Chapter 6 - LOCKDOWN
Daniel hit the door before Pike could stop him.
“Daniel!”
“My kids!”
He shoved into the dark hallway.
Red emergency lights flashed overhead.
An officer ran past.
“Lockdown! Get everyone secured!”
Daniel ignored him.
“Sofia!”
A hand grabbed his shirt.
Pike.
“Stay behind me.”
They moved toward the family room.
Collins came behind them.
Daniel heard shouting.
Metal doors slamming.
An alarm repeating the same robotic warning.
SECURITY FAILURE. RETURN TO DESIGNATED AREAS.
Daniel reached the waiting-room door.
Locked.
“Elena!”
He pounded the glass.
“ELENA!”
Nothing.
Pike tried the handle.
“Collins.”
“I’m checking.”
She swiped her badge.
Red light.
Again.
Red.
“System’s down.”
Daniel stepped back.
“Move.”
“What are you doing?”
He kicked beside the latch.
The door shook.
“Daniel, stop.”
He kicked again.
Pike grabbed him.
“You break that door, security will treat you as an escape threat.”
“My kids are behind it!”
“Then give me ten seconds.”
Pike pulled a small emergency key from a secured panel.
The lock released.
Daniel shoved inside.
Empty.
Three chairs.
A backpack.
Mateo’s toy dinosaur.
No family.
“No.”
Daniel stared around the room.
“No, no, no.”
He picked up the dinosaur.
“Where are they?”
Collins checked the adjoining door.
“Maybe staff moved them during lockdown.”
“Where?”
“Visitors are usually taken to the east lobby.”
Daniel was already running.
They reached the stairwell.
A security officer blocked them.
“Inmate goes back downstairs.”
Pike flashed his badge.
“He’s with me.”
“During lockdown?”
“Yes.”
The officer hesitated.
A crash echoed from below.
Then someone shouted.
The officer turned his head.
Pike pushed past.
“Move.”
They reached the east lobby.
Two families were sitting against the wall.
Elena wasn’t there.
Daniel’s panic turned into rage.
“Where is my wife?”
A receptionist looked terrified.
“I don’t know.”
“They were in room four.”
“I was told to evacuate.”
“By who?”
“I don’t know. An officer.”
“What officer?”
“Big guy. Shaved head.”
Daniel and Collins looked at each other.
Baker.
Daniel grabbed the desk.
“Which way?”
“He took them through the staff corridor.”
Collins cursed.
Pike pulled out his phone.
“No signal.”
“The building network’s jammed,” Collins said.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“He took my family.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
He ran.
Collins shouted after him.
“Daniel!”
He shoved through the staff door.
At the end of the corridor, he saw movement.
A man.
Large.
Bald.
Baker.
And beside him—
Elena.
She had Mateo behind her.
Sofia clung to her arm.
Baker was holding them near an exit.
Daniel stopped.
“Baker!”
Baker turned.
For the first time, he looked genuinely frightened.
Then his expression changed.
He reached toward his belt.
Pike raised his gun.
“Hands where I can see them!”
Elena screamed.
Baker froze.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Get away from my family.”
Baker smiled.
“You really don’t know when to stay down, do you?”
“What do you want?”
Baker looked at Pike.
Then at Collins.
Then back at Daniel.
“I wanted you on that transport.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Why?”
Baker’s smile disappeared.
May you like
“Because once you reached state custody, you were never supposed to come back.”
And then the emergency exit behind him opened.
