Chapter 5: The Safe House
Chapter 5: The Safe House
The numbers on Mira's arm seemed to drain every sound from the street.
12-07.
Not a hospital bracelet.
Not a prison record.
A permanent mark.
Logan gently touched the faded tattoo.
"Did they force this on you?"
Mira nodded.
"I fought."
Her voice was flat, almost detached.
"They held me down."
Eli's small hand slid over the tattoo as though he could somehow erase it.
"I don't like it."
Mira managed a weak smile.
"I never did either."
Rebecca Lawson carefully closed the folder in her briefcase.
"We can't stay here."
Daniel Cross immediately objected.
"My team already has transportation."
Lawson shook her head.
"No."
"If what I think is happening is true..."
She glanced toward Captain Mercer.
"...then we don't know who can be trusted."
Mercer's face remained unreadable.
"I resent that implication."
"You'll survive."
Lawson turned back to Logan.
"Mr. Whitmore."
"Your wife needs medical care."
"But she also needs protection."
Logan asked the question that had haunted him since Mira whispered They never let me come home.
"Protection from who?"
Lawson answered honestly.
"I don't know yet."
"And I refuse to guess."
It was the first completely honest answer Logan had heard all afternoon.
The female paramedic disconnected the portable monitor after checking Mira's vitals again.
"She's stable enough to move."
"But barely."
Mira suddenly grabbed Logan's wrist.
"No hospitals."
"I know."
"No police."
"I know."
"No white rooms."
Logan frowned.
"What white rooms?"
Mira's breathing quickened.
"They always started with white rooms."
"No windows."
"Bright lights."
"They asked questions."
"What kind of questions?"
She stared through him.
"They wanted memories."
"What memories?"
"I don't know."
"They kept asking about the child."
Logan looked at Eli.
"What child?"
Mira slowly shook her head.
"I couldn't remember."
"They became angry."
"They said..."
Her voice almost disappeared.
"'You were carrying the answer.'"
Logan's heart skipped a beat.
Carrying.
He looked at Eli.
He had been five years old when Mira disappeared.
Could they have meant...
No.
That made no sense.
Rebecca Lawson noticed the look on Logan's face.
"What are you thinking?"
"They kept asking about a child."
Lawson's expression changed.
"How old was Eli when your wife disappeared?"
"Five."
She became very quiet.
Cross noticed.
"What?"
Lawson ignored him.
Instead she looked at Mira.
"When was the last time you clearly remember being at home?"
Mira frowned.
"The morning of the fire."
"What happened that morning?"
"I made pancakes."
Eli smiled through his tears.
"You burned them."
Mira looked at him in surprise.
"I did?"
"You laughed."
"You said Dad distracted you."
For the first time since Logan had found her...
Mira laughed.
Softly.
Only for a second.
Then the laughter faded.
"I remember that."
She looked at Logan.
"You kissed me before work."
He nodded.
"I remember."
"You told me..."
She smiled faintly.
"...that we'd finally saved enough for the beach trip."
Logan's throat tightened.
They had.
The tickets were still sitting in a drawer at home.
Unused.
For three years.
Lawson quietly interrupted.
"And after breakfast?"
Mira's smile vanished.
"I..."
She squeezed her temples.
"I drove Eli to school."
"You walked me inside."
Eli added.
"You hugged me."
"You said you'd see me after school."
Mira covered her mouth.
"I never came."
"No."
Eli whispered.
"You didn't."
Cross looked thoughtful.
"What happened after school?"
Logan answered.
"I picked Eli up."
"I called Mira."
"No answer."
"I thought she was shopping."
He paused.
"Then..."
"The fire."
The memory crashed over him again.
Smoke visible from half a mile away.
Fire engines.
Police tape.
The unbearable smell of burning timber and chemicals.
Someone grabbing his shoulder to stop him from running inside.
A firefighter shaking his head.
Hours later...
Captain Mercer telling him there had been no survivors.
Logan slowly looked toward Mercer.
"You were there that night."
"Yes."
"You told me there wasn't enough left to identify."
"That was the information available."
Rebecca Lawson opened her briefcase again.
"It wasn't."
She removed another document.
"The coroner's preliminary report states something interesting."
Logan took the page.
His eyes scanned the text.
Then stopped.
No complete human remains recovered.
He frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Lawson answered quietly.
"It means exactly what it says."
"There wasn't a body."
Logan stared at Mercer.
"You told me they identified Mira."
Mercer answered carefully.
"They identified personal belongings."
"What belongings?"
"The wedding ring."
Logan felt his pulse racing.
"The ring?"
Mira looked down at her left hand.
Her finger was bare.
"I lost it."
She whispered.
"They took it."
Logan's heart pounded.
Someone had placed her wedding ring inside the burned warehouse.
To convince everyone she had died.
A phone rang.
One of Cross's agents stepped aside to answer it.
His expression changed almost immediately.
He hurried back.
"Sir."
Cross looked up.
"What is it?"
"The surveillance team."
"They reviewed traffic cameras."
"And?"
The agent swallowed.
"They found footage from three years ago."
Cross frowned.
"From the night of the fire?"
"Yes."
"What did they see?"
The agent glanced uneasily toward Logan.
"Mrs. Whitmore."
Everyone froze.
"What?"
The agent continued.
"At 7:42 p.m."
"Sixteen minutes before the first emergency call..."
"...a black medical transport van left the warehouse."
Logan's entire body went rigid.
"You're saying..."
The agent nodded.
"It appears someone removed a woman from the building..."
"...before the fire was reported."
Logan looked at Mira.
"You were alive."
She slowly nodded.
"I remember being cold."
"I remember someone saying..."
She closed her eyes.
"'Don't damage the specimen.'"
The words sounded rehearsed.
As if they had echoed in her mind for years.
Lawson looked directly at Cross.
"Who owned the van?"
Cross answered after several seconds.
"The license plates were fake."
"And the vehicle?"
"Burned."
"When?"
"The next morning."
Logan laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
Every trail disappeared.
Every witness erased.
Every piece of evidence destroyed.
Someone had planned this perfectly.
The female paramedic packed away her equipment.
"I've done everything I can here."
She looked at Logan.
"If she doesn't get proper nutrition soon..."
"...her organs may begin shutting down."
Logan nodded.
"We're leaving."
Cross stepped forward.
"With us."
"No."
Lawson answered before Logan could.
"With me."
Cross's jaw tightened.
"You don't have authority."
"I have enough."
The two stared at one another for several long seconds.
Finally Cross exhaled.
"Fine."
"But my people come too."
Lawson reluctantly agreed.
"Two agents."
"No more."
As everyone prepared to leave, Eli tugged gently on his mother's sleeve.
"Mom?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
He looked at her with innocent curiosity.
"When they took you..."
"...did they ever tell you why?"
Mira became very still.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then tears filled her eyes.
"They said..."
Her voice broke.
"...that I had seen something..."
"...I was never supposed to survive."
Logan frowned.
"What did you see?"
Mira slowly looked into his eyes.
"I don't remember."
She paused.
"But..."
"They were terrified..."
May you like
"...that someday I would."
End of Chapter 5
