Chapter 16 - The River Terminal

At 6:12, Rachel called Owen and Lily. She needed to hear them before the next hard hour began.

"I love you," she told them.

"Are you coming back?" Lily asked.

"I'm doing everything I can to come back safely. Louise is with you, and she's not leaving."

The honest answer scared Lily less than a false promise would have.

Across the county, the task force reached the river terminal. A long white bus stood beneath the loading lights. No children were visible through the tinted windows.

Bear had once hauled motorcycle parts through the same terminal. He recognized the narrow access road and told investigators about a locked maintenance lane behind the fuel tanks. Agents sealed it before the bus could move.

The driver stepped out with his hands raised. "I thought this was a routine transfer," he said. "They give me sealed papers."

The adults on the bus were interviewed separately. One couple had spent their savings believing they were completing an approved emergency placement. Another woman said the agency had told her not to contact the child's relatives because they were dangerous. Rachel was furious at them until she heard their shaking voices. Sloane had sold everyone a different lie, each designed to turn a stranger's hope into an accomplice's silence.

Inside the bus were six children, two frightened adults who had been told their guardianship orders were valid, and a stack of identity files with fresh photographs.

Rachel wept when Hannah described them. Not only because the children were alive, but because two of the adults had been tricked into believing they were helping.

Then an investigator found an empty seat beside a small pink backpack. The seat number was forty-two.

The passenger manifest listed LILY BELL.

Sloane had never meant to sell a list. He meant to move Rachel's daughter and use the paperwork to make it legal afterward.

Hannah turned toward Rachel. "The task force is sending protection to the motel now."

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Rachel had already begun dialing Louise.

No one picked up.