Chapter 9 - St. Agnes

We reached St. Agnes just before sunset.

The abandoned recovery center sat beyond a line of dead pines, its brick walls stained black by decades of weather. Half the windows were boarded. The old chapel bell had no rope.

It looked empty.

That meant nothing.

Marco parked behind a maintenance shed.

"Two vehicles near the east entrance," he said. "Fresh tracks."

Grace checked the magazine in the pistol I had given her.

I stared at her.

"What?"

"Seventeen days ago you had a baby."

"And seventeen days ago your mother kidnapped him. Stop looking at me like I'm made of glass."

"I'm looking at you like I love you."

Her face softened for half a second.

"Then love me quietly. We have work to do."

We entered through the kitchen.

The building smelled of mold and bleach.

Too much bleach.

Somebody had cleaned recently.

On the second floor we found a room with a bassinet, formula bottles, diapers, and a small portable heater.

The bassinet was warm.

Empty.

Grace touched the blanket.

Her hand started shaking.

"He was here."

A door slammed downstairs.

We ran toward the stairwell.

A man in medical scrubs burst from a side hall.

Dr. Halpern.

Marco tackled him before he reached the exit.

I hauled him up by the collar.

"Where is my son?"

Halpern's face crumpled.

"I never wanted any of this."

"Where?"

"They moved him an hour ago."

"Who?"

"Dante's men."

Grace stepped closer.

"Where did they take Noah?"

Halpern looked at her and began crying.

"Mrs. Rossi, I'm sorry."

Grace slapped him.

Not wildly.

Once.

Hard.

"You stood over me while I gave birth in restraints. You can apologize after I have my child."

Halpern nodded rapidly.

"The harbor. Pier Nine. There's a warehouse owned through a shell company."

"Why the harbor?" Marco asked.

Halpern hesitated.

I tightened my grip.

"Because Dante made a deal," he said. "With the Calabrians."

My blood went cold.

The Calabrian family had been our enemy for decades.

The war I had spent six months ending had started with them.

"What kind of deal?"

Halpern looked at Grace.

"The child for peace."

Grace raised her gun.

I caught her wrist.

"Not him. We need him talking."

She lowered it slowly.

Then Halpern said, "There's more."

"Say it."

"The Calabrians didn't ask for Noah."

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He swallowed.

"Your mother offered him."