Chapter 15 - The Night Everything Burned
Richard Hayes had lost control of the one thing he thought he owned.
My daughter.
I saw it in his face.
Not remorse.
Not compassion.
Fear.
The kind of fear a powerful man feels when the people doing his dirty work stop answering his calls.
Daniel stepped toward him.
"Who has Ava?"
Richard glanced around the conference room.
"You're making a scene."
Daniel grabbed the back of an empty chair.
"Tell me."
A security officer moved closer.
Richard raised a hand.
"Elise was handling the arrangement."
My heart began pounding.
"What arrangement?"
Richard looked at me.
"Sarah, you need to understand—"
"No."
My voice cracked.
"Do not explain yourself."
I stepped closer.
"Tell me where my little girl is."
Richard swallowed.
"She was being held at one of our old properties."
"Where?"
"Outside Casa Grande."
Daniel looked toward Martin.
"Get Torres on the phone."
Richard shook his head.
"That won't help."
"Why not?"
"Because Elise took her."
I stared at him.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Richard looked genuinely panicked.
"Elise called twenty minutes ago. She said she was finished taking orders."
I grabbed the table to steady myself.
Daniel's phone rang.
Agent Torres.
"Daniel, we have a location."
My breath caught.
"Where?"
"An abandoned Hayes Meridian research property near Casa Grande."
Richard froze.
Daniel saw it.
"That's where she was supposed to be."
Agent Torres continued.
"We've identified a recently activated security system and vehicle movements consistent with the information you provided."
"Is Ava there?"
"We don't know yet."
I closed my eyes.
"Please."
Daniel put the call on speaker.
Agent Torres said, "Sarah, officers are already responding. We need you in a secure location."
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to drive there myself.
I wanted to tear every locked door from its hinges.
Instead, I thought of Ethan.
My little boy was waiting for me at home.
He had already lost too much.
"Okay," I whispered.
Daniel took my hand.
We left the boardroom.
Richard remained behind.
But before we reached the elevator, Martin hurried toward us.
"Daniel."
"What?"
"There's a problem with the old research facility."
Daniel turned.
"What problem?"
"The fire-suppression system has been disabled."
My blood turned cold.
Martin continued.
"The monitoring system shows abnormal temperatures in the electrical wing."
Daniel stopped walking.
"Is there a fire?"
"Not confirmed."
A second later, his phone rang again.
Agent Torres.
Her voice was sharp.
"Everyone needs to stay clear of the facility. We have smoke coming from the southern building."
I made a sound I didn't recognize.
Daniel caught my arm.
"Sarah."
"My baby."
The world seemed to narrow to those two words.
My baby.
Agent Torres continued.
"Fire crews are being deployed. Our teams are checking the buildings."
I pressed both hands against my mouth.
Then another voice came through the phone.
An officer.
"We have movement near the west entrance."
Agent Torres responded.
"Identify."
A pause.
"Adult female. Dark clothing."
My heart hammered.
"Is Ava with her?"
Nobody answered.
The radio crackled.
Then the officer shouted.
"She's running!"
A few seconds later, Agent Torres spoke again.
"Elise Morgan has been detained."
I nearly collapsed.
"Where is Ava?"
"We're asking her."
I grabbed Daniel's phone.
"Please tell her I'm her mother."
There was a delay.
Then Elise's voice came faintly through the connection.
"She wasn't supposed to be hurt."
My stomach dropped.
"WHERE IS SHE?"
Elise began crying.
"I left her with Caleb."
I stared at the phone.
Caleb.
The man who had abandoned us.
The man who had called me in the middle of the night.
The man who had said he was afraid Richard would kill him.
Agent Torres demanded, "Where did he take her?"
Elise sobbed.
"I don't know."
I thought I would stop breathing.
Then another call came through.
Nora.
I answered.
"Sarah, I've found something."
My voice barely worked.
"What?"
"Caleb contacted me."
I froze.
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"What did he say?"
Nora swallowed.
"He said he's taking Ava somewhere Richard won't find her."
My knees weakened.
"Where?"
"He's heading toward the old railroad service road east of the research property."
Daniel took the phone.
"Did he give an exact location?"
"No."
Then Nora said something that changed everything.
"Daniel, he told me to tell Sarah that he's finally going to do one decent thing."
My eyes filled.
"What does that mean?"
Before Nora could answer, a distant explosion thundered through Agent Torres's open phone connection.
Someone shouted.
"FIRE IN THE WEST WING!"
Another voice called for an evacuation.
I screamed Ava's name.
And Daniel ran toward the elevator.
"Where are you going?" I cried.
He turned.
His face was white.
"I'm bringing her home."
That was the last time I saw him before the research building went up in flames.
For the next three hours, I lived inside a nightmare.
I waited at a secure police operations center.
Maps covered the walls.
Radios crackled.
Officers came and went.
A television showed smoke rising over the desert.
Ethan sat beside me, holding Ava's stuffed rabbit.
He hadn't spoken for nearly an hour.
I kept my arm around him.
Every time the door opened, we both looked up.
Every time it was someone else, I felt another piece of hope slip away.
At 5:38 p.m., Agent Torres approached.
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
"Did you find her?"
"We located Caleb's vehicle."
"Was Ava inside?"
"No."
My heart stopped.
"Where is she?"
Torres glanced at another officer.
"We're still searching."
"And Daniel?"
Her expression changed.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"Agent Torres."
She took a breath.
"Daniel entered the outer property with the authorized search team to help identify the buildings."
I stared at her.
"And?"
"When the electrical wing caught fire, the team withdrew."
"And Daniel?"
She hesitated.
"He became separated from the officers."
I shook my head.
"No."
"We're checking the last confirmed location."
"NO!"
Ethan began crying.
I pulled him against me.
Daniel had gone looking for Ava.
Now both of them were missing.
Then Agent Torres's radio crackled.
A firefighter's voice came through.
"We found an adult male near the collapsed service corridor."
I stopped breathing.
"Status?"
A pause.
"Unresponsive."
May you like
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
And for the second time in my life, I thought I was about to lose a man who had promised my family a future.
