Chapter 12 - Run
The SUV doors opened.
Two men stepped out.
Evelyn started the engine.
"Seat belt."
"Who are they?"
"Not police."
That was enough.
She threw the car into reverse, clipped a trash bin, then shot around the pumps as one man ran toward us.
I grabbed the door handle with one hand and my belly with the other.
"Slow down!"
"I slow down, they get us."
The SUV followed.
Rain had started, turning the road shiny and black. Evelyn cut through a side street, ran a yellow light, then turned hard into a hospital parking garage.
"Why here?"
"Cameras. Security. People."
We abandoned the car on level three and took the elevator down.
My heart was pounding too fast.
At the lobby, I called Detective Alvarez.
He told us to stay inside and put hospital security with us.
Twenty minutes later, Daniel arrived.
He looked at Evelyn's photo of Noah and sat down without speaking.
Finally he said, "How old?"
"Five."
His eyes filled.
"You hid my son for five years?"
Evelyn's face hardened. "I hid him from your father."
"You hid him from me."
"You were still working for him."
Daniel stood. "I was trying to get out!"
"You kept trying while people around you paid for it."
I watched them tear each other open and realized our daughter was tied to the same family machine.
"Where is Noah now?" I asked.
Evelyn went quiet.
"With friends in Maine."
Daniel stared at her. "Who?"
She hesitated.
His face changed.
"Who, Evelyn?"
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A little boy was crying on the other end.
"Mom?"
Evelyn went white.
"Noah?"
A man's voice replaced his.
Calm. Older.
May you like
Richard Bennett.
"Bring Claire to me," he said, "or you never see your son again."
