Chapter 11 - MIDNIGHT
Danny punched the wall until his knuckles bled.
“This is my fault.”
“No,” Graham said.
“I let him out of my sight.”
“He’s six.”
“I’m supposed to protect him!”
“You’re thirteen.”
Danny turned.
“Stop saying that like it changes anything!”
Graham stood from the chair.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But he stood.
Danny stared at him.
Graham took one limping step.
“You want to protect your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop blaming yourself and start thinking.”
Danny wiped his face.
Graham looked at Cal.
“Location?”
“They’ll send it.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“We are not trading Rose.”
Danny flinched.
“That’s my brother.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Claire stepped closer.
“I know what Marcus will do to her.”
“What if he kills Eli?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“I know.”
Nobody had an answer.
At eleven twenty-three, the location came.
Halcyon.
Graham smiled without humor.
“Of course.”
Cal spread building plans across the table.
“Main entrance here. Loading dock east side. Research wing underground.”
Claire pointed.
“Sophia would be in oncology.”
“No,” Graham said. “Marcus will move her near the transfer lab.”
Danny looked at him.
“You’re going in?”
“Yes.”
“You can barely walk.”
“I can also barely tolerate being told that.”
For the first time, Danny laughed.
One short sound.
It disappeared quickly.
They built a plan.
Claire would enter through the medical entrance using her credentials.
She was still a respected surgeon.
Vale needed credibility.
He wouldn’t risk arresting her publicly.
Cal would come through the loading dock.
Graham and Danny would use an old service tunnel built during Halcyon’s first expansion.
“What about Rose?” Danny asked.
Graham looked at him.
“She doesn’t go inside.”
Danny shook his head.
“Marcus won’t bring Eli out unless he sees her.”
“He can see what we want him to see.”
Cal placed a baby monitor and camera inside a carrier.
Maya would stay with Rose in a secure van three blocks away with two of Cal’s most trusted people.
Danny hated it.
“I don’t want to leave them.”
Graham understood.
“Neither do I.”
“You’re leaving your daughter.”
Claire looked at Graham.
Graham answered softly.
“I already did that once.”
Claire looked away.
Midnight approached.
They reached Halcyon at 11:48.
Rain had started.
Graham stepped from the vehicle with a cane.
Six years in a wheelchair.
Now he was walking into the building that might have caused everything.
Danny stared at him.
“You scared?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t look scared.”
“Being old gives you practice.”
They entered the tunnel.
Cold concrete.
Pipes overhead.
Danny walked beside him.
After a while, he asked, “Why doesn’t Claire talk to you?”
Graham kept moving.
“Because after her mother died, I became unpleasant.”
Danny raised an eyebrow.
“Became?”
Graham looked at him.
“Careful.”
Danny almost smiled.
Graham continued.
“I blamed everyone. The driver. The doctors. God. Myself.”
“And Claire?”
“I blamed her for leaving.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
He stopped.
“I pushed her away and called it abandonment.”
Danny thought about that.
“My mom used to say adults are just kids with better lies.”
Graham smiled sadly.
“She sounds smarter than me.”
“She was.”
They reached a metal door.
Voices on the other side.
Graham checked his watch.
12:02.
Cal’s voice whispered through his earpiece.
“I’m in.”
Claire’s voice followed.
“So am I.”
Graham opened the door.
A hallway.
Empty.
Then speakers clicked on.
Marcus’s voice filled the corridor.
“You never were good at sneaking around, Graham.”
Red lights flashed.
Steel doors slammed shut behind them.
Danny spun around.
“Trap.”
Graham looked ahead.
The far door opened.
Eli stood there.
Alone.
“Danny!”
Danny ran.
“Wait!”
Too late.
He reached Eli.
The floor beneath them dropped.
Both boys vanished.
Graham shouted their names.
Then armed guards stepped from the side corridors.
Marcus walked behind them.
May you like
He smiled.
“Now,” he said, “let’s talk about my daughter.”
