Chapter 10 - The timer started counting down.04:59.
04:58.
Logan stared at the monitors.
“Mom?”
I looked at Sarah.
She was crying.
Daniel moved toward the equipment.
“There's a transmitter.”
I followed.
“Can you trace it?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
He connected his laptop.
“Give me thirty seconds.”
We had four minutes.
Evan's face appeared on one monitor.
He was tied to a chair.
The second showed Logan's feed.
Except Logan was standing beside us.
The second screen was prerecorded.
A fake.
I looked closer.
“Daniel.”
“I see it.”
“Look at Logan's jacket.”
He froze.
The feed showed Logan wearing a gray hoodie.
I looked at the real Logan.
Black shirt.
“He isn't there.”
“Correct.”
“So Evan is the only real feed.”
Daniel nodded.
“Probably.”
I stepped toward the monitor.
“Evan!”
His eyes lifted.
“Mom?”
“Can you hear me?”
He nodded.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Look around.”
He turned.
Concrete walls.
Metal door.
A red pipe.
Then he stopped.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“There is writing here.”
“What does it say?”
He moved closer.
“Seventeen.”
I looked at Logan.
“Where is the room?”
Daniel traced the signal.
“Industrial park.”
“How far?”
“Seven minutes.”
We had two minutes.
The transmitter suddenly switched frequencies.
Daniel cursed.
“Someone's blocking me.”
Cole entered.
“I know where he is.”
I turned.
“Then why are we standing here?”
“Because Victor wants you to run there.”
“Maybe.”
Cole smiled.
“Not maybe.”
He pulled another photograph from his coat.
It showed a warehouse.
“That's where your son is.”
I took it.
“What's the trap?”
“The building is surrounded.”
“Then we'll go through the roof.”
Cole shook his head.
“There's no roof entrance.”
“There is always an entrance.”
He smiled.
“That's why you're alive.”
We left the cabin through the rear tunnel.
The attackers were distracted by the lake.
By the time we reached the vehicles, the shooting had stopped.
The forest became silent.
Too silent.
We drove toward the industrial park.
Five minutes later, Daniel stopped.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Police.”
A roadblock.
Cruisers.
Lights.
Officers everywhere.
I stared ahead.
“Who called them?”
Grant whispered:
“Victor.”
I looked at him.
“You know?”
“He controls half the department.”
I opened the door.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
“I'll handle it.”
I walked toward the officers.
A captain stepped forward.
“Claire Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“Hands where I can see them.”
I stopped.
Behind him, three officers drew weapons.
The captain said:
“You're under arrest for kidnapping Logan Whitmore.”
I almost laughed.
“Where's the evidence?”
“Witness statements.”
“From whom?”
“Grant Whitmore.”
I looked back.
Grant had disappeared.
I turned toward Daniel.
He was gone too.
Cole was gone.
Only Logan remained.
He walked to my side.
“She's with me.”
The captain pointed at him.
“Step away.”
Logan didn't.
“You have no idea what's happening.”
The captain's expression tightened.
“Last warning.”
Logan looked at me.
“What do we do?”
I whispered:
“Walk backward.”
He did.
The officers moved.
I threw the first smoke grenade.
It exploded.
Chaos.
We ran.
Not toward the warehouse.
Away from the roadblock.
Down an alley.
Then through an old drainage tunnel.
Logan panted.
“You planned that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm starting to think you always have a plan.”
I smiled.
“Most of the time.”
We emerged behind the industrial complex.
The warehouse stood ahead.
No lights.
No guards.
Too easy.
We entered.
Nothing.
Empty rooms.
Crates.
Broken machinery.
Then we heard a phone ringing.
On a desk.
I answered.
Victor.
“You're late.”
“Where is Evan?”
“Close.”
“Let me speak to him.”
A pause.
Then Evan's voice.
“Mom!”
I shut my eyes.
“Evan!”
“Don't trust Logan!”
I opened my eyes.
Logan stared at me.
“What?”
Victor laughed.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why is he saying that?”
“Because he saw something.”
“What?”
Victor's voice became cold.
“The truth.”
A door behind us opened.
Evan walked out.
Alive.
Untied.
I ran to him.
He grabbed me.
“Mom.”
I held him.
“What happened?”
He whispered:
“I found Logan's birth file.”
I looked at him.
“What did it say?”
He looked at Logan.
Then at me.
“Logan wasn't your only biological child.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Evan began crying.
“There was another.”
The warehouse door slammed shut.
Victor's voice came over the speakers.
“And she is standing behind you.”
I turned.
Sarah stood in the doorway.
Holding a photograph.
Her face was expressionless.
May you like
She whispered one name.
“Claire.”
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