Chapter 8 - The Badge
Torres recognized the officer.
Detective Paul Brennan.
Her own partner.
The man who had entered Room 307 with her the day Daniel woke.
Brennan had access to everything.
Crash evidence.
Hospital information.
Daniel’s identity.
Emily’s address.
Noah’s school.
Torres called him.
No answer.
Daniel abandoned the board meeting.
Vale smiled as he left.
That smile confirmed enough.
Brennan was found two hours later.
Alive.
Unconscious.
Noah was gone.
When Brennan woke, he insisted Vale’s people had attacked him and taken the boy.
The photograph had been staged.
Vale wanted them to suspect police.
Daniel received instructions.
Come alone.
Bring the trust documents.
Emily wanted to go.
Daniel refused.
“You went for Noah before.”
“I can walk now.”
“That doesn’t make you bulletproof.”
Daniel looked at her.
“No. It means I can finally go through the door myself.”
Torres tracked the message to Kang Meridian’s original headquarters.
Vale waited there.
So did Noah.
The boy was frightened but unharmed.
Vale sat beneath a portrait of Daniel’s father.
“You look like him,” Vale said.
Daniel tightened his grip on the cane.
“You killed him.”
Vale didn’t answer directly.
“He was sentimental. Sentiment destroys companies.”
“You killed David too.”
“David found things he shouldn’t have.”
Noah watched.
Daniel wanted him out.
Now.
“The documents,” Vale said.
Daniel held up the folder.
“Boy first.”
Vale smiled.
“You sound like Marcus.”
“He learned from you.”
For the first time, anger cracked Vale’s composure.
Daniel saw it.
And pushed.
“Marcus died because you were afraid of him.”
Vale stood.
“Marcus died because he was weak.”
Noah’s eyes moved toward Daniel.
Daniel subtly nodded.
The boy understood.
He kicked the chair backward.
A guard turned.
Daniel threw his cane.
It struck the man’s wrist.
Noah ran.
Police crashed through the side entrance.
Vale reached inside his jacket.
Daniel tackled Noah behind a desk.
A shot exploded.
Then another.
Torres shouted.
Seconds later, Vale was on the floor in handcuffs.
Noah clung to Daniel.
“You fell again.”
Daniel laughed despite everything.
“I’m noticing a pattern.”
“You need more practice.”
Emily rushed in.
She grabbed Noah.
Then Daniel.
For the first time, Daniel let someone hold him without wondering what they wanted.
Vale was arrested.
The evidence recovered from his office connected him to financial fraud, obstruction, David’s death, and the concealment of Daniel’s identity.
But the case was not finished.
During questioning, Vale made one statement.
“You still don’t understand why Daniel survived.”
Torres asked what he meant.
Vale smiled.
“The crash should have killed him.”
Daniel listened from behind the observation glass.
Vale continued.
“Someone reached the car before the paramedics.”
Daniel’s memory flashed.
Rain.
Blood.
A woman’s voice.
Stay with me.
He grabbed Torres’s arm.
“I remember someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Vale looked directly toward the one-way glass.
As if he could see Daniel.
May you like
Then he said:
“Ask Emily what her husband was doing the night Daniel crashed.”
