Chapter 4 - THE ENVELOPEEmergency lights flickered on.
Passengers looked around in panic.
A flight attendant shouted for everyone to remain seated.
Daniel immediately reached for Lena.
She was gone.
His heart stopped.
“Lena?”
He stood.
“Lena!”
People shouted around him.
The aisle was chaos.
Then he saw her.
She was standing near the rear galley.
A man had grabbed her.
Daniel pushed through the crowd.
The man shoved Lena toward the emergency door.
Daniel tackled him.
They crashed to the floor.
The attacker fought viciously.
Daniel recognized the technique.
Military training.
Police training.
Something professional.
The attacker escaped through the galley and disappeared into the forward section of the aircraft.
Lena was shaking.
Daniel pulled her up.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Her hand was bleeding.
The bracelet was gone.
Daniel stared.
“He took it.”
Lena's eyes filled with horror.
“My mother told me never to lose it.”
Daniel looked down the aisle.
Marcus Vale was missing too.
The captain announced that they would be landing early because of the disturbance.
Daniel knew they couldn't simply wait.
Someone had boarded this plane knowing Lena was here.
Someone had known about the bracelet.
And someone had just stolen it.
When the plane landed, police surrounded the aircraft.
Passengers were questioned.
The attacker was gone.
So was Vale.
Daniel and Lena were taken to a private room.
A detective entered.
“Mr. Hart, we need to ask you some questions.”
Daniel stared at him.
“I need to ask you some first.”
The detective frowned.
“About what?”
“Marcus Vale.”
The detective's expression changed.
Daniel noticed.
“You know him.”
“I know the name.”
“No. You know him.”
The detective sat down.
“Mr. Hart, we found something strange.”
“What?”
A flight attendant had discovered an envelope taped beneath Daniel's seat.
Daniel's name was written on it.
The handwriting was his wife's.
His dead wife's handwriting.
Daniel's hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A little girl.
Lily.
Standing beside Amira.
On the back, six words were written.
She was alive when we buried you.
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
The detective looked pale.
“I don't know.”
Daniel turned the photograph over again.
There was a second line beneath the first.
Ask Amira who paid her.
Lena stepped closer.
“Who is Amira?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Your mother.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“My mother wasn't a criminal.”
“I never said she was.”
“She saved me.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Lena's voice cracked.
“When I was little, she told me someone wanted to take me back.”
“Who?”
“She never said.”
“Did she ever mention Lily?”
Lena looked confused.
“She told me that was the name I used to have.”
Daniel nearly collapsed.
“What?”
Lena nodded slowly.
“She said Lena wasn't my real name.”
The detective stared at them.
Daniel could barely breathe.
“What is your real name?”
Lena whispered.
“Lily.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
Twenty-eight years.
Twenty-eight years of searching.
And the woman sitting in front of him had finally said the name he had spent a lifetime chasing.
But then she added:
“My mother wasn't the woman who raised me.”
Daniel stared.
“Then who was?”
Lena opened her mouth.
May you like
Before she could answer, every phone in the police room began ringing at once.
And the detective's face went white.
