Chapter 8: The Night the House Burned
The first bullet struck the wall above the fireplace.
Ava screamed.
I threw myself over both girls as glass rained across the living room. Danielle dragged Rachel behind the sofa while Haines overturned a heavy oak table and shouted for everyone to stay down.
Another shot punched through the front window.
Then came a voice from outside.
“Federal agents! Put your hands where we can see them!””
Haines swore under his breath.
“Those aren't federal agents.””
I looked at him.
“How can you tell?””
“Because real agents don't announce a raid by shooting through the windows.””
Vanessa crawled toward us, clutching her bleeding forearm.
“There's a service passage behind the pantry,” she said.
“It leads to the old carriage house.””
I stared at her.
“How do you know that?””
“Because Daniel showed it to me.””
Of course he had.
My house had become a maze of secrets, and every person I loved seemed to know a different way through it.
Danielle pulled Ava close.
“Marcus, take the girls.””
“What about you?””
“I'm right behind you.””
“No.””
She looked at me.
“Please. Don't make me choose between protecting our daughters and arguing with you.””
The word daughters struck me.
Both girls.
I grabbed Lily's hand and lifted Ava into my arms.
“Everyone to the pantry!””
We ran low through the hallway as gunfire erupted behind us. Haines stayed near the living room entrance, returning fire with the weapon he'd taken from Daniel.
“Go!”” he shouted.
I reached the kitchen and shoved open the pantry door.
Behind the shelves stood a narrow wooden panel.
Vanessa pulled a brass latch, revealing a dark passage that smelled of damp earth and old timber.
“Move!””
I carried Ava inside while Lily followed Danielle. Rachel stumbled behind them, supported by Vanessa.
I was the last through.
The panel closed just as something heavy crashed in the kitchen.
For a moment, we stood in complete darkness.
Then Vanessa switched on a small flashlight.
The passage was barely wide enough for two people. Pipes ran along the ceiling, and water dripped steadily onto the stone floor.
Lily gripped Danielle's hand.
“Mommy, are the bad men coming?””
Danielle knelt.
“Not if we keep moving.””
“Will Daddy come, too?””
Danielle looked at me.
“He's right here.””
Lily reached for my free hand.
I held both girls close as we hurried through the passage.
Behind us, another explosion shook the walls.
The lights flickered.
“What's happening?”” I shouted.
Vanessa looked back.
“The house.””
I felt the truth before she said it.
“Daniel set it on fire.””
We emerged into the old carriage house just as smoke began curling beneath the pantry door.
The carriage house had been converted into a storage building years before I bought the property. Dust covered the shelves, and an old delivery van sat beneath a canvas tarp.
Haines appeared at the far end of the passage, limping badly.
“Everyone accounted for?””
I nodded.
“Where's the exit?””
He pointed toward a side door.
“Back road. We need to move before they surround the property.””
Danielle caught my arm.
“Not yet.””
I stared at her.
“Are you insane?””
“The memory card.””
I pulled it from my pocket.
“It's here.””
She shook her head.
“That card is only one part of the evidence. Daniel has been trying to find the original ledger for years. If we leave without it, he'll keep hunting us.””
Rachel leaned against a shelf, struggling to breathe.
“The ledger is in the house.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“No. Daniel took it months ago.””
Rachel looked at her.
“He took a decoy.””
Everyone turned toward her.
Rachel reached inside her blanket and removed a thin metal pendant from around her neck.
I hadn't noticed it before.
She opened it.
Inside was a tiny folded strip of paper.
“Danielle gave me the location before I was captured,” she said.
“The ledger was hidden where nobody would think to look.””
“Where?”” I asked.
Rachel looked at Ava.
“In the nursery.””
My stomach tightened.
Ava's nursery was the first room I'd renovated after Danielle disappeared. I'd repainted the walls, replaced the crib, and filled the shelves with books and toys.
I had spent hundreds of hours in that room, trying to build a world where my daughter wouldn't feel the absence of her mother.
And someone had hidden evidence there the entire time.
Danielle looked at me.
“I couldn't risk telling you.””
“Why?””
“Because Daniel knew you loved Ava more than anything. He believed you would never endanger her by searching the house.””
I stared at my wife.
“He was right.””
She looked down.
“I know.””
A crash sounded from the main house.
Then a man's voice boomed through a loudspeaker.
“Marcus Bell! We know you're in the carriage house. Come out with the memory card, and your family walks away.””
Daniel.
Lily began crying.
Ava covered her ears.
I looked at Danielle.
She wiped her face, then stepped toward the door.
“No,” I said.
She turned.
“Marcus—”
“You disappeared once. You don't get to walk out there alone.””
For the first time since she'd returned, she looked at me without fear or shame.
She looked at me as my wife.
“All right,” she whispered.
We found the back exit and slipped into the trees behind the carriage house. Smoke rose above the roof, turning the night sky orange.
Haines led us down a narrow path toward the old service road. We could hear men moving through the yard, shouting to one another.
At the edge of the property, Vanessa stopped.
“There's a car behind the maintenance shed.””
“Whose?”” I asked.
“Mine.””
“Does Daniel know about it?””
She hesitated.
I stared at her.
“Vanessa.””
“No,” she said.
“He doesn't.””
We reached the car just as headlights swept across the trees.
A black SUV came racing down the service road.
Daniel's voice came through its open window.
“Marcus! You can't run forever!””
I shoved Ava and Lily into the back seat, then climbed into the driver's seat.
Danielle jumped in beside me.
Vanessa and Rachel squeezed into the rear.
Haines barely managed to slam the passenger door before I started the engine.
The SUV accelerated toward us.
I floored the gas.
Gravel sprayed behind us as we shot onto the road.
The black SUV followed.
I took a sharp turn beneath a canopy of oak trees, nearly losing control. Branches scraped the windows. Behind us, the SUV struck a ditch and swerved sideways, but it recovered and kept coming.
“Faster!”” Vanessa shouted.
“I'm trying!””
Danielle reached beneath the dashboard and pulled out a small black device.
“What is that?”” I asked.
“A signal jammer.””
She switched it on.
The headlights behind us flickered.
The SUV's engine sputtered, and it veered onto the shoulder.
I stared at her.
“You carry that around?””
“Not usually.””
For the first time in years, I almost laughed.
Then Lily began coughing.
Rachel turned toward her.
“What's wrong?””
Lily's face was pale.
Her breathing came in short, shallow gasps.
Danielle touched her forehead.
“No. No, no, no.””
I glanced at her.
“What is it?””
Danielle's hands trembled as she checked Lily's pulse.
“She was exposed to something in that room. The ventilation system was contaminated.””
Rachel covered her mouth.
“Daniel used the same compounds on the witnesses.””
“Can she survive?”” I asked.
Danielle looked at me, and I saw the terror of a mother who had already lost too much.
“If we don't get her to a hospital in the next twenty minutes, I don't know.””
I pressed the accelerator.
The road blurred beneath us.
Then my phone rang.
An unfamiliar number appeared on the screen.
I answered on speaker.
A calm male voice said, “Mr. Bell, this is Agent Collins with the FBI. We have your location.””
Haines leaned forward.
“Ask him for his badge number.””
I did.
The man gave me one immediately.
Haines shook his head.
“Fake.””
The voice on the phone continued.
“Your wife has committed multiple federal offenses. Hand her over, and we can arrange medical care for the children.””
Danielle went rigid.
Then she whispered, “That's Captain Shaw.””
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
The voice changed.
The man on the phone laughed softly.
“Hello, Danielle. It's been a long time.””
She snatched the phone from the console.
“Shaw, if you touch my children—”
“Your children?”” he interrupted.
“You mean the little girl in the back seat? Or the one you left behind?””
My stomach dropped.
I looked at Ava.
She was sitting beside Lily, holding her hand.
Then the man said something that made Danielle stop breathing.
“Ask your husband what happened the night you disappeared.””
I turned toward her.
She stared at me with wide, terrified eyes.
“Marcus,” she whispered, “there's something I never told you about that night.””
And before she could explain, the car's headlights illuminated a roadblock ahead.
Three police cruisers.
May you like
Armed officers.
And Daniel standing in the center of the road, holding a photograph of Ava.
