Chapter 14 - The Colonel’s Granddaughter

Hale had never mentioned a granddaughter. His daughter, Grace, lived three states away and kept him at a distance after the Nightglass disaster consumed his life. Her seven-year-old, Sophie, was the one person who still mailed him drawings of helicopters and mountains.

Shaw placed a protected call to Grace. A deputy reached her home within minutes. The front door was locked, the house quiet. Grace was safe. Sophie wasn't in her bedroom.

“She's at a school overnight trip,” Grace said, panic rising. “The museum. They left this afternoon.”

Local officers contacted the trip chaperones. Sophie had gone missing during a bathroom stop at a roadside restaurant. A woman had shown staff a school ID and claimed to be a substitute teacher.

Hale heard the news from his attorney. The man who had stood straight through every hearing folded into a chair.

“Take me to her,” he said. “They want me. I'll go.”

Olivia stood outside the interview room when Shaw brought her in. Hale's eyes found hers.

“I should have searched harder,” he said.

“Yes,” she answered. “You should have.”

He braced for more.

“But a child is missing now. We can settle the rest after we bring her home.”

For the first time, his composure cracked. “She's afraid of the dark.”

Olivia sat opposite him. “Tell me something Sophie would recognize. Something her kidnappers couldn't fake.”

“She calls me Captain Clouds because I always tell her the weather.” He swallowed. “I taught her that storms move. They don't stay.”

Shaw found a surveillance camera showing Sophie escorted into a gray van. The license plates were stolen, but its rear window had a distinctive crescent crack.

Ben recognized the van from a contractor yard near the old airstrip. Hale offered to identify the property. Shaw refused to let him walk into a trap, but used his knowledge to guide surveillance teams.

Olivia reached for her phone just as a video arrived from an unknown number. Sophie sat in a dim room holding her own knees. She looked straight into the camera.

“Captain Clouds,” she whispered, “the lady says the storm won't ever stop.”

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Then a woman's voice from off-screen said, “Bring Olivia instead of the colonel.”

THE MARK THEY TRIED TO ERASE •