Chapter 13 - Three Minutes of Darkness
The emergency lights came on after a few seconds, bathing the hallway in a dim red glow. The guards moved us into the reinforced interior room while another team checked the electrical panel.
I held Mom's hand so tightly my fingers hurt.
"Is this because of Dad?" I whispered.
"Maybe," she said. "But we don't guess. We wait for facts."
Arthur spoke into his radio. His voice stayed calm, but he stood between us and the door. When the power returned, the security supervisor reported that the main breaker had been switched off manually from the outside service box.
No one had entered the house.
Someone had wanted us frightened, not harmed.
Investigator Brooks arrived before midnight with two additional officers. They found fresh shoe prints beside the service box and a small plastic tag dropped near the fence. The tag belonged to a contractor authorized to service the building's alarm system.
The contractor's company had one employee.
Peter Lang's brother.
Arthur stared at the tag for a long time. "We have a leak inside the protection network."
Brooks nodded. "I'm moving the case to a different team. Until then, no one leaves without an escort."
Mom looked exhausted. "How many times do we have to start over?"
"As many times as it takes," Arthur said.
Later, I woke to the sound of voices outside my room. I slipped into the hall and heard Arthur talking to Mom.
"Daniel's not the only one who knows the location," he said. "Someone has been feeding him information since the beginning."
"Then we find that person," Mom replied.
Arthur paused. "Sarah, there's something else. The original order protecting you was not just about the warehouse case. There was a second threat."
Mom went silent.
"What second threat?" I asked from the doorway.
They turned toward me.
May you like
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
"The night before we disappeared," she said, "your father told me he could make you vanish and nobody would ever know where to look."
