Chapter 5 - The Night Emma Disappeared Again
Daniel found Josh in the hallway.
"Where's Emma?"
Josh was crying.
"She went outside."
"When?"
"She said she heard someone."
Daniel's heart stopped.
Security flooded the property.
Every gate was locked.
Every camera was checked.
Nothing.
Then Josh pointed toward the garden.
"She went that way."
Daniel ran.
A small opening in the hedge.
Footprints.
Emma's shoes.
And another set.
Adult.
Daniel followed them to the far side of the property.
A black vehicle waited beyond the service gate.
He saw Emma.
She was being carried by a masked man.
Daniel shouted.
The man turned.
Security opened fire.
The vehicle accelerated.
Daniel grabbed a guard's radio.
"Block the road."
Two SUVs moved.
The black vehicle swerved.
It crashed into a barrier.
The man abandoned the car.
Emma fell.
Daniel reached her first.
She was shaking.
He pulled her into his arms.
"You're safe."
She clung to him.
"I didn't mean to."
"You did nothing wrong."
"He said he knew my mom."
"Who?"
Emma pointed toward the woods.
Daniel's team chased him.
They returned twenty minutes later empty-handed.
The man had escaped.
But Emma had something in her hand.
A small silver key.
"What's this?"
"He gave it to me."
"Why?"
"He said my mom wanted me to have it."
Daniel stared.
"Where did he tell you to use it?"
Emma shook her head.
"He didn't."
They returned inside.
Daniel called an investigator.
The key had a number stamped on it.
"Could be a locker."
They searched local train stations.
Nothing.
Bus terminals.
Nothing.
Then Daniel remembered the old property.
Sarah had once lived near a storage facility.
Unit 714.
They drove there before sunrise.
Inside the unit was a box.
Letters.
Photographs.
A laptop.
And a ledger.
Daniel opened the first page.
Names.
Payments.
Dates.
Millions of dollars.
His uncle.
Samuel Voss.
Several company executives.
And one final name.
Daniel Anderson.
His own name had been forged onto financial transfers.
Someone had been using his identity to steal from the company.
The ledger proved it.
Daniel stared.
Then he found another document.
A letter from Sarah.
Dear Daniel,
If you're reading this, then Emma survived.
I need you to know that I tried to protect her.
Greg found the records.
He knew he could not trust anyone inside the company.
He trusted your father.
After your father's death, he trusted you.
He believed you could clean up what was left.
But they discovered he had hidden evidence.
They came for us.
I am sick.
I will not survive long enough to protect Emma myself.
There is something you must know.
I was not abandoned by Greg.
He was taken.
I lied to Emma because she was too young to understand.
Greg is alive.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Alive.
He read the next line.
He is being held because he knows where the original ledger is.
The original ledger is the only thing that can destroy them.
Daniel looked at the second document.
A location.
A warehouse.
Seattle.
He looked at Emma.
"Your father may still be alive."
She stared.
"My daddy?"
"Yes."
Emma began crying.
"Can we get him?"
Daniel nodded.
"We will."
Before they could leave, the warehouse alarm at Daniel's company activated.
One of the investigators called.
"Mr. Anderson, someone just accessed the executive vault."
Daniel looked down at the ledger.
Someone knew he had found it.
He understood the danger immediately.
They weren't running anymore.
They were fighting.
And the people behind the conspiracy knew exactly what mattered to him.
Emma.
Josh.
His company.
His family.
He picked up the phone.
"Call every security team I have."
"Yes, sir."
"Cancel all business travel."
"Yes, sir."
"Move Josh and Emma to the safe house."
Emma looked at him.
"I don't want to go without you."
Daniel crouched beside her.
"I'm coming."
She nodded.
Then he noticed something.
Emma wasn't wearing the bracelet she had been wearing when he found her in the park.
"Where is your bracelet?"
She froze.
"My mom gave it to me."
"Do you have it?"
"No."
"Where did you lose it?"
"In the park."
Daniel's face changed.
The bracelet might contain something.
A clue.
A memory.
Maybe even a tracker.
They returned to Pioneer Square.
The bench where Emma had sat beside Josh was soaked.
They searched beneath it.
Nothing.
Then Daniel noticed a small metal glint beneath the bench.
The bracelet.
He picked it up.
A tiny compartment was hidden inside the clasp.
Inside was a microSD card.
Daniel stared.
Sarah had hidden evidence inside her daughter's bracelet.
The card was encrypted.
They needed someone who could decode it.
There was only one person Daniel trusted.
Marcus Vale.
May you like
But Marcus was gone.
He had disappeared that morning.
