CHAPTER 6 The Empty Bed
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
I stared at the screen, unable to process what I was seeing.
Louisa's stuffed bunny.
The faded pink ribbon around one ear.
The small patch I'd sewn onto its belly after our Labrador puppy chewed it last summer.
There was no mistake.
Lydia was carrying Louisa's bunny.
My knees nearly gave out.
"No..."
I whispered.
"No..."
Rebecca looked at me sharply.
"Emily?"
"My daughter..."
I couldn't finish the sentence.
Mason immediately grabbed his radio.
"Contact the safe house!"
The reply came almost instantly.
Static.
Then a panicked voice.
"Shots fired! We have one agent down! The child is missing!"
Everything inside me went numb.
Thirty Minutes Earlier
Agent Nicole Harris had volunteered for the overnight shift.
The safe house was a quiet, single-story home on the outskirts of Columbus.
Only six people knew its location.
Rebecca.
Mason.
Two FBI agents.
The driver.
And...
Officer Daniel Pierce.
The mole.
Nicole checked on Louisa every twenty minutes.
At 1:08 a.m., she peeked into the bedroom.
Louisa was asleep, hugging her bunny.
At 1:16 a.m., the security cameras briefly flickered.
Less than three seconds.
Not enough to trigger an alarm.
At 1:17 a.m., the back door quietly unlocked.
No forced entry.
Someone used the correct access code.
Nicole heard the click.
She reached for her pistol.
Too late.
A silenced shot shattered the hallway mirror.
The bullet missed her shoulder by inches.
She returned fire.
The intruder disappeared into the darkness.
By the time backup arrived...
Louisa's bed was empty.
Only the stuffed bunny remained.
I slammed my fist onto the command table.
"This is my fault."
"No," Rebecca said firmly.
"They knew where we were."
"They had help."
I looked up.
"Pierce."
She nodded once.
"He didn't just leak the location."
"He probably gave them the access code."
Mason's face darkened.
"We're hunting two fugitives now."
Rebecca corrected him.
"Three."
He frowned.
"Walter."
"Pierce."
"And Victor."
The Storage Unit
The surveillance feed continued rolling.
Lydia stood inside Storage Unit 417, slowly placing Louisa's bunny onto a dusty wooden crate.
She looked... calm.
Almost peaceful.
As if she weren't involved in kidnapping her own granddaughter.
Then another figure stepped out from the shadows.
Victor Salazar.
For the first time, the camera captured him clearly.
Tall.
Lean.
Black leather gloves.
The scar above his eyebrow.
He glanced toward Lydia.
"Did anyone follow you?"
"No."
"The child?"
"She's sleeping."
My heart stopped.
Sleeping.
Louisa was alive.
Victor nodded toward a steel door at the back of the storage unit.
"Bring her."
Lydia disappeared through the door.
Seconds later...
She emerged carrying Louisa.
My little girl's wrists were zip-tied.
A strip of gray tape covered her mouth.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
She was still wearing the same yellow pajamas she'd gone to bed in.
I lunged toward the screen.
"LOUISA!"
The room was silent.
She couldn't hear me.
But somehow...
She lifted her head.
Looked directly toward the surveillance camera.
And tears rolled down her cheeks.
The Plan
Rebecca turned to the tactical team.
"How long?"
"Fifteen minutes."
"No."
She shook her head.
"We don't have fifteen."
Victor checked his watch.
"He won't wait."
"Who?" Mason asked.
Victor answered the question himself.
"The buyer."
Every person in the command center froze.
Buyer.
The word hung in the air like poison.
Rebecca didn't hesitate.
"Move now."
Within seconds, armored SUVs tore out of the FBI parking garage.
Sirens remained off.
Every second counted.
Inside Storage Unit 417
Victor knelt in front of Louisa.
His voice was strangely gentle.
"You've been very brave."
Louisa stared at him silently.
He peeled the tape from her mouth.
She gasped for air.
"Where's Mommy?"
Victor smiled.
"You'll see her soon."
Lydia laughed softly.
"Liar."
Victor ignored her.
Instead, he reached into a metal case.
Inside were...
Passports.
Dozens of them.
Stacks and stacks.
Some genuine.
Some obviously forged.
He selected one.
A little girl's passport.
Age: 3.
Hair: Blonde.
Eyes: Blue.
The photograph...
Wasn't Louisa.
Victor removed the photo.
Then held a new passport picture beside Louisa's face.
My blood froze.
They were making my daughter disappear.
Not by killing her.
By erasing her.
Replacing her identity.
Selling her to someone who would never know who she really was.
The Raid
The convoy arrived.
Rebecca's voice echoed through every headset.
"Positions."
Snipers moved into place.
Breaching teams surrounded the building.
Mason counted down.
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
"Breach!"
The warehouse exploded with noise.
Steel doors flew inward.
Flashbang grenades detonated.
Agents flooded the corridors.
"FBI!"
"Get down!"
Gunfire erupted almost immediately.
Victor fired first.
Two agents fell behind cover.
Lydia screamed.
Walter wasn't there.
Pierce wasn't there.
Only Victor.
And Louisa.
Rebecca spotted her first.
"There!"
Louisa sat tied to a chair behind several crates.
Rebecca sprinted toward her.
Victor saw the movement.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Louisa with one arm and pressed a pistol against the side of her head.
Everyone stopped.
The warehouse fell eerily quiet.
Victor smiled.
"Nobody moves."
Rebecca slowly lowered her weapon.
"You don't want to do this."
"I've done worse."
"You won't leave this building."
Victor shrugged.
"Maybe."
He looked down at Louisa.
"But she might."
Louisa's tiny body shook uncontrollably.
She whispered through her tears,
"Mommy..."
I heard it through the agents' body cameras.
It broke me.
The Impossible Choice
Victor backed toward a loading dock.
Behind him waited a black cargo van with its engine already running.
The rear doors were open.
Someone was inside.
Rebecca couldn't see who.
Victor shouted,
"Drop your weapons!"
No one moved.
He pressed the gun harder against Louisa's head.
"I said..."
"Drop them!"
Rebecca glanced toward the sniper positioned on the roof.
Too risky.
Louisa's head completely blocked the shot.
Mason whispered into the radio.
"No clean angle."
Victor smiled.
"I know."
He'd planned this.
Every inch of it.
Then...
From somewhere behind the agents...
A single gunshot rang out.
Victor's eyes widened.
Blood blossomed across his shoulder.
He staggered backward.
Louisa slipped from his grasp.
Rebecca lunged forward.
Another shot cracked through the warehouse.
This one struck Victor in the chest.
He collapsed beside the loading dock.
Dead before he hit the concrete.
Everyone spun toward the source of the shots.
Standing in the warehouse entrance...
Smoke rising from a handgun...
Was Elmer.
He lowered the weapon slowly.
"I wasn't aiming for Victor."
He looked past the body.
Toward the person hiding inside the cargo van.
His face turned white.
"Oh... God..."
Rebecca followed his gaze.
Inside the van sat an elderly man in an expensive suit.
He calmly closed a briefcase.
Then smiled.
"You should have let Victor live."
Before anyone could react...
He pressed a button hidden beneath the briefcase handle.
A deafening explosion ripped through the far side of the warehouse.
The lights went out.
May you like
And in the darkness...
The old man vanished.
