Chapter 8 - The Boy Behind the Red Door
Toby stumbled out.
“Mom!”
Kaye caught him.
For several seconds, nothing else existed.
Not Dominic.
Not August.
Not guns.
Not lies.
Her son.
Alive.
She checked his face.
His hands.
His breathing.
“Did they hurt you?”
Toby shook his head.
“They kept moving me.”
Dominic crouched.
“Toby.”
The boy recognized him.
“You came back.”
Dominic's voice nearly broke.
“I told your mother I would.”
Toby hugged him.
Dominic froze.
Then carefully hugged him back.
But the reunion ended when Toby whispered:
“The old man wanted me to tell you something.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“He said one of your men works for him.”
Everyone looked at Mateo.
Mateo's face hardened.
“Boss—”
Dominic raised his hand.
Toby shook his head.
“Not him.”
He pointed toward the dining room.
A man named Carlo stood near the entrance.
Carlo ran.
Mateo tackled him.
They found a second phone in his pocket.
Messages to August.
Locations.
Schedules.
Information about Kaye.
Dominic looked ready to kill him.
Kaye stopped him.
“Not in front of my son.”
Dominic stepped back.
Carlo laughed.
“You think finding the kid ends this?”
Dominic said nothing.
“August already has the drive.”
Kaye looked toward the pantry.
The compartment was empty.
Carlo had taken it while everyone focused on Toby.
Evan appeared in the doorway.
He had followed them.
Toby stared.
“Dad?”
Kaye's heart stopped.
Evan knelt.
“Hi, buddy.”
Toby did not run to him.
He moved behind Kaye.
“You left.”
Evan's face broke.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
Toby looked at his mother.
“Was he?”
Kaye refused to lie.
“I don't know.”
Evan accepted that.
He deserved to.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Dominic's men prepared to leave.
But Toby tugged Dominic's sleeve.
“The old man said something else.”
“What?”
“He said Mom already knows where he's going.”
Kaye frowned.
Then remembered.
Her father.
The abandoned quarry.
When Kaye was a child, her father sometimes took her there.
There was an underground service tunnel.
She looked at Dominic.
“I know.”
They prepared to move.
Toby stayed with Helen under police protection.
Kaye kissed him.
“I'll be back.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
Outside, Dominic stopped beside her.
“You don't have to come.”
Kaye stared at him.
“My entire life has been shaped by secrets other people decided I couldn't handle.”
She opened the SUV door.
“I'm done waiting.”
They reached the quarry before dawn.
The tunnel entrance stood open.
Inside, they found August's cane.
Then blood.
Not August's.
Dominic recognized the ring beside it.
“Mateo.”
Kaye stared.
Mateo had entered ahead of them.
Now he was missing.
A voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Dominic.”
August.
Then another voice cried out.
Mateo.
Dominic ran toward it.
Kaye followed.
They reached a red steel door.
Dominic put his hand on the latch.
From behind them came the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked.
And a voice Kaye knew said, “Don't open that door.”
May you like
She turned.
Evan was holding the gun...
