Chapter 8 - Lauren's Secret)
Evan called Lauren thirteen times.
She did not answer.
By the fourteenth call, her phone was turned off.
"Find her," Evan told Ruiz.
"We are."
"She has Sophie sometimes. She has keys to our house."
Claire touched his arm.
"That doesn't mean she's involved."
"She knew something."
"We don't know what."
"We know my father wrote her name."
Ruiz received a location update.
"Her car was found at the airport."
Evan stood.
"She's leaving."
"Maybe."
"Where was she flying?"
"No ticket under her name."
Claire frowned.
"Could someone be using her car?"
Ruiz's phone rang again.
He listened.
"Security video shows Lauren entering terminal four at 9:12."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Then she ran."
Ruiz shook his head.
"She never boarded a flight."
"Where is she?"
"That's what we're trying to determine."
Airport video showed Lauren entering a restroom.
She never appeared leaving.
A maintenance corridor ran behind the restroom.
Someone with access had opened it from inside.
Forty minutes later, a dark van exited the service road.
The license plates were stolen.
"Abducted?" Claire asked.
Ruiz nodded.
"Likely."
Evan felt shame.
He had immediately assumed betrayal.
Lauren had held Sophie only hours earlier.
She had cried when Evan told her Claire might die.
Whatever secret she carried, he did not believe she would harm them.
At 4:30 that afternoon, a package arrived at the federal office.
No return address.
Inside was Lauren's necklace.
Evan recognized it immediately.
A small gold circle their mother had given her.
Beneath it was a note.
BRING THE DRIVE TO PIER 19 AT MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE OR YOUR SISTER LEARNS HOW HER MOTHER DIED.
Evan read it twice.
"They want the copy."
Ruiz nodded.
"They still think we only have Claire's drive."
"What do we have?"
"Three forensic duplicates."
"Then give me the original."
"No."
"They have Lauren."
"We don't trade evidence."
"She's my sister."
Ruiz looked at the letter from Thomas Carter.
"Apparently that definition is complicated."
Evan stepped toward him.
"Do not do that."
Ruiz raised a hand.
"You're right."
Claire took the ransom note.
"They wrote sister intentionally."
"What do you mean?"
"They know we read Thomas's letter."
Ruiz understood.
"Which means someone saw us inside the cabin."
"Or someone inside this investigation reported it."
Silence.
Mara Vance was still missing.
Evan thought of her immediately.
Ruiz saw it.
"I don't believe Mara is involved."
"You keep saying that."
"I know her."
"My father knew Robert Whitmore."
Claire looked between them.
"Trust is useless right now."
Ruiz sighed.
"Agreed."
They created a controlled exchange.
A duplicate drive containing partially authentic files would be delivered.
Federal teams would surround the pier.
Evan insisted on carrying it.
At 11:53, he walked alone through the abandoned shipping terminal.
Rain struck the metal roof.
The river beyond the dock was black.
"Keep moving," Ruiz whispered through the hidden earpiece.
Evan reached Pier 19.
A single light hung above a warehouse door.
"Lauren?"
No answer.
He stepped inside.
A chair sat in the center of the warehouse.
Lauren was tied to it.
Her mouth was covered.
"Evan."
He ran toward her.
A laser dot appeared on his chest.
"Stop."
The voice came from the darkness.
Female.
Evan froze.
"Put the drive on the floor."
"Let her go."
"Drive first."
"How do I know she isn't hurt?"
Lauren made an angry sound through the tape.
Evan almost smiled.
She was alive.
He placed the drive down.
A figure stepped from the shadows.
Blonde hair.
Blue jacket.
White blouse.
Claire's description.
The woman picked up the drive.
Then turned slightly.
Evan saw her face.
He knew her.
Dana Whitmore.
Robert Whitmore's daughter.
Forty years old.
Vice president of community relations.
She had attended Evan's wedding.
Sent Sophie a silver rattle when she was born.
"Dana."
She smiled sadly.
"You were always the decent one."
"You're the woman who went to my house."
"Yes."
"You drugged Claire."
"I was supposed to retrieve a drive."
"You almost killed her."
"That wasn't part of the plan."
"Someone shot at her."
"Also not me."
"Then who?"
Dana looked toward the upper catwalk.
"You brought federal agents."
Evan's heart sank.
"Why would you think that?"
"Because my father taught me to assume everyone lies."
She held up the drive.
"And because this is fake."
The warehouse lights died.
Gunfire erupted.
Ruiz shouted through the earpiece.
"Down."
Evan threw himself toward Lauren.
Bullets struck steel.
Federal agents entered from three directions.
A vehicle crashed through a side door.
Dana ran.
Evan cut Lauren's restraints while agents exchanged fire with unseen shooters.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Who took you?"
"Dana."
"Why?"
Lauren grabbed his arm.
"Evan, she knows."
"Knows what?"
"About me."
A bullet struck the chair.
They ran behind a concrete barrier.
"What about you?"
Lauren was crying.
"Mom told me before she died."
"What?"
"She told me not to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
Lauren looked at him.
"We don't have the same father."
Evan stared.
May you like
Lauren continued.
"My father was Julian Cross."
