Chapter 5 - The Warehouse
Daniel tore through the city like a man trying to outrun his own heart.
“Slow down,” Maria said from the passenger seat.
“My daughter is missing.”
“And if you crash, she stays missing.”
That made him ease off the gas.
Sergeant Cole had ordered them to wait, but Daniel had recognized the river warehouse address from the shell-company records. He could not sit in a bright police station while Lily was somewhere in the dark.
Maria refused to let him go alone.
The warehouse crouched between abandoned loading docks, its windows blacked out. One side door hung open.
Daniel reached under his seat and pulled out a tire iron.
Maria stared. “That’s your plan?”
“No. My plan was to be a good father. Tonight I’m improvising.”
Inside, the air smelled like oil and river water. They heard a child cough.
“Lily?” Daniel whispered.
“Daddy?”
He ran toward the voice.
Maria grabbed his coat. “Wait.”
A shadow moved above them on a metal catwalk.
Something crashed where Daniel had been standing—a steel hook attached to a chain.
A man laughed from the darkness.
“Claire said you were predictable.”
The lights snapped on.
Ray stood overhead. He was broad, bald, and wore a black T-shirt that revealed a snake-and-dagger tattoo on his forearm.
Lily sat tied to a chair behind him.
Daniel lifted the tire iron. “Let her go.”
Ray smiled. “Sure. Give me the red book.”
“The police have it.”
Ray’s smile disappeared.
“Then you came empty-handed?”
“I came for my daughter.”
Ray pulled a knife.
Maria moved along the wall, looking for stairs to the catwalk. Ray was watching Daniel, not her.
“Your wife stole from the wrong people,” Ray said. “Then your kid got curious.”
“My wife?” Daniel said. “Claire works for you?”
Ray laughed again. “Other way around.”
Daniel frowned.
Ray leaned over the railing. “You married the boss.”
A siren sounded far away.
Ray’s head snapped toward the door.
Maria reached the stairs.
She ran.
Ray saw her and grabbed Lily by the back of the chair.
“One more step,” he shouted, “and I throw her off this railing too.”
Lily began to cry.
Maria stopped.
May you like
Then a woman’s voice came from behind them.
“Go ahead, Ray,” Claire said. “She was supposed to be dead yesterday.”
