secret passages.”

Julian Sterling nodded without saying a word. Upon stepping out of the car, he pulled the hood of his jacket up to completely cover his head, then dragged his small suitcase toward the only elevator available there. Helen Lloyd used her staff keycard to unlock the elevator, pressing the button to head straight up to the twenty-second floor.

Waiting until they both reached the designated floor, Helen Lloyd relied on the information Colin Grant had previously reported when he first checked in to lead Julian Sterling to the front of Ethan Caldwell’s room. Julian Sterling tried entering the passcode that the man had once mentioned to him, and sure enough, the door to the room clicked open.

As soon as the two of them stepped fully inside and the heavy, thick wooden door closed behind them, Helen Lloyd suddenly froze, her footsteps halting rigidly on the carpet: “I completely forgot, there are surveillance cameras out in the hallway.”

This meant that the hotel’s security department would be able to witness their entire stealthy entry into the room. It also meant that if someone behind the scenes wanted to, they could still maintain complete surveillance over them. Helen Lloyd silently blamed herself for being overly negligent; she had been so tense and worried about the current situation that she had entirely overlooked this fundamental issue.

However, in stark contrast to her anxiety-ridden expression, Julian Sterling remained remarkably indifferent. He calmly waved his hand to indicate that it was fine: “Do not worry, I have already taken care of it. But it will not last for long, so we must act very quickly.”

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, dark black device roughly the size of a palm: “This is a short-range signal jammer. It emits a frequency that causes the video transmission signal to be temporarily suspended. Now that we are inside the room, the walls will block the signal, so the jammer will no longer affect the cameras out in the hallway. The external surveillance monitors will only experience a momentary glitch, lasting just a split second. Unless the security personnel are specifically staring intently at the screens, they will not even notice a thing.”

After finishing his explanation, he brought out another device with an elongated shape resembling a simple pen, topped with an illuminating head that emitted bright red laser beams much like a flashlight. Helen Lloyd recognized it the moment she laid eyes on it. This was one of the most technologically advanced hidden camera detection devices currently available on the market. Without needing Julian Sterling to utter a word of reminder, Helen Lloyd took a deep breath, swiftly grabbed the pen, and began sweeping it around the hidden corners of the room.

Meanwhile, Julian Sterling carefully placed the visual signal jammer right in the center of the room to temporarily blind any hidden recording devices that might be inside. He then commenced a thorough inspection of his own, moving in the opposite direction of Helen Lloyd’s search path. The expansive room descended into complete silence, filled only by the soft, light sound of footsteps and the sweeping red light scanning every inch of the space.

This incredibly tense atmosphere stretched on for a few minutes until Helen Lloyd’s voice suddenly rang out, shattering the quiet.

“There is a camera right here.”

Helen Lloyd’s face had turned completely pale by this point. She had actually discovered a super-miniature hidden camera nestled inside an exquisitely crafted decorative item positioned diagonally across from the bed. That particular decoration was truly intricate with an abundance of details. If it had not been for the fact that she had scanned over it two or three times, it would have been exceedingly difficult to pinpoint the exact location of this camera.

What made Helen Lloyd even more worried was the disturbing uncertainty of just how long this camera had been there. If it had been planted there from the very moment Ethan Caldwell first checked into this room, the situation would be far more dangerous.

Furthermore, it clearly indicated one glaring fact: they had been utterly derelict in their duties.

Ethan Caldwell’s close-knit secretarial team was always rigorously and professionally trained. Whenever he went on a business trip, there would invariably be at least one person accompanying him. Aside from their normal business operations and corporate duties, they also had to shoulder the crucial role of ensuring the absolute safety of their boss. This explicitly included the mandatory task of sweeping for hidden cameras, checking for wiretaps, and inspecting every single nook and cranny the moment they checked into a room.

Yet this time, something had managed to slip right through the net! The sudden appearance of this sophisticated camera served as a dangerous warning regarding the fatal flaws within the security system that they had always placed so much trust in.

“We can figure that out later!” Julian Sterling patted Helen Lloyd on the shoulder, his steady and composed voice pulling her back to reality: “Now is not the time to be blaming yourself. We still have much more important things that we need to do.”

Following that, Julian Sterling used a pointed glance to signal Helen Lloyd to carefully handle a few sensitive angles within the room. They tightly drew the multi-layered curtains closed, ensuring that absolutely no long-range camera lenses from the exterior buildings would be able to sneak any shots through the glass windows. As for that super-miniature hidden camera, the two of them collectively decided to temporarily leave it untouched in order to avoid alerting the enemy.

Through careful observation, they realized that the camera’s angle was pointed directly toward the large bed situated right in the middle of the room, completely unable to cover the entirety of the space. As long as they moved cautiously along the edges of the walls, they would be able to easily evade its line of sight. After conducting one final, sweeping inspection and accurately confirming that this was the only camera angle present, Julian Sterling and Helen Lloyd slowly retreated into the camera’s blind spot. Only then did they carefully switch off the signal jammer to prevent the device from being detected due to prolonged operation.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep