Chapter 6 - THE DEAD MAN
When the emergency lights came on, Renley was no longer inside Union Station.
She was in the back seat of a moving car.
She kicked the door.
Locked.
She grabbed the handle again.
“Stop.”
The driver spoke without turning.
Renley pressed herself against the window.
“Who are you?”
The man behind the wheel had gray hair and a scar running along his neck.
“Someone Walter trusted.”
“Everybody says that.”
“Fair point.”
“Take me back!”
“I can't.”
“My mom is there!”
“Your mother is why you're not.”
Renley reached for the door lock.
The man pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
“Child lock.”
“I hate you.”
“You'll have plenty of company.”
Renley searched the car for anything she could use.
Then she noticed the rearview mirror.
The man's eyes.
They were the same eyes as Vincent's.
Her breathing changed.
“You're Daniel.”
The man looked at her in the mirror.
“Yes.”
Vincent's dead brother.
Alive.
Renley swallowed.
“Vincent said you're dead.”
“Vincent believes many convenient things.”
“Did you kill those people eighteen years ago?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Did my mom?”
Silence.
That answer terrified her.
“Did she?”
Daniel turned onto an empty industrial road.
“Your mother was seventeen.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
“Then answer.”
Daniel looked at her through the mirror.
“Claire opened a door.”
Renley stared.
“What does that mean?”
“She didn't know who was waiting on the other side.”
The car slowed near an abandoned warehouse.
Daniel parked.
Renley refused to move.
“You kidnapped me.”
“I rescued you.”
“You locked me in a car.”
“Because you're twelve.”
“So?”
“So twelve-year-olds don't make excellent decisions while people are shooting.”
Renley glared at him.
Daniel almost smiled.
“You remind me of Walter.”
“Don't say that.”
His smile disappeared.
“I miss him too.”
Inside the warehouse, a single lamp burned above a table.
Files covered it.
Photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Maps.
Renley saw Vincent's face.
Claire's.
Walter's.
Marcus's.
Then hers.
Dozens of photographs.
School.
Bicycle.
Community kitchen.
Her apartment.
She backed away.
“You've been following me.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Walter asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew the protection around you was failing.”
“What protection?”
Daniel reached for an old folder.
“He made a deal eighteen years ago.”
“With who?”
“Everyone.”
Daniel opened the folder.
Inside was a birth certificate.
RENLEY ROSE HART.
Mother:
CLAIRE HART.
Father:
The line was blacked out.
Renley's mouth went dry.
“Who is my father?”
Daniel did not answer.
“WHO?”
The warehouse door suddenly rattled.
Daniel switched off the lamp.
“Behind the wall.”
“What?”
“Now.”
He pushed a metal shelf aside, revealing a narrow storage space.
Renley resisted.
“My father.”
“You'll get the answer if we survive the next five minutes.”
Heavy footsteps approached outside.
Daniel pulled a gun.
Renley disappeared into the storage space.
Through a crack, she watched three men enter.
The first was Marcus.
Alive.
Renley almost gasped.
Behind him came two strangers.
Marcus looked around.
“Daniel.”
No answer.
“You made this harder than it needed to be.”
Daniel stepped from the shadows.
“That's funny coming from a traitor.”
Marcus smiled.
“Vincent still thinks I'm the traitor?”
“He watched you point a gun at him.”
“That gun saved his life.”
Daniel's expression changed slightly.
Renley listened.
Marcus continued.
“The shooter at the station was aiming at Vincent. I moved him.”
“Where's Claire?”
“Gone.”
“Vincent?”
“Alive.”
“Then why are you here?”
Marcus looked toward the wall hiding Renley.
Her heart stopped.
“Because the girl has something.”
Daniel raised his gun higher.
“What?”
Marcus's smile disappeared.
“Walter didn't hide the evidence in locker 317.”
Daniel said nothing.
“He hid the location.”
Marcus took one step closer.
“And according to Claire, Renley has known the location since she was six years old.”
Inside the wall, Renley felt something impossible happen.
A memory surfaced.
Walter had not first met her two years ago.
She had seen him before.
Much earlier.
She was six.
A playground.
A man feeding pigeons.
Walter.
He had knelt beside her.
Placed something in her hand.
And whispered:
“When you're old enough, you'll remember where we buried the red box.”
Renley covered her mouth.
Daniel suddenly looked directly at the hidden wall.
May you like
He had heard her breathing.
So had Marcus.
