Chapter 1 - The Girl Who Disappeared in a Crowd
The terminal erupted into confusion.
Passengers looked from the black screens to Richard, though most had no idea he was the man named in the message. Airport employees shouted into radios. Security officers ordered people away from the gate.
Richard barely heard them.
He was still holding the hospital card.
The girl stared at the message above Gate B17. The color left her face.
“They found me,” she whispered.
Richard crouched in front of her.
“Who found you?”
She grabbed the purple backpack and ran.
Richard reacted without thinking. He caught the strap before she could disappear between two families.
The girl spun around and struck his wrist.
“Let go!”
“You saved my son.”
“That doesn’t mean you can keep me.”
“I’m not trying to keep you. I need to know why my name is on this card.”
A security guard approached.
“Mr. Harrison, the paramedics are leaving.”
Richard looked toward the stretcher. Ethan’s oxygen mask had fogged with each shallow breath.
His son needed him.
But the child in front of him had somehow known the exact location of the blockage in Ethan’s airway. She carried an identification card from Richard’s institute. And someone had taken control of the airport screens to warn him about her.
Richard released the backpack.
“Come with us.”
The girl stepped backward.
“No.”
“Ethan could need you.”
“That’s why I have to leave.”
Richard struggled to understand.
“You just saved his life.”
“And someone tried to make sure I would be blamed if he died.”
The words struck him harder than the terminal message.
The plastic cap removed from Ethan’s throat had not been loose by accident. Ethan could not reach the medication compartment from his seated position. Someone else had opened it.
Richard lowered his voice.
“What is your name?”
The girl glanced around as though even answering could expose her.
“Lucy.”
“Lucy what?”
“Just Lucy.”
Richard held up the card.
“It says your father is Richard Harrison.”
“The card lies.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Lucy looked toward the escalators.
A woman in a dark green coat stood near the lower level, watching them.
Lucy’s expression changed immediately.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
Fear.
“She’s here.”
“Who?”
Lucy shoved Richard hard enough to surprise him, then ran toward a service corridor.
The woman in green moved after her.
Richard shouted to security.
“Stop that woman!”
The woman turned, disappeared behind a group of flight attendants, and reached the escalator before anyone responded.
Lucy reached the service door, but it was locked.
Richard caught up and placed himself between her and the terminal.
“Who was she?”
Lucy’s breathing became rapid and shallow.
“She works for the people who made the card.”
“Did she hurt you?”
Lucy would not answer.
The guard reached them.
“We need both of you to come with us. The airport systems were compromised, and federal security is on the way.”
Richard looked at Lucy.
“If you stay here, they’ll question you without me.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“You saved Ethan. That is enough for now.”
The paramedic shouted from the ambulance corridor.
“Mr. Harrison!”
Richard made the only decision he could live with.
He held out his hand.
Lucy stared at it suspiciously.
“I’m going to the hospital with my son,” he said. “You can come with us, or you can remain in an airport where someone is searching for you.”
She looked toward the escalator.
The woman in green was gone.
Lucy slowly placed her hand in his.
Her fingers were freezing.
They hurried through the secure corridor and climbed into the ambulance. Richard sat beside Ethan. Lucy pressed herself into the far corner, holding her backpack tightly against her chest.
The paramedic checked Ethan’s pupils.
“Has he had previous episodes?”
“Respiratory complications after spinal surgery,” Richard said. “But nothing like this.”
The paramedic examined the plastic cap sealed inside an evidence bag.
“This didn’t fall into his mouth accidentally.”
“I know.”
Lucy looked out the rear window.
Richard studied her reflection.
“Who taught you CPR?”
She closed her eyes.
“A boy who died.”
Richard waited.
Lucy added, “He taught me before they killed him.”
The ambulance accelerated onto the highway.
Richard felt the hospital card in his pocket.
“Who killed him?”
May you like
Lucy opened her eyes and looked directly at him.
“Your wife.”
