Chapter 18 - The Empty Bedroom
I do not remember leaving the police station.
I remember the red lights I ran.
I remember Grace calling me over and over.
I remember reaching Noah’s room and seeing his dinosaur on the floor beside an open window.
The security chief looked ready to throw up.
“Two guards were unconscious near the service gate. No gunshots. We think they were drugged.”
“Cameras?”
“Looped for nine minutes.”
“Adrian?”
“Could be.”
Grace rushed into the room.
On Noah’s pillow lay a white envelope.
Inside was a single page.
SIGN THE TRANSFER OF ALL MERCER VOTING SHARES TO CROSS CAPITAL. COME ALONE. OLD RIVER PROJECT. MIDNIGHT.
Melissa read it and shook her head. “You cannot sign this.”
“My son is gone.”
“If you transfer those shares under duress, we can challenge it later. But walking in alone is suicide.”
Grace picked up Noah’s dinosaur.
Something rattled inside.
She squeezed the stuffed body, found a zipper beneath one leg, and pulled out a small plastic tag.
A child locator.
I stared at her.
“You put a tracker in his toy?”
“After the photograph with the red X.”
The app showed a signal moving north.
Not toward the Old River Project.
Toward the abandoned Mercer quarry.
“The note is a trap,” Grace said.
I called the detective.
Twenty minutes later, tactical officers were moving into position around the quarry. I was ordered to stay back.
I did not.
Grace did not either.
We followed the locator signal to an old maintenance building beside the rock pit.
Inside, we heard Noah crying.
I moved toward the door.
Grace grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
A man’s voice came through the wall.
“You should thank your grandfather, kid. He built all this.”
Martin.
Then another voice answered.
“Stop talking and watch the road.”
Adrian.
They were both inside.
Noah cried, “My dad is coming.”
Adrian laughed.
May you like
“That’s exactly what we’re counting on.”
A red laser dot appeared on my chest.
