Chapter 10 - THE SECOND ABDUCTION
We found the wheelchair in a service elevator.
Empty.
Audrey's hospital bracelet was on the floor.
I had failed her twice.
That thought almost destroyed me.
Marcus grabbed my shoulders.
“Elias.”
I looked at him.
“Stay useful.”
Old words.
Our words.
From another life.
Stay useful.
Panic gets people killed.
Action saves them.
I forced myself to breathe.
Hospital cameras showed a woman in nurse's clothing pushing Audrey through a loading entrance.
A black van was waiting.
License plate stolen.
It left twelve minutes before anyone noticed.
Rachel issued an alert.
Marcus studied the footage.
“Pause.”
The image froze.
The fake nurse leaned toward Audrey.
A tattoo showed near her collar.
Small cross.
Marcus zoomed in.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
“Lydia Mercer.”
“Caleb's wife?”
“Sister.”
Former military medic.
Discharged after a narcotics investigation.
We had a name.
Not a location.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Dad?”
Audrey.
My legs almost gave out.
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
Her voice was shaking.
“Julian is here.”
I closed my eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Can he hear you?”
A pause.
“No.”
“Tell me what you see.”
“Trees.”
“What else?”
“A metal building.”
“Road sounds?”
“None.”
“Smells?”
“What?”
“Listen to me.”
Training returned.
Not military training.
Father training.
Keep her talking.
Keep her thinking.
“What do you smell?”
“Gasoline.”
“Anything else?”
She breathed.
“Pine.”
“Do you hear water?”
“Yes.”
“Running?”
“Maybe.”
Then a man's voice sounded in the background.
Audrey whispered.
“Oh God.”
“Audrey.”
“I have to go.”
“Don't hang up.”
The phone hit something.
Footsteps.
Then Julian's voice.
“You really never learn.”
I heard Audrey scream.
The call ended.
Marcus was already tracing it.
“Burner phone.”
“Location?”
“Need more.”
Then I remembered.
Water.
Pine.
Metal building.
Gasoline.
Thorne properties.
Arthur had dozens.
But Audrey knew one.
“When she was nineteen, Audrey volunteered at a horse rescue.”
Marcus stared at me.
“So?”
“The Thornes later bought that land.”
I opened a map.
“Old Mill Road.”
Rachel looked.
“There is a maintenance warehouse beside the Rivanna tributary.”
Marcus was already moving.
We reached the warehouse before state police.
Bad decision.
Necessary decision.
The building stood behind rusted fencing.
One black van outside.
No lights.
Marcus looked at me.
“We wait.”
Then a scream came from inside.
I looked at him.
“We're done waiting.”
We entered through a side door.
No weapons.
No heroics.
Just two old men moving faster than old men should.
Inside, Lydia Mercer stood near a table.
She saw Marcus.
Reached for something.
He tackled her.
I kept moving.
“Audrey!”
“Dad!”
Her voice came from the next room.
I opened the door.
Julian stood behind her.
One arm around her throat.
A knife against her cheek.
Audrey was barefoot.
Terrified.
But alive.
Julian smiled.
“You should have stayed retired.”
I stopped.
“Let her go.”
“No.”
Sirens approached outside.
Julian pressed the blade closer.
“I lost everything because of her.”
Audrey suddenly spoke.
“No.”
Julian looked down.
She stared at him.
“You lost everything because people finally saw you.”
His face twisted.
May you like
Then he raised the knife.
And Audrey moved first.
