Chapter 13 - THE WRONG TARGET
I ran.
Hale shouted through the wire.
“Daniel, stop!”
I didn’t.
Vanessa yelled behind me.
“He wants you to panic!”
Too late.
I reached the police car.
Hale grabbed my arm.
“They’re responding.”
“That’s my son!”
“We have units there.”
“Then why is my mother screaming?”
His radio erupted.
Possible intruder.
Rear entrance.
Officer down.
My entire body went numb.
Hale put me in the car.
“We’re going.”
I looked back toward the cemetery.
Vanessa was gone.
Of course she was.
The drive took thirty-two minutes.
Hale made it in nineteen.
Police vehicles surrounded Mom’s house.
Front door open.
Broken kitchen window.
I jumped out before the car stopped.
An officer blocked me.
“Sir!”
“Noah!”
Then I saw Mom.
Alive.
A cut above her eyebrow.
“Mom!”
She grabbed me.
“He took him.”
The world disappeared.
“No.”
“I tried.”
“No.”
“Daniel, I’m sorry.”
“NO!”
Hale grabbed my shoulders.
“Listen to me.”
I couldn’t.
“He took my son.”
“We’ll find him.”
“He took my son!”
Then Mom shoved something into my hand.
A folded piece of paper.
“He dropped this.”
I opened it.
A location.
And a time.
SUNSET.
COME ALONE OR THE BOY DIES.
Hale read it.
“He wants a trade.”
“For what?”
“Vanessa.”
“But we don’t have her.”
A voice spoke behind us.
“Yes, you do.”
Everyone turned.
Vanessa stood at the edge of the driveway with both hands raised.
Three officers aimed their weapons.
She didn’t move.
Hale shouted, “GET ON THE GROUND!”
She knelt.
“I know where Michael took him.”
I lunged forward.
“Where?”
“Daniel, don’t.”
“WHERE?”
She looked at me.
“The lake.”
Of course.
The place where Noah had seen too much.
Hale cuffed her.
“You’re taking us there.”
“No.”
Hale stared.
“No?”
“Michael sees police, Noah dies.”
“And you expect us to trust you?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I expect Daniel to.”
I laughed in her face.
“You put my child in a cage.”
“And I’m the only reason he’s still breathing.”
I wanted to hate every word she said.
But something in her face had changed.
Not innocence.
Never that.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Why are you helping now?” I asked.
She looked away.
“Because Michael doesn’t leave witnesses.”
“You knew that twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Carol and her son?”
Her eyes filled.
“I was there.”
Nobody moved.
“I didn’t start the fire.”
“But you helped him.”
“I was nineteen.”
“You helped him.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The word cracked.
Then she looked at me.
“And I’ve been helping him ever since.”
Hale pulled her toward the car.
“You’re going to explain everything.”
“No time.”
She looked directly at me.
“Michael won’t wait until sunset.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he never waits when he’s scared.”
A distant explosion rolled across the sky.
May you like
Everyone turned.
A black column of smoke was rising in the direction of the lake.
