Chapter 11 - The Blackout
Footsteps pounded outside.
A nurse screamed.
Then a gunshot cracked through the hallway.
Cullen's entire body went cold.
Vale moved to the door.
"Police! Drop it!"
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
Cullen looked at Bryce.
The man was ripping at his IV.
"What are you doing?"
"He's here for me."
"Who? Rourke?"
Bryce did not answer.
A figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
Vale fired once.
The figure disappeared through the stairwell door.
When backup arrived, the shooter was gone.
A security officer had been hit in the shoulder but survived.
The hospital restored power.
Vale returned to Bryce's room.
The bed was empty.
A bloody hospital gown lay on the floor.
"He couldn't have walked far," Cullen said.
Vale stared at the open service stairwell.
"Unless somebody helped him."
Cullen's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Mireya's old playhouse in the garden cottage behind Cullen's estate.
On the little wooden table sat her stuffed fox.
But Mireya had taken the fox with her.
This was another one.
Under the photo was a message.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
Vale read over his shoulder.
"No."
"That's the cottage Bryce mentioned."
"Which makes it a trap."
"Or the evidence is there."
"Cullen, your daughter needs you alive more than she needs answers tonight."
Cullen knew he was right.
So they did not go alone.
At 3:12 a.m., a tactical team entered the Hart estate from three sides.
Cullen stayed in an armored vehicle down the road.
The radio remained quiet for four minutes.
Then a voice came through.
"Cottage clear. Main house clear. We found a hidden compartment."
Cullen exhaled.
"What's inside?"
The answer took too long.
"Video files. Financial records. Prescription bottles. And one photograph."
"Of what?"
"Your daughter sleeping."
Cullen's blood turned to ice.
May you like
The photo had been taken that afternoon.
At the protected location.
