Chapter 6 - THEY CAME FOR LILY
Nathan ran out of the courtroom before the judge finished speaking.
Rebecca shouted after him, but he was already calling Owen.
“No one takes Lily.”
“We’ve got three CPS workers at the gate,” Owen said. “And two uniformed officers.”
“Verify every badge.”
A pause.
Then Owen’s voice changed.
“Nathan, the officers are real. The CPS order isn’t.”
Nathan stopped in the courthouse hallway.
“What?”
“The case number belongs to a closed file from 2019.”
“Lock the gate.”
“They’re already inside.”
Nathan sprinted.
By the time he reached home, one of the supposed CPS workers was standing beside a black SUV with Lily in her arms.
Lily screamed when she saw him.
“Daddy!”
Nathan launched himself across the driveway.
The woman tried to get into the SUV. Owen blocked the door. A security guard grabbed the driver.
The second fake caseworker ran toward the side gate and was tackled by a real patrol officer.
Nathan took Lily into his arms.
She buried her face against his neck.
“They said Mommy was bad.”
“No,” he whispered. “Mommy is not bad.”
The woman in the driveway kept repeating, “I was hired. I was hired.”
“By who?” Ramos demanded when he arrived minutes later.
“I don’t know his real name.”
“What name did he use?”
She swallowed.
“Vale.”
Grace arrived with Rebecca and froze at the sound.
Martin Vale.
Nathan handed Lily to Grace, then turned to Owen.
“Pull every camera within a mile. Every plate. Every face.”
Ramos stepped closer. “Mr. Cole, this is now an attempted abduction.”
“No,” Grace said quietly.
Everyone looked at her.
She was staring at the black SUV.
On the windshield was a parking permit.
DANE CAPITAL — EXECUTIVE GARAGE.
Malcolm Dane had just tied his company to the attempt.
But when police searched the SUV, they found something even worse beneath the back seat.
A child-size passport.
Lily’s photograph.
May you like
And a destination printed inside the travel packet.
Zurich.
