Chapter 4 - Bring the Rabbit
I screamed Lily’s name until my throat tore.
Cole grabbed me before I ran into traffic.
“Let me go!”
“Elena!”
“They took her!”
“We’ll find her.”
“Let me go!”
Dominic picked up Bun-Bun.
I ripped it from his hands.
“Don’t touch it.”
He stared at me.
“Daniel said they want the rabbit.”
“He said Adrian requested it.”
“That is different.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Police flooded the block.
Street cameras were checked.
Cars stopped.
Descriptions radioed.
The officer who had been watching Lily regained consciousness.
He remembered a paramedic.
Or someone dressed like one.
A white van.
A woman.
Navy scrubs beneath an emergency jacket.
The same woman from the hospital.
I turned on Daniel.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“You brought them here.”
“I didn’t know—”
I slapped him.
The sound cracked across the sidewalk.
He did not defend himself.
“Find my daughter.”
His face broke.
“I will.”
“No.”
I pointed at Dominic.
“You.”
Then Cole.
“You.”
Then myself.
“All of us.”
Dominic looked at Bun-Bun.
“Give me the rabbit.”
“No.”
“Elena, if Adrian requested it—”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then we ask him.”
We returned to the hospital under escort.
Adrian’s condition had stabilized.
He looked furious when he learned Lily was gone.
Not performatively angry.
Terrifyingly controlled.
“Who was assigned to the vehicle?”
Cole answered.
“Officer Jensen.”
“Where is he?”
“Being treated.”
“Was he compromised?”
“We don’t know.”
Adrian looked at Dominic.
“Find out.”
Cole snapped, “You are not interrogating a police officer.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Then do your job quickly.”
She stepped toward him.
I stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Everyone looked at me.
“My daughter is gone.”
Silence.
I held up Bun-Bun.
“Why did you ask for this?”
Adrian stared at the rabbit.
Then closed his eyes.
“Open the seam behind the left ear.”
I looked down.
Bun-Bun’s left ear had been repaired months ago.
I had sewn it myself.
Or thought I had.
Now I saw a second line of thread.
Neater.
Newer.
Dominic handed me surgical scissors.
I cut the seam.
Inside the stuffing was a small black memory card.
Nobody moved.
I looked at Adrian.
“You hid something in my daughter’s toy?”
“Yes.”
Rage took over.
“You used my child?”
“No.”
“You put evidence in her rabbit.”
“I had no safe place.”
“She is three!”
“I know.”
“You knew this could put her in danger.”
“I believed nobody knew.”
“They knew!”
Adrian looked at me.
“And that is my mistake.”
“Your mistake?”
My voice shook.
“She is missing because of your mistake.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No denial.
That made me angrier.
“What is on it?”
“Enough to destroy the people behind this.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You said you didn’t have a copy.”
“I lied.”
“Clearly.”
Cole held out an evidence bag.
“I’m taking it.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“If the wrong person inside your department receives it, Lily dies.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“You have evidence police are compromised?”
“Yes.”
“Which officer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“Detective, they knew where Lily would be.”
That landed.
Cole looked at the memory card.
“What’s on it?”
“Bank transfers. recordings. names.”
“Whose names?”
Adrian’s eyes turned cold.
“Judges. Port officials. Hospital administrators.”
Harold Vance.
I thought of the hospital administrator.
“The hospital?”
“Yes.”
“And police?”
“Yes.”
Cole became very still.
“Police?”
Adrian nodded.
She looked at her partner, Hughes.
Then toward the door.
I noticed the change immediately.
So did Dominic.
Cole said, “Nobody leaves.”
Hughes frowned.
“What?”
“Nobody.”
Her hand moved toward her weapon.
A radio message crackled outside.
Cole’s face changed.
“Who called that in?”
Hughes answered, “Dispatch.”
“What unit?”
He checked.
“Seven-two.”
“There is no seven-two tonight.”
Dominic moved.
The hallway exploded with gunfire.
I dropped.
Dominic covered me.
Glass shattered.
Hospital staff screamed.
Adrian tried to rise.
Cole fired through the doorway.
Then everything stopped.
A man in a police uniform lay in the hall.
Not a real officer.
Fake badge.
Fake vest.
He had come for the memory card.
Cole looked at Adrian.
“I believe you.”
My hands shook.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Lily’s voice came through.
“Mama?”
I nearly collapsed.
“Lily!”
“Mama, I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
A woman took the phone.
Her voice was calm.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
I gripped Bun-Bun.
“If you hurt her—”
“She is unharmed.”
“Let me hear her.”
“You already did.”
“Please.”
The woman sighed.
Then Lily whispered, “Mama, there’s trains.”
I closed my eyes.
Trains.
The city had dozens of train lines.
Freight yards.
Subway.
Amtrak.
“Lily, what else?”
The woman returned.
“No games.”
Adrian held out his hand for the phone.
I refused.
The woman continued.
“Bring the memory card to Pier Seventeen.”
Dominic shook his head violently.
“No.”
“Midnight.”
I looked at the clock.
11:21.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“I want my daughter.”
“You get her when we get the card.”
The line went dead.
Adrian said, “You are not going.”
“I am.”
“It is a trap.”
“I know.”
“They will kill you after the exchange.”
“Then help me make sure they don’t.”
Dominic spoke.
“We can build a duplicate.”
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
Cole said, “Tracker.”
Adrian shook his head.
“They will scan it.”
Daniel spoke from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
His face was pale.
“I know Pier Seventeen.”
Dominic glared.
“How?”
Daniel swallowed.
“That’s where they kept me.”
My stomach twisted.
“Is Lily there?”
“Maybe.”
“What is there?”
“Old refrigerated warehouses.”
“Trains?”
He nodded.
“Freight line behind the pier.”
Lily had told us the truth.
Cole unfolded a map.
“We move now.”
Adrian pushed himself upright.
A nurse protested.
“No.”
He ripped one monitor lead away.
I stared.
“You almost died an hour ago.”
“My decision.”
“You can barely stand.”
He looked at Dominic.
“Help me.”
Dominic did.
Adrian dressed slowly in a black shirt and trousers someone had brought.
Every movement cost him.
But twenty minutes later, we were in an armored SUV headed toward the docks.
Cole coordinated with a small trusted tactical unit.
No radios.
No central dispatch.
Daniel sat beside me.
He stared at the floor.
“I’m sorry.”
I did not answer.
“I should have come back sooner.”
“Do not do this now.”
“I thought staying away protected you.”
“It didn’t.”
“I know.”
“You abandoned us.”
“Yes.”
“You left me with debt.”
“Yes.”
“You missed her birthday.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
I looked at him.
“If she survives tonight, you will spend the rest of your life deciding whether you deserve to be her father.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I will.”
The SUV stopped.
Pier Seventeen.
Midnight.
Cold steel buildings.
Container stacks.
Freight tracks.
Cole handed me the fake memory card.
Adrian gave me the real one.
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Keep it.”
“No.”
“They expect the card in your hand. Give them the fake.”
“And the real one?”
“Hide it.”
“Where?”
He looked at Bun-Bun.
I almost laughed from disbelief.
“Absolutely not.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
I slipped it inside my shoe.
Then I walked toward the warehouse.
Alone.
My footsteps echoed.
A hanging lamp burned above a steel door.
The woman in navy scrubs appeared.
No mask.
Blond hair.
Cold eyes.
“Card.”
“Lily first.”
She smiled.
“You are in no position.”
“I’m her mother. That is my position.”
Something changed behind her.
A small sound.
“Mama!”
Lily.
I ran forward.
Two men blocked me.
The woman raised a gun.
“Card.”
I held it up.
“Bring her.”
Lily appeared between two crates.
Her wrists were not tied.
Thank God.
She ran toward me.
The woman grabbed her shoulder.
“No.”
I stopped.
“Let her go.”
“Card.”
I tossed it.
The woman caught it.
Lily ran.
I caught her.
Held her.
Breathed her in.
Alive.
Warm.
Real.
Then the woman inserted the card into a handheld device.
Her smile disappeared.
“This is not it.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Cole’s tactical team moved.
Dominic’s men hit the side entrance.
I pulled Lily behind a forklift.
The blond woman fired.
Daniel came from nowhere.
He tackled her.
The gun slid away.
She stabbed him.
He cried out.
Dominic reached us.
“Move!”
We ran.
Behind us, shouting.
Metal impacts.
Sirens.
Then Adrian appeared at the warehouse entrance.
Pale.
Unsteady.
But upright.
The blond woman saw him.
She smiled.
“Vale.”
Adrian stopped.
She pointed another gun at Lily.
Everything froze.
Then she said the words that changed the entire night.
“You still don’t know who ordered your death.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Tell me.”
She smiled wider.
May you like
“You already invited him into your hospital room.”
And behind Adrian, someone slowly raised a gun.
