Chapter 12 - The Room With No Windows

Damon wanted to race to Boulder himself. Tessa refused.

A security officer had explained that evidence rarely arrived in neat boxes. It came as half-heard messages, dates that did not match, and frightened people who told the truth in pieces. Damon finally understood why forcing someone to answer faster did not make the answer more reliable.

"Your son needs a father, not another hostage," she said. "Let trained people do their jobs."

"My wife's there."

"And if you rush in, they'll use you against her. Help me build a case that survives court."

He hated that she was right.

Tessa coordinated with investigators who had warrants for the facility. Maya stayed with Noah while Damon listened to carefully limited updates from a secure conference room. The longest twenty minutes of his life passed without a single useful word.

Then Tessa's headset crackled.

"We have three adults and two minors. One female matches the photograph."

Damon stood. "Hannah?"

"They're confirming."

Another ten minutes. Another lifetime.

A photograph arrived. Hannah sat on the edge of a bed in a windowless room. Her hair was shorter, and there were marks from adhesive tape on her arms. She was alive.

Damon dropped into the chair, a strange broken laugh escaping him. "She's alive."

Maya squeezed his shoulder. "She's alive."

But the next update brought disaster. The facility's primary medical wing had been cleared before the search began. Hannah and June were not among those safely located. The photograph had come from a recovered tablet, recorded earlier that morning.

Damon struggled to breathe. "So she's gone again?"

Tessa nodded. "But we have vehicle records."

One showed a black medical van heading toward a rural airfield. Another vehicle departed the opposite direction fifteen minutes later.

"A decoy?" Maya asked.

"Maybe," Tessa said. "Or two separate transfers."

Damon looked at the photograph. Hannah had turned slightly toward the camera, her hand resting near the edge of the mattress. Something was scratched into the wall behind her.

Four words.

CHECK THE BLUE CAR.

"What blue car?" Tessa asked.

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"The car my mother drove the night she disappeared."