Chapter 5 - Her Father Came BackJonathan Whitmore returned to Columbus the next morning wearing a $6,000 suit and the expression of a man who believed four years could be erased by arriving confidently.
Sadie did not run to him.
That seemed to surprise him.
Claire had arranged the meeting inside her attorney’s office with security outside.
Mason was not supposed to be there.
Sadie had insisted.
Jonathan noticed him immediately.
“Who is this?”
“Mason Hale.”
“That explains nothing.”
“He's my friend,” Sadie signed.
Jonathan looked at her hands.
Then at Claire.
“What did she say?”
The irony was almost unbearable.
Claire understood the sentence.
For once, she didn't need Mason.
“She said he's her friend.”
Jonathan smiled awkwardly at his daughter.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Sadie stared at him.
He did not sign.
Not even hello.
Four years away.
And apparently he had learned less than Claire's thirty-seven signs.
Jonathan turned toward Claire.
“Landry is dangerous.”
“You worked with him.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You approved Phase One.”
His face tightened.
“I invested in a restructuring plan. Victor never told me defective equipment would be installed.”
“Why disappear?”
Jonathan looked toward Sadie.
“Can we speak privately?”
“No.”
“Claire.”
“No more conversations about my daughter that happen while she's sitting in the room unable to understand them.”
Mason glanced at Claire.
She noticed something like approval in his expression.
Jonathan did too.
He disliked it.
“I left because Victor threatened me.”
“With what?”
“Prison.”
Jonathan explained.
Years earlier, while still an executive at Whitmore Systems, he had authorized questionable overseas payments to secure contracts.
Victor found the records.
“He owned me.”
Claire felt disgust replace anger.
“So you abandoned your child?”
“I thought staying away protected her.”
Sadie watched their faces.
Claire forced herself to sign pieces of the conversation.
Slow.
Imperfect.
But she tried.
Jonathan watched.
“You're learning?”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Claire looked at Sadie.
“Because I should have nine years ago.”
Sadie's eyes filled.
Jonathan looked away.
Then the building alarm began flashing.
No sound reached Sadie.
But the red strobes fired immediately.
Mason stood.
“Fire alarm.”
Security opened the door.
“Everybody downstairs.”
Smoke appeared beneath the hallway ceiling.
Claire grabbed Sadie.
They entered the stairwell with dozens of employees.
Halfway down, the lights failed.
Emergency illumination flickered.
Then a security door slammed shut between floors.
Mason tried the handle.
Locked.
His expression changed.
“Claire.”
She understood.
The same control modules.
This wasn't an accident.
Smoke thickened.
People began coughing.
Mason examined the magnetic lock.
“I need something metal.”
Jonathan handed him a belt buckle.
Mason ripped open the access plate.
Claire held her phone flashlight while he crossed two wires.
Nothing.
Sadie tugged his sleeve.
She pointed upward.
A maintenance release sat above the door.
Too high.
Mason lifted her.
Sadie reached it.
The door released.
Everyone poured through.
They reached the street minutes later.
Firefighters rushed inside.
Mason looked toward the upper floors.
“No visible fire.”
Claire stared.
“A false alarm.”
“A trap.”
Her phone rang.
Victor.
She answered.
“Are you trying to kill us?”
Victor sounded genuinely confused.
“Claire?”
“The alarm.”
“What alarm?”
“Stop pretending.”
“Listen to me. Whatever you think I did, get away from Jonathan.”
Claire looked at her ex-husband.
Jonathan was twenty feet away, talking to police.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel wasn't working for me when he threw that brick.”
Claire's blood chilled.
“Then who?”
Victor paused.
“Jonathan.”
The call disconnected.
Claire turned.
Jonathan was gone.
So was Sadie.
For one second, Claire could not process what she was seeing.
Then she screamed.
“Sadie!”
Mason spun.
Owen pointed toward the parking garage.
“I saw her dad take her!”
Claire ran.
High heels struck pavement.
Mason overtook her.
They entered the garage.
A black sedan accelerated down the ramp.
Claire saw Sadie in the back window.
Her palms slammed against the glass.
“MOM!”
She wasn't speaking.
She was signing.
Claire understood.
For once, she understood every movement.
MOM. HELP ME.
The sedan disappeared into traffic.
Claire stopped in the middle of the garage.
Something inside her broke.
Then hardened.
Mason grabbed her shoulders.
“We're getting her back.”
Claire looked at him.
“How?”
Mason pointed toward the security camera above the exit.
“We start there.”
But Claire's phone vibrated.
A text from Jonathan.
Do not involve the police. Victor wants Sadie because she can identify something on Daniel’s files. If you want her alive, bring the laptop to the old Whitmore warehouse at midnight. Alone.
Claire read it twice.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
Sadie sat in the back seat of a car.
Terrified.
Claire whispered:
“I’m going.”
Mason's expression hardened.
“No.”
“She's my daughter.”
“And walking into a trap won't make you a better mother.”
Claire looked at him sharply.
Mason did not retreat.
“You want to save Sadie?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop acting alone.”
He took the phone.
Studied the photograph.
Then enlarged the reflection in the window.
His eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Mason turned the screen toward her.
Reflected in the glass was a road sign.
And behind it, barely visible, stood an old brick building.
Mason knew it.
He had worked there.
“Jonathan lied,” he said.
“About what?”
Mason looked at her.
“He isn't taking Sadie to the warehouse.”
“Where is he taking her?”
May you like
Mason's face went pale.
“To Landry.”
Related Stories
