CHAPTER 5 A Father Pulls the Trigger
"Don't move."
Special Agent Rebecca Sloan's voice crackled through every FBI earpiece.
No one fired.
Not yet.
Walter stood on the center of Old Franklin Bridge, his pistol pointed at the back of his own son's head.
Elmer still hadn't seen him.
He was staring into the darkness, searching for me.
"Emily?" he called again.
"I know you're here."
Walter smiled.
It wasn't the smile of an angry father.
It was the smile of a man who had already decided how the night would end.
Rebecca whispered into her microphone.
"Sniper One, status."
"Target acquired."
"Sniper Two?"
"Clear line of sight."
"Hold your fire."
Detective Mason frowned.
"He's about to shoot."
"I know."
"If he kills Elmer..."
Rebecca interrupted.
"If we fire now, we lose the only person who knows where Victor is."
Mason hated the answer.
But she was right.
Walter was worth more alive.
For now.
Elmer slowly reached into his coat pocket.
Walter immediately cocked the pistol.
"Easy."
Elmer froze.
He recognized the voice.
"Dad?"
"Turn around."
Elmer did.
The color drained from his face.
"What are you doing?"
Walter laughed quietly.
"I was about to ask you the same thing."
"You called Emily here?"
"No."
"You lied to your own father."
"I didn't."
Walter took another step forward.
"You've always been a terrible liar."
Elmer glanced around nervously.
"Where's Emily?"
Walter ignored the question.
Instead, he asked one of his own.
"Did she show you the video?"
Elmer didn't answer.
Walter's eyes narrowed.
"So she did."
Hidden inside an unmarked surveillance van nearly two hundred yards away, I watched everything through a live drone feed.
Louisa was asleep in a safe house under FBI protection.
Rebecca hadn't wanted me here.
Neither had Mason.
But after everything Walter had done...
I needed to hear him.
Needed to know why.
Back on the bridge, Elmer slowly nodded.
"I saw it."
Walter's face remained expressionless.
"And?"
"You lied."
Walter shrugged.
"Families lie."
"You hit Emily."
Silence.
"You let Mom shave Louisa's head."
Walter still didn't answer.
Then Elmer whispered the words I had waited years to hear.
"I don't recognize you anymore."
Walter sighed.
"You were never supposed to."
A cold wind swept across the bridge.
Walter lowered the gun.
Just slightly.
"I gave you everything."
"A home."
"A business."
"A future."
"And now you're throwing it away..."
"...for a woman."
Elmer shook his head.
"No."
"For my daughter."
Walter chuckled.
"There it is."
"The Carter weakness."
"What does that mean?"
Walter looked toward the river below.
"My father had it."
"I had to remove him."
Every agent listening through surveillance fell silent.
Even Rebecca stopped writing.
Elmer stared at his father.
"What did you say?"
Walter spoke as casually as if discussing the weather.
"My father couldn't do what needed to be done."
"So I made sure someone else could."
Elmer's breathing became uneven.
"You..."
"You killed Grandpa?"
Walter smiled.
"No."
"I simply left him where nobody would ever find him."
Inside the surveillance van, Rebecca's eyes widened.
"Record everything."
The confession rolled uninterrupted.
Walter continued.
"People think evil begins with murder."
"They're wrong."
"It begins with weakness."
"My father couldn't sell children."
"He couldn't forge documents."
"He couldn't disappear people."
"So he became..."
"...an inconvenience."
My blood turned to ice.
Detective Mason looked physically sick.
This wasn't just about passports.
This wasn't identity theft.
This organization trafficked human beings.
The shaved head.
The passports.
The mysterious stranger.
Every puzzle piece was beginning to fit together.
Elmer took a shaky step backward.
"You've lost your mind."
Walter laughed.
"No."
"I finally found it."
"You know what your problem is?"
"You still believe people matter."
Walter pointed toward the city lights.
"Look around."
"Every person out there has a price."
"They just don't know it yet."
"I don't."
Walter's smile disappeared.
"Everyone does."
He slowly raised the pistol again.
"You disappoint me."
Rebecca finally gave the order.
"Move."
Within seconds, FBI vehicles roared onto the bridge from both directions.
Red and blue lights exploded across the night.
"FBI!"
"Drop the weapon!"
Walter didn't even flinch.
Instead...
He pointed the gun away from Elmer.
Straight toward the agents.
Bang!
The first shot echoed across the river.
Chaos erupted.
Agents dove behind vehicles.
Snipers searched for a clean angle.
Walter sprinted toward the railing.
"He's running!" Mason shouted.
Walter climbed onto the edge of the bridge.
Thirty feet above the icy river.
Rebecca yelled,
"Don't do it!"
Walter looked back one last time.
Then smiled.
"You'll never find Victor."
And jumped.
Everyone rushed to the railing.
The river below churned violently.
Flashlights swept across the dark water.
Nothing.
No body.
No blood.
Only ripples.
Divers arrived within minutes.
Boats searched downstream.
Helicopters circled overhead.
After nearly three hours...
Nothing.
Walter Carter had vanished.
Again.
At 2:15 a.m., exhausted agents gathered inside the mobile command center.
Rebecca spread several photographs across the table.
"If Walter survived..."
"He'll go to the storage unit."
Mason nodded.
"Or Victor will."
Rebecca looked at Elmer.
"There's something we need you to explain."
She slid the rental agreement toward him.
Storage Unit 417.
Signed in his name.
Elmer stared at it.
"I've never seen this."
"That's your signature."
"It looks like mine."
"It is mine."
"What?"
He frowned.
"Someone copied it."
Rebecca leaned forward.
"How?"
Elmer closed his eyes.
Then slowly whispered,
"My father."
Everyone looked at him.
"When I was sixteen..."
"He made me sign stacks of blank papers."
"He said they were insurance forms."
"College applications."
"Tax records."
"I never questioned him."
Rebecca exchanged a glance with Mason.
Walter hadn't merely used his son's identity.
He had prepared to steal it years in advance.
Just then, an FBI analyst burst into the command center.
"We've got movement."
Rebecca looked up.
"Where?"
The analyst turned his laptop around.
A live surveillance camera overlooked the storage facility.
Storage Unit 417.
Its metal door was rolling open.
A lone figure stepped inside carrying a flashlight.
The camera zoomed in.
Everyone in the room held their breath.
It wasn't Walter.
It wasn't Victor.
It wasn't Heather.
It was Lydia.
And she wasn't alone.
She was holding Louisa's pink stuffed bunny.
The one I had packed into our hotel suitcase.
May you like
Someone had broken into our safe house.
And they had taken my daughter.
