Chapter 2 - Locker 317
“Daniel Mercer.”
The voice came from behind the darkened gate desk.
Adrian turned before I did.
All four bodyguards moved at once.
For the first time, I understood that the men in black suits were not decoration.
They positioned themselves between Noah, me, and the stranger approaching from the service corridor.
He was older, perhaps fifty, wearing a gray airport maintenance jacket.
Not the gray-coated man I had seen near Vanessa.
Someone else.
He raised both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
Adrian’s voice went flat.
“Then you chose a terrible entrance.”
The man looked at me.
“Elsie?”
Adrian stepped into his line of sight.
“Look at me.”
The stranger obeyed.
“My name is Thomas Reed.”
“Should that mean something to me?”
“It meant something to Daniel.”
Adrian’s expression sharpened.
“You knew Mercer?”
“I was the one who told him to disappear.”
I forgot to breathe.
“What?”
Thomas looked at me again.
“Your father didn’t abandon you.”
Those six words hit harder than anything that had happened all afternoon.
I had imagined Dad saying them.
Dreamed them.
Whispered versions of them into my pillow at night.
But hearing them from a stranger was different.
My knees weakened.
Adrian saw it and guided me back onto the airport chair.
“Easy.”
Noah had started fussing.
I bounced him automatically.
“Where is my dad?”
Thomas hesitated.
Adrian said, “Answer her.”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said—”
“I know what happened eleven months ago. I don’t know what happened after.”
Thomas glanced at the cameras.
“We cannot have this conversation here.”
Adrian held up Dad’s note.
“Box 317.”
Thomas went silent.
That was answer enough.
“You know what’s in it,” Adrian said.
“I know what Daniel intended to put there.”
“What?”
“Evidence.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Against whom?”
Thomas looked at me.
“Not in front of the children.”
“I’m not leaving,” I said.
Both men looked at me.
I tightened my arms around Noah.
“Everyone always says things when I’m not there. Vanessa did. Teachers did. Police did. Then nobody tells me anything.”
Thomas’s expression softened.
“This could be dangerous.”
“Vanessa left us at an airport.”
I heard my own voice shake.
“I think we’re already in danger.”
Adrian looked at me for a long second.
Then at Thomas.
“She stays.”
It was the first decision he made for me that somehow did not feel like someone taking control away.
Thomas sighed.
“Daniel discovered someone was using Vale Transportation routes to move illegal cash through legitimate freight accounts.”
Adrian’s face became unreadable.
“My company?”
“Yes.”
“You’re accusing me?”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I’m telling you Daniel believed someone inside your organization was using your company without your knowledge.”
One of Adrian’s guards muttered, “Impossible.”
Thomas looked at him.
“That’s what Daniel thought too.”
Adrian’s voice was quieter now.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“But Daniel did.”
“He was getting close.”
I interrupted.
“What does Vanessa have to do with it?”
Thomas’s face changed.
That frightened me more than his answer.
“Vanessa found out what Daniel was investigating.”
“She helped him?”
“No.”
The word came immediately.
“She tried to sell what he knew.”
My stomach twisted.
“To who?”
“The person Daniel was investigating.”
Noah started crying.
I pressed my cheek against his hair.
Everything that had happened over the last year rearranged itself inside my head.
Vanessa checking Dad’s laptop.
Vanessa burning papers in the kitchen sink.
Vanessa changing the locks three days after he disappeared.
Vanessa telling me not to speak to Dad’s coworkers.
Vanessa suddenly having enough money for new clothes, restaurants, and the plane tickets she claimed were a gift from a friend.
“Why leave us?” I whispered.
Thomas looked toward the departure screen.
“Because you were leverage.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Daniel hid something Vanessa wanted. She believed he may have told you where it was.”
“I didn’t know anything.”
“She didn’t know that.”
Adrian looked down at the brass key.
“So she abandoned the children where someone could find them.”
Thomas nodded grimly.
“Or take them.”
A chill spread across my arms.
The mysterious man in the gray coat.
Watching me.
Not Vanessa.
Me.
Adrian closed his fist around the key.
“We’re opening 317.”
Thomas immediately said, “No.”
“Why?”
“If Daniel followed protocol, the locker is being watched.”
Adrian gave a humorless smile.
“You think this terminal isn’t already being watched?”
Thomas didn’t respond.
Adrian turned to one of his guards.
“Marco, check locker access. Cameras, exits, anyone lingering.”
The bodyguard nodded.
“Luca, find out where Vanessa’s plane is going and whether she has a connection.”
Another guard moved away.
I looked at Adrian.
“You know their names?”
He glanced at me.
“They work for me.”
“Vanessa says people who work for important men are replaceable.”
His mouth tightened.
“Vanessa sounds unpleasant.”
That almost made me laugh.
Almost.
For the next ten minutes, we stayed near Gate C22.
Airport security had begun asking questions, but Thomas displayed a federal credential and took over the conversation.
I learned he worked for a financial crimes task force.
I also learned adults often spoke in vague phrases when they wanted children not to understand something.
“Active inquiry.”
“Compromised witness.”
“Internal leak.”
“Protective measures.”
But I understood enough.
My father had uncovered something dangerous.
Thomas had helped him disappear temporarily.
Then Thomas had lost contact with him.
Vanessa had been searching for whatever Dad left behind.
And somebody else knew about Noah and me.
Marco returned.
“Locker corridor is clear.”
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“Too clear?”
“Exactly.”
Locker 317 was on the lower level near a closed baggage-services hallway.
Adrian insisted I remain behind two of his men.
I insisted on holding the key.
“It’s Dad’s.”
He didn’t argue.
The locker was metal, waist-high, with a brass keyhole beneath the number.
My hand shook as I inserted the key.
It fit.
I looked at Adrian.
“Open it.”
I turned.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a small black case.
Nothing else.
Adrian examined the edges before touching it.
“What?”
I asked.
“Making sure opening it doesn’t create a different problem.”
Thomas gave him a look.
“For someone with your reputation, you’re cautious.”
“That’s why I still have a reputation.”
He removed the case.
Inside were three things.
A flash drive.
A photograph.
And a sealed envelope.
My name was written across it.
ELSIE.
I forgot everyone around me.
I tore it open.
Inside was a letter.
My father’s handwriting covered two pages.
Elsie,
If you’re reading this, then something went wrong.
First: I did not leave you.
I would never leave you.
I had to disappear because someone threatened you and Noah.
I know that may not make sense now.
One day it will.
I pressed the paper against my mouth.
My eyes blurred.
Adrian crouched beside me.
“You don’t have to keep reading.”
“Yes, I do.”
I wiped my face angrily.
I continued.
Do not trust Vanessa with the drive.
Do not give it to the police unless Thomas Reed is present.
And if Thomas is gone, find Adrian Vale.
This surprised me too.
I looked at Adrian.
He was staring at the letter.
“You knew?”
“No.”
My father had continued.
Adrian may hate what he learns.
He may hate me for hiding it.
But he does not hurt children, and despite everything people say about him, he keeps his word.
I looked at the feared man crouching beside an airport locker.
“Did my dad like you?”
Adrian exhaled.
“Your father argued with me almost every week.”
“That sounds like him.”
“It does.”
I kept reading.
There is one more thing.
Vanessa thinks the drive contains the only copy.
It does not.
The photograph will show you where the second copy is hidden.
Whatever happens, protect Noah.
I’m sorry I asked so much of you.
I love you more than you know.
Dad.
I cried then.
Not loudly.
No dramatic collapse.
Just tears I had been refusing to allow for eleven months.
Noah touched my face with one tiny hand.
Adrian turned away, giving me privacy without leaving.
Thomas picked up the photograph.
His reaction made the room change.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Thomas handed it over.
The picture showed my father standing outside a warehouse with three men.
One was Thomas.
One was Adrian.
And the third man was someone I recognized.
I had seen him at our apartment twice after Dad disappeared.
Vanessa called him Uncle Raymond.
He wasn’t our uncle.
Adrian stared at the man.
“Raymond Cross.”
One of his guards cursed.
“Who is he?” I asked.
Adrian’s voice was ice.
“My chief financial officer.”
Thomas nodded.
“And probably the man Daniel was investigating.”
I remembered Raymond bringing Vanessa an envelope.
I remembered them arguing behind the kitchen door.
I remembered one sentence.
You were supposed to find the drive.
I told them.
Adrian immediately looked at Thomas.
“Then Cross knows Vanessa failed.”
“And now he knows the children are here.”
Adrian picked up the flash drive.
“We need somewhere secure.”
Thomas said, “Federal office.”
“No.”
“My agents—”
“You have a leak.”
Thomas fell silent.
Adrian continued.
“Daniel warned Elsie to trust you specifically, not your agency.”
“And he told her to trust you if I wasn’t available.”
“Exactly.”
Thomas clearly hated the logic.
I pulled Dad’s letter against my chest.
“Where can we go?”
Adrian glanced through the terminal glass.
His helicopter waited outside.
“My place.”
Thomas laughed once.
“You’re suggesting taking two minors to the home of Chicago’s most investigated businessman?”
“I’m suggesting moving them somewhere Cross can’t enter.”
Before Thomas could answer, Marco’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Vanessa’s flight never left Chicago airspace.”
Thomas frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It diverted.”
“Where?”
Marco looked at me before answering.
“Back to O’Hare.”
My heartbeat jumped.
“Why?”
Marco swallowed.
“Because someone on board reported a medical emergency.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered without taking his eyes off me.
“Vale.”
A woman spoke loudly enough that I heard her.
Vanessa.
“Adrian, if Elsie is with you, listen carefully.”
I stood.
“Vanessa?”
She gasped.
Then came a sound like someone grabbing the phone.
Vanessa screamed.
The call cut off.
A message appeared immediately afterward.
One photograph.
Vanessa sitting inside an empty service room.
Her hands tied to a chair.
Behind her stood Raymond Cross.
May you like
And beneath the picture were five words:
BRING THE GIRL TO TERMINAL FIVE.
