Chapter 9 - The Choice No Father Should Make
Daniel Whitmore had negotiated billion-dollar acquisitions with men who threatened lawsuits, bankruptcies, and public humiliation.
He had survived hostile takeovers.
He had walked into boardrooms knowing half the people sitting across from him wanted to destroy his company.
But nothing in his forty-two years had prepared him for two images glowing on a phone screen.
His daughter behind a glass door.
His wife tied to a chair.
And a voice demanding that he choose which one deserved to live.
Andrew Voss spoke again.
"Good morning, Daniel."
Daniel's mouth went dry.
"Let them go."
Voss laughed softly.
"That's not how choices work."
"Whatever you want, I'll give it to you."
"That's generous."
"Money?"
"No."
"The company?"
"Getting warmer."
Daniel stared at Catherine's image.
She looked exhausted.
Her wrists were secured to the arms of the chair.
Her dark hair hung across her bruised cheek.
But her eyes were moving.
She was looking beyond the camera.
Trying to tell him something.
Voss continued.
"There's a document in your wife's possession."
Daniel looked at the blue folder tucked beneath his arm.
"What document?"
"A master authorization ledger."
"What's that?"
"Something Catherine stole from people who were foolish enough to trust her."
Daniel felt his anger rise.
"My wife didn't steal anything."
"That's a matter of perspective."
"Where is she?"
"That depends on how cooperative you become."
Daniel glanced toward the hallway.
The police officers had withdrawn to a safer position.
A bomb technician was approaching through the rear entrance.
Detective Ruiz stood a few yards away, speaking quietly into her radio.
Daniel knew she was trying to trace the call.
Voss knew it too.
"You have eight minutes, Daniel."
Daniel forced himself to breathe.
"If you know me at all, you know I'm not abandoning my daughter."
"Then Catherine dies."
Daniel's heart twisted.
On the screen, Catherine suddenly lifted her head.
"No."
Her voice was hoarse.
"Daniel, don't listen to him."
Voss struck the chair with something hard.
Catherine flinched.
Daniel took an involuntary step forward.
"Don't touch her."
"Then make your decision."
Catherine shouted, "Lily comes first!"
Voss moved to silence her.
Daniel spoke quickly.
"Wait."
The man's hand stopped.
Daniel looked toward the glass door.
Lily was sitting on the floor now, hugging her knees.
She couldn't hear the conversation.
She had no idea her parents were being forced to bargain over her life.
Daniel looked back at the phone.
"You made one mistake."
Voss chuckled.
"Only one?"
"You assumed I would choose between them."
"That's the situation."
"No."
Daniel straightened.
"You want the ledger."
"Yes."
"Then come get it."
A pause.
"Interesting."
"I have the folder."
"That's not the ledger."
"Then tell me what it looks like."
Voss laughed.
"Daniel, you're stalling."
"Of course I am."
The honesty seemed to catch him off guard.
Daniel continued.
"My daughter is six years old."
His voice shook.
"You're threatening a little girl because you're afraid of what her mother knows."
Voss's tone hardened.
"Be careful."
"No."
Daniel took a breath.
"I've been careful for eleven months."
He looked toward Catherine.
"I trusted people who lied to me."
He glanced at Vanessa.
"I let my brother manage my life."
Then he looked directly into the phone camera.
"And I let men like you convince me grief was the same thing as weakness."
Voss said nothing.
Daniel continued.
"If you kill either one of them, you lose whatever leverage you think you have."
A long silence followed.
Then Voss spoke.
"Five minutes."
The call ended.
Daniel lowered the phone.
Ruiz hurried toward him.
"We have a partial trace."
"Where?"
"Industrial area southwest of the city."
"Can you locate her?"
"Not yet."
Daniel looked toward the door.
"What about Lily?"
The bomb technician was examining the device through a small camera.
He looked up.
"Mr. Whitmore, we believe this is a remotely triggered system."
Daniel felt cold.
"Can you disable it?"
"We're assessing it."
Ruiz turned toward Vanessa.
"Did you know about this property?"
"Yes."
"Did you know Martin used it?"
"No."
"Who else had access?"
"Andrew."
Daniel turned sharply.
"Voss?"
Vanessa nodded.
"He kept an emergency key."
Daniel looked at the house around him.
"Then he designed this."
Ruiz's radio crackled.
The bomb technician had reached a conclusion.
The device attached to the door appeared to contain a real explosive charge, but the timer Voss had displayed was not connected directly to it.
Someone elsewhere had to send the triggering signal.
Daniel looked at his phone.
"Then Voss still needs to make the decision."
Ruiz nodded.
"We need to locate the communications equipment."
An officer moved toward the garage.
Another searched the basement.
Daniel stepped closer to the glass.
Lily looked up.
"Daddy?"
"I'm here."
"Is Mommy okay?"
He swallowed.
"I'm trying to help her."
Lily nodded slowly.
Then she glanced toward the ceiling.
"Daddy, the red light is blinking."
Daniel followed her gaze.
A small camera was mounted above the door.
"I see it."
"Mommy told me about those."
His heart skipped.
"What did she say?"
"That people use them to watch."
Daniel nodded.
"That's right."
Lily wiped her nose.
"But sometimes you can make them watch the wrong thing."
Daniel stared at her.
"What?"
"Mommy showed me."
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Showed you what?"
Lily reached into her dress pocket.
She removed a tiny silver object.
Daniel leaned closer.
It was a compact mirror.
Catherine had given it to Lily as part of a toy makeup set.
Lily held it toward the camera.
The reflected image flashed across the lens.
Then she tilted it.
The red indicator light blinked rapidly.
Daniel looked toward Ruiz.
"Can she interfere with the camera?"
The detective spoke into her radio.
"Get technical support on that feed."
Lily kept moving the mirror.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Mommy said when bad people are watching, they forget to look behind them."
Daniel felt something click into place.
The camera.
The device.
The remote trigger.
Voss had built his plan around watching Daniel panic.
He wanted to see a father make a desperate mistake.
Daniel looked toward the rear door.
An officer emerged from the garage carrying a black equipment case.
"Detective, we found the transmitter."
Ruiz moved quickly.
"Isolate it."
The officer nodded.
The technician stepped toward the device beside Lily's door.
Minutes passed with excruciating slowness.
Daniel barely breathed.
Finally, the technician gave a thumbs-up.
"Remote connection disrupted."
Daniel sagged against the wall.
"Can you open it?"
"Not yet."
The technician carefully worked around the housing.
Daniel watched every movement.
One slip could still kill his daughter.
Then came a soft metallic click.
The technician stepped back.
"Door's safe."
Daniel was moving before anyone finished speaking.
He pulled it open.
Lily threw herself into his arms.
"Daddy!"
He lifted her from the floor.
She wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly he could barely breathe.
Daniel held her.
He didn't care who watched.
Didn't care about the officers.
The shattered house.
The ruined wedding.
He kissed her hair again and again.
"I'm here."
Lily sobbed against his shoulder.
"I was brave."
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut.
"You were so brave."
"I remembered what Mommy said."
"You saved us time, sweetheart."
Lily drew back.
"Can we go get her now?"
Daniel looked at Ruiz.
The detective's phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Then her expression changed.
"What do you mean the building is empty?"
Daniel felt his relief vanish.
Ruiz looked at him.
"The location we traced was abandoned."
He stared at her.
"Catherine?"
"No sign of her."
"Then where is she?"
Before Ruiz could answer, Daniel's phone received another message.
A photograph.
It showed the Whitmore family dining room.
The long mahogany table.
The chandelier Catherine had chosen.
The windows overlooking their garden.
Someone had placed a single chair in the middle of the room.
Catherine sat in it.
Bound.
Terrified.
And behind her stood Nathan Whitmore.
Daniel stared at the screen.
His brother smiled at the camera.
May you like
The message underneath contained six words.
SHE WAS NEVER FAR FROM HOME.
