Chapter 3 - THE EMPTY CRIB
The east sitting room was empty.
No nurse.
No agents.
No Lily.
No Noah.
Maria stopped so fast Daniel nearly ran into her.
The baby’s blanket lay on the carpet.
The white one with blue stars.
Still warm.
Daniel shouted, “LOCK THE HOUSE!”
His voice cracked through the corridor.
Agents moved instantly.
Doors sealed.
Radios exploded with orders.
Maria ran toward the nursery.
“Noah!”
Nothing.
Daniel grabbed the first security officer he saw.
“Who was posted here?”
“Agent Price and Agent Coleman.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find them.”
Maria reached the nursery.
Empty crib.
Open window.
Her stomach turned.
“We’re on the second floor.”
Daniel looked outside.
A narrow service roof ran below the window.
Enough for someone to move along the side of the house.
A rope hung from a decorative iron hook.
Fresh.
Prepared.
Maria whispered, “This was planned.”
Daniel’s phone still held the unknown call.
Baby crying.
Then a woman spoke.
“You should have listened.”
Daniel froze.
The voice was distorted.
“Who is this?”
“You opened the key too early.”
“Where are my children?”
“Safe for now.”
Maria moved closer, trying to hear.
The voice continued.
“Release Celeste.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Then pick which child comes home.”
Maria felt sick.
Daniel did not respond.
The voice laughed.
“Agent Hart.”
The title was deliberate.
“You know how hostage negotiations work.”
“Yes.”
“Then negotiate.”
Daniel’s face became stone.
“Proof of life.”
A pause.
Then Lily’s voice.
“Daddy?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know, baby.”
“Maria?”
“I’m here too,” Maria called.
Lily began crying.
“She took Noah.”
“Who?”
The line cut.
Daniel looked at the number.
Gone.
Blocked.
He turned to an agent.
“Trace.”
“Already trying.”
Maria stared at the open nursery window.
Something was wrong.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Lily said she took Noah.”
“Yes.”
“Not they.”
He looked at her.
“One woman.”
“Maybe.”
Maria walked toward the window.
On the sill was a smear of green fabric.
Emerald.
Daniel’s face changed.
“Celeste is in custody.”
“Then someone dressed like her.”
Or wanted them to think so.
An agent ran in.
“Sir, we found Price and Coleman.”
“Where?”
“Service pantry.”
“Condition?”
“Unconscious.”
“Drugged?”
“Looks like it.”
Maria’s skin went cold.
Inside help.
Anna’s warning repeated in her mind.
Do not trust anyone inside the house.
Daniel looked at Maria.
“You stay with me.”
She nodded.
They returned downstairs.
Celeste was seated in a secure room normally used as Daniel’s private office.
Her cuffs were now fixed to the table.
When Daniel entered, she smiled.
“You lost them.”
He stopped.
Maria watched.
Celeste had known before he said anything.
Daniel sat across from her.
“Who took my children?”
“Release me.”
“Who?”
“You already know.”
“No.”
Celeste leaned back.
“You still think this is about Anna.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
Maria stepped closer.
“Then what?”
Celeste looked at her.
“This started before Daniel ever met your sister.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Celeste continued.
“Your father and Anna’s father were connected.”
Maria felt the floor shift.
“My father?”
“Miguel Serrano.”
Daniel looked at Maria.
She shook her head.
“I don’t know anything about that.”
Celeste smiled.
“Of course you don’t. Anna made sure of it.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“What did Miguel do?”
“Moved money.”
“For whom?”
“People with badges.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Celeste saw it.
“Yes, Daniel.”
She lowered her voice.
“Federal people.”
Maria stared.
Daniel had spent his career believing his agency was clean.
Or at least believing his own unit was.
Celeste continued.
“Anna found the accounts after Noah was born.”
“How?”
“She had access to your laptop.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“She searched my files?”
“She searched everything.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered your task force was using her father’s network.”
Daniel stood.
“That’s a lie.”
“Sit down.”
He stared at her.
Celeste smiled.
“Or keep acting emotional while your children are gone.”
The words hit.
Daniel sat.
Maria hated Celeste for how precisely she used fear.
“Anna found payments tied to a classified asset program,” Celeste said. “Her father had been moving money for years.”
“My father was a criminal,” Maria said.
“Yes.”
“Not an informant.”
Celeste looked at her.
“Both can be true.”
Daniel’s voice was low.
“Which program?”
“Ask Assistant Director Briggs.”
Daniel’s body went still.
Maria knew the name.
Thomas Briggs.
Daniel’s superior.
The man who had attended Noah’s birthday three weeks earlier.
The man who had hugged Lily.
The man who had personally encouraged Daniel to hire more household security after Anna’s death.
Daniel stared at Celeste.
“Briggs told me Anna’s body was identified.”
“Yes.”
“He signed the internal death verification.”
“Yes.”
Maria’s breath caught.
Anna’s warning.
Especially the person who told you I was dead.
Daniel whispered, “Briggs.”
Celeste smiled.
“Now you’re awake.”
Daniel’s phone rang again.
This time, a video call.
Unknown.
He answered.
Lily appeared on screen.
She sat in a dark room.
Noah cried beside her.
A gloved hand rested on Lily’s shoulder.
“Daddy.”
“I’m here.”
“Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not.”
“I left the room because Agent Briggs said you needed me.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Maria covered her mouth.
The camera shifted.
Thomas Briggs appeared.
Gray hair.
Federal windbreaker.
The smile of a man Daniel had trusted for fifteen years.
“Hello, Danny.”
Daniel’s hand shook.
“Let them go.”
Briggs smiled.
“You know what I need.”
“No.”
“The Anna file.”
“What Anna file?”
Briggs’s expression hardened.
“Don’t play with me.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then find it.”
Maria looked at Celeste.
Celeste had stopped smiling.
Briggs continued.
“Release Celeste. Bring her to Dock 9. Midnight.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“Because she has half the key.”
Celeste looked away.
Daniel caught it.
“What key?”
Briggs smiled.
“The reason your wife is still alive.”
The call ended.
Daniel rose so fast the chair fell backward.
He turned to Celeste.
“What key?”
Celeste said nothing.
Daniel slammed both hands on the table.
“What key?”
Maria had never seen him like this.
Celeste finally whispered,
“Anna split the evidence.”
“Between whom?”
“Me.”
A pause.
“And Maria.”
Maria stared.
“What?”
Celeste looked at her.
“You have been carrying the other half for eight months.”
Maria shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Celeste pointed to Maria’s locket.
The silver locket.
The photograph of two sisters.
Maria’s hand flew to her neck.
Celeste smiled sadly.
“Anna gave you more than a picture.”
Daniel stared at the locket.
Maria opened it.
Nothing.
Photo.
Metal backing.
Daniel took it carefully.
Pressed the hinge.
A hidden panel clicked open.
Inside was a tiny microSD card.
Maria stopped breathing.
Celeste whispered,
“That’s what everyone has been trying to find.”
Daniel looked at the card.
Then at Maria.
“What’s on it?”
Celeste answered.
“Enough to destroy Briggs.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“And enough,” Celeste added, “to prove Anna never died in that car.”
Maria stared.
“Where is she?”
Celeste looked at Daniel.
“Closer than you think.”
Daniel did not move immediately.
He held the microSD card between two fingers and stared at it as if it might answer every question his wife had left behind.
Maria watched the anger in his face change into something quieter.
Betrayal was easier when the person who betrayed you was still in the room.
Anna was not.
She was a voice on a screen. A face from a funeral photograph. A woman who had somehow stayed alive while the people who loved her learned how to live without her.
“Eight months,” Daniel said.
Maria frowned.
“You carried this for eight months.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
The words surprised both of them.
Maria looked at him.
“That was fast.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It took me eight months, a drowning stroller, a fake accusation, a kidnapped daughter, and my dead wife appearing on video.”
Despite herself, Maria let out one breath that almost became a laugh.
Daniel looked at Celeste.
“If Briggs knew Maria had the card, why keep her alive?”
Celeste answered carefully.
“Because he wasn’t sure she knew what she had. Killing her would have forced Anna to react.”
“And today?”
“Today everything changed.”
Maria touched the empty locket compartment.
“You used me as bait too.”
Celeste met her eyes.
“Yes.”
Maria’s jaw tightened.
“If we survive this, you and I are going to have a very long conversation.”
Celeste gave a humorless smile.
“I assumed so.”
Daniel slid the card into a protective sleeve and handed it back to Maria.
She stared at him.
“You’re trusting me with it?”
“I’m trusting the woman who jumped into a pool before anyone else moved.”
That landed harder than praise should have.
Maria closed her fingers around the sleeve.
She thought of Lily waiting somewhere in the dark and Noah crying for a father who had spent the day discovering that nearly everyone around him carried a secret. Whatever was on the card mattered, but the children mattered more. For the first time, Maria and Daniel were certain of the same thing.
Then the house went dark.
Gunfire erupted in the hall.
And Celeste screamed,
May you like
“HE’S INSIDE THE HOUSE!”
Maria tightened her grip on the hidden card and followed Daniel toward the gunfire. Whatever came next, she would not run away from this family.
