Chapter 9 - FIRE UNDER THE HOUSE
Smoke came through the air vent thirty seconds later.
“Fire!” Reed shouted.
Arthur slammed his shoulder into the locked door.
It didn’t move.
Elena grabbed a chair and smashed it against the handle.
“Again!” Arthur yelled.
They hit it together.
The lock broke on the third strike.
The corridor outside was already filling with black smoke.
Reed pulled his shirt over his mouth.
“Move!”
They ran.
At the main basement stairs, flames rolled across the ceiling.
“Back!” Elena shouted.
The fire had started near the electrical panel.
Not an accident.
Someone had trapped them and set the basement on fire.
Arthur looked toward the old exterior staircase.
“Hatch!”
They ran through the smoke.
Reed coughed violently.
Arthur grabbed his arm.
The wooden steps groaned under their weight.
Elena reached the metal hatch and shoved.
Nothing.
“Locked!”
Arthur joined her.
Together they pushed.
The hatch lifted half an inch.
A heavy object sat on top of it.
“Again!”
They slammed upward.
Once.
Twice.
On the third hit, the obstruction rolled away.
Cold air rushed in.
They climbed out behind the house.
Fire alarms screamed.
Police officers were running toward them.
Arthur dropped to his knees coughing.
Then he remembered.
“Leo.”
He jumped up.
“LEO!”
Reed grabbed him.
“He’s at the hospital.”
Arthur stopped.
Right.
Protected.
Safe.
His phone rang.
Hospital security.
Arthur answered.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Saint Mary’s security. We have a situation.”
Arthur felt his blood turn cold.
“What situation?”
“Your son is missing.”
The world disappeared.
“What?”
“A woman dressed as a nurse entered his room. She had hospital identification.”
“Victoria.”
“We don’t know.”
Arthur was already running toward his car.
Elena followed.
“How long ago?” he shouted into the phone.
“Seven minutes.”
“Lock the hospital down!”
“We have.”
“Check every exit!”
“We are.”
Detective Reed caught up.
“I’m driving.”
They sped through town with the siren on.
Arthur called Leo’s phone.
It rang once.
Then someone answered.
No voice.
Just road noise.
“Leo?”
Silence.
“Leo, buddy, can you hear me?”
A whisper.
“Dad.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took you?”
Another whisper.
“Victoria.”
Arthur clenched his fist.
“Is she beside you?”
“No.”
“Who’s driving?”
Leo breathed shakily.
“The old man.”
Daniel.
Arthur shouted into the phone.
“Dad! If you hurt him—”
The phone disappeared from Leo.
Daniel’s voice came through.
“You always cared too much.”
Arthur screamed, “Give me my son!”
“I’m giving you one chance.”
“For what?”
“To finish what you were born to finish.”
Arthur looked at Reed.
“What do you want?”
Daniel said, “Bring the trust documents.”
“What trust documents?”
“The originals from your mother’s safe-deposit box.”
Arthur went still.
Only three people knew that box existed.
Arthur.
His mother’s attorney.
And Nolan.
Daniel continued.
“You have two hours.”
“Where?”
“You’ll receive instructions.”
“If I bring them, you release Leo?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Arthur knew immediately it was a lie.
Then another voice came faintly through the phone.
Nolan.
“Arthur! DON’T—”
A crash.
Daniel cursed.
The call ended.
Arthur stared at the dead screen.
“Nolan is alive.”
Reed nodded.
“And he’s with them.”
Arthur looked ahead at the road.
“No.”
Elena glanced at him.
“What?”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“He wasn’t yelling for help.”
“Then what was he doing?”
Arthur replayed the sound in his head.
Nolan had shouted only one word before the line died.
Don’t.
Arthur whispered, “He was warning me.”
Reed said, “About what?”
Arthur looked at him.
May you like
“The safe-deposit box.”
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