Chapter 8 - Ashes in the Rain

Ethan dropped the phone and ran. Nora was right behind him, her wet sneakers slapping the tunnel floor. Above ground, an engine revved and someone screamed.

They burst into the parking lot in time to see the van rolling backward with its doors open. Celeste lay on the pavement. Eli was gone.

“Mom!” Nora fell beside her.

Celeste was conscious, clutching her shoulder. “Black car. Two men. He went with them.”

“Did they force him?” Ethan asked.

Celeste shut her eyes. “I don't know.”

A dull boom shook the hospital. Fire surged out of an empty maintenance shed across the lot. Sirens followed immediately. The oxygen storage hadn't exploded. The shed had been packed with fuel, a smaller blast designed to make the news.

On the pavement, Celeste gripped Nora's wrist. “Eli said one thing before they took him.”

“What?”

“Tell the girl Wren remembers.”

Nora looked at Ethan. “The doctor.”

Back at the motel, they found the room trashed and Lena missing. Her jacket hung neatly on a chair. Under it lay a napkin with an address and one line in messy handwriting: DON'T BRING POLICE.

The address belonged to a shuttered radio station in Westbridge. Ethan wanted to storm it. Nora made him wait long enough to borrow a camera from Jasmine and tuck a small microphone into his collar.

“Evidence,” she said. “We need evidence, not another fight.”

“We need Mia.”

“We need both.”

The radio station smelled of dust and warm electronics. A lamp glowed on the second floor. Upstairs, a woman in her sixties sat alone at a table covered in hard drives. Her hair was white; her hands were stained with blue ink.

“You took your time,” she said.

“Dr. Wren?” Ethan asked.

“June is fine. And if you mention Victor's name in here, speak softly. The walls have ears.”

Nora stepped forward. “Where is Lena?”

“Safe, for now. She sent you because I couldn't risk a call.” June pushed a drive across the table. “Your sister stole something more dangerous than files, Ethan.”

“What?”

June's eyes filled. “A person.”

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A door opened at the far end of the room. Out stepped a young woman with Mia's face, Mia's walk, and a pale scar across her forehead.

June said, “This is the first copy.”