Chapter 5 - Warehouse Six
Elijah didn't believe the message.
Not completely.
But belief no longer mattered.
Noah did.
He copied Rebecca's drive.
The original went into his pocket.
The duplicate went to a private investigator Elijah had quietly hired years earlier after Rebecca's death but dismissed when grief became unbearable.
Then he drove toward Midland Warehouse 6.
Hannah refused to remain behind.
“He's my son.”
“They told me to come alone.”
“I don't care.”
“They might kill him if they see you.”
Hannah looked at him.
“They might kill him anyway.”
Elijah couldn't argue.
They parked two blocks away.
Warehouse 6 had officially been abandoned three years earlier.
A light burned inside.
Elijah entered alone.
“I'm here.”
His voice echoed.
A baby cried.
Hannah covered her mouth from where she watched through a side entrance.
Elijah moved toward the sound.
Noah lay inside an office in a portable crib.
Alive.
Beside him stood Daniel.
Elijah stopped.
Daniel raised his hands.
“I didn't take him.”
“You're standing beside him.”
“I got the same message.”
Daniel showed his phone.
BRING ELIJAH TO WAREHOUSE 6.
COME ALONE.
Elijah stared.
A trap.
The lights went out.
A gunshot cracked somewhere above them.
Glass shattered.
Elijah hit the floor.
Daniel pulled Noah's crib behind a concrete wall.
Another shot.
“Who is shooting?” Elijah shouted.
Daniel yelled back.
“I don't know!”
Then emergency lights flickered on.
Hannah ran toward Noah.
Elijah saw movement on the catwalk.
Mason.
“Mason!”
Mason ducked.
Daniel looked up.
“You son of a—”
“No!” Mason shouted. “It's not me!”
Another figure appeared behind him.
A woman.
Elijah froze.
He knew her.
Claire Donovan.
Rebecca's former personal assistant.
Claire had resigned two weeks after Rebecca's funeral.
Elijah hadn't seen her since.
She held the gun.
“You should have left the room locked,” Claire said.
Elijah stared.
“You?”
Claire smiled sadly.
“Rebecca always underestimated how much people notice.”
“What did you do?”
“I protected a business.”
“You killed her?”
“No.”
Daniel shouted, “Then who did?”
Claire looked down.
“Thomas Cole altered the brakes.”
Hannah stepped forward.
“Liar.”
Claire aimed at her.
Elijah moved between them.
“Put it down.”
“Thomas did the work.”
“Under whose orders?”
Claire smiled.
“That is the question Rebecca died trying to answer.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Claire's expression changed.
Elijah had triggered a silent emergency beacon before entering.
Claire backed toward a door.
Mason grabbed her wrist.
The gun fired.
She screamed.
Daniel rushed forward.
Seconds later, security officers entered.
Claire was restrained.
Noah was safe.
But the mystery wasn't over.
Police recovered Claire's phone.
On it were hundreds of messages concerning NOAH.
One conversation went back six years.
The sender was saved only as B.
Claire refused to identify B.
Mason finally admitted he had covered up portions of the network, but insisted he had never ordered Rebecca harmed.
Daniel's credentials had been cloned.
Thomas Cole had indeed worked on Rebecca's vehicle—but his notebook showed he had discovered the sabotage afterward rather than caused it.
Then police found something else.
A scheduled email Rebecca had written the morning she died.
It had never sent because the account had been disabled.
The recipient was Elijah.
Subject:
IF I DON'T COME HOME.
Elijah opened it.
There were only two lines.
The person controlling NOAH isn't Daniel.
It isn't Mason either.
Elijah looked at Hannah.
Then at Daniel.
The second line contained a name.
May you like
Elijah read it.
And stopped breathing.
