Chapter 13 - LILY’S HIDING PLACE
Sarah’s blood turned cold.
“Tell police now.”
Rebecca already was.
The blue location returned for three seconds.
Enough.
A truck stop outside Alamogordo.
Police vehicles were twenty minutes away.
Sarah typed back.
BABY, STAY QUIET. MOMMY IS COMING.
No answer.
She stared at the screen.
Then three dots appeared.
DADDY CANT FIND ME.
Sarah cried.
Rebecca gripped her shoulder.
“Keep her talking.”
WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?
Lily responded:
BIG TRUCK.
WHAT COLOR?
WHITE.
Sarah looked at Rebecca.
Half the trucks in America were white.
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
A pause.
Then:
COW PICTURE.
Rebecca searched.
“There’s a dairy transport company near that truck stop.”
Sarah called the investigator.
“White truck, cow logo.”
They found the company.
Police reached the truck stop twelve minutes later.
Sarah and Rebecca followed at a distance.
Officers blocked entrances.
Sarah’s phone buzzed.
A voice message.
Lily whispering.
“Mommy… I’m under a blanket. Daddy was yelling at a man. He said we have to go.”
Sarah pressed the phone to her heart.
Then a loud bang sounded through the recording.
Lily gasped.
Message ended.
Sarah screamed.
“Call them!”
Rebecca was already shouting into her phone.
Police moved through the truck lot.
One officer found the dairy truck.
Empty.
But Lily’s tablet was inside.
Mark had discovered it.
Sarah felt hope collapsing.
Then another officer reported a witness.
A truck driver saw a man carrying a little girl toward an abandoned motel across the highway.
Police surrounded it.
Sarah could see the building from the road.
Two floors.
Broken sign.
Faded paint.
Room 17.
That was where witnesses saw Mark enter.
Sarah stepped out of the car.
Rebecca grabbed her.
“No.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And police are going in.”
“I can’t stand here.”
“You can, because Lily needs you alive.”
Officers approached.
Then a gunshot cracked through the night.
Sarah screamed.
Everyone ducked.
Another shot.
Police shouted.
Sarah tried to run.
Rebecca and an officer stopped her.
“LILY!”
Her voice tore from her chest.
“LILY!”
A window opened on the second floor.
Mark appeared.
He held Lily against him.
She was crying.
Sarah almost collapsed.
Mark shouted.
“Back up!”
Police aimed.
“Mark!” Sarah screamed.
His eyes found her.
“Tell them to leave!”
“Give me Lily!”
“Tell them to leave!”
“You’re scaring her!”
“You did this!”
Sarah couldn’t believe it.
Even now, it was her fault.
“You kidnapped her.”
“You tried to destroy me.”
“You did that yourself!”
Mark’s face twisted.
“Shut up!”
Lily sobbed.
“Daddy, please.”
Sarah’s whole body shook.
“Mark, look at her.”
He did.
For one second.
He looked at his daughter.
Not the trust.
Not the police.
Not Sarah.
Lily.
And his grip loosened.
Sarah saw it.
So she kept talking.
“She loves you.”
Mark’s face broke.
“Don’t.”
“She loves you, and you’re terrifying her.”
“Sarah…”
“You still have one choice left.”
“You don’t know what they’ll do to me.”
“This isn’t about you anymore.”
Mark looked down at Lily.
“Daddy,” Lily whispered, “I want Mommy.”
Mark closed his eyes.
Sarah held out her hands.
“Bring her to me.”
For a moment, Sarah thought he would.
Then headlights appeared behind the motel.
A black pickup truck.
It smashed through a side fence.
Mark looked toward it.
His face changed.
Victor.
A man jumped out and shouted.
“MARK! MOVE!”
Mark dragged Lily toward the back stairwell.
Police rushed forward.
Sarah screamed.
May you like
Then another gunshot exploded.
And Mark disappeared from the window with Lily in his arms.
