Chapter 16 - The Road to Lily
Pike made it out through a drainage gate before agents closed the shaft.
He stole a maintenance truck.
Lily was sitting beside me in the command vehicle.
So at least she was not there.
But Ava was.
My granddaughter.
Lily had left her with a protected caregiver because the operation was supposed to be nowhere near the safe house.
Lily’s face emptied.
“Ava.”
Dana called the protection detail.
No answer.
We moved.
Fast.
Pike reached the property first.
Security video showed him forcing the side gate.
Then disappearing from camera.
Lily grabbed my arm.
“If he touches her—”
“He won’t.”
I said it because she needed to hear it.
Not because I knew.
We arrived with state tactical officers.
The front door was open.
No sound.
I wanted to go in.
Dana stopped me.
“You’re not armed.”
“She’s my granddaughter.”
“And the team is thirty seconds ahead of you.”
Thirty seconds felt like a year.
Then a radio call.
“Child secure.”
Lily folded in half, crying.
A second call.
“Suspect in custody.”
Pike had found the caregiver hiding with Ava inside a reinforced pantry.
He tried to force the door.
The silent alarm locked interior barriers and alerted the team.
When they brought Ava out, Lily held her so tightly the baby complained.
Later, Pike asked for a deal.
He gave them everything.
Four judges.
Two prosecutors.
Hospital administrators.
Sheriff’s deputies.
A state senator’s fundraiser.
And twenty-three years of favors for the Whitmores.
He also gave them the truth about Ben’s crash.
Ethan Cole had tampered with Ben’s brakes under Keene’s order.
Pike arranged the scene afterward.
Dana sat beside me when I heard it.
Lily touched my hand.
“What do you want to do?”
“Finish it clean.”
That night, Keene requested a meeting.
He had heard Pike was talking.
He offered to testify.
In exchange, he wanted one thing.
The original Ashbridge archive.
Dana said no.
Keene smiled.
“You should ask Michael first.”
May you like
Then he looked at me.
“Because one file in that archive is about Sarah.”
