Chapter 7 - MARA BENEATH THE FLOOR

Firefighters forced open the cellar door.

A woman lay at the bottom of the steps.

Her wrists were bound, and bruises covered one side of her face.

She was weak but conscious.

“Eli,” she gasped.

“Where are my children?”

I knelt beside her.

“Mara?”

Her eyes focused on me.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Rachel.”

“I found Eli and Grace in the minivan.”

Mara began crying.

“Are they alive?”

“They were taken from the hospital less than an hour ago.”

Her relief vanished.

“Cole has them again.”

Paramedics placed her onto a stretcher.

Grant asked whether she knew where Cole would go.

Mara shook her head.

“He has places I don’t know about.”

“What does he want?”

“The account key.”

She explained that the stolen nonprofit funds had been converted into digital assets.

Cole needed a twelve-word recovery phrase to access them.

Mara had discovered the phrase and changed the account protections.

She hid half the recovery phrase on the memory card.

The other half existed only in her memory.

“He kept asking for the words,” she said.

“I refused.”

“Why did he leave you here?” Grant asked.

“Because Travis called and said the children had been rescued.”

Mara closed her eyes.

“Cole believed Eli knew the rest of the phrase.”

“Does he?”

“No.”

“Does Cole know that?”

“He won’t believe him.”

Mara grabbed my hand.

“You have to find them before he starts questioning Eli.”

Grant received a message from the forensics team.

The white delivery van had been found near an abandoned truck stop.

Inside, investigators discovered one of Eli’s hospital bracelets and a handwritten number.

4147.

Mara recognized it immediately.

“It’s part of a gate code.”

“For which property?”

“I don’t know.”

She stared at the number.

Then her face changed.

“Wait.”

Mara explained that Cole once delivered construction supplies to remote solar farms.

One facility had been abandoned after the company declared bankruptcy.

Its access code ended in 4147.

The site stood nearly sixty miles into the desert.

Grant ordered a helicopter and tactical units to move toward the location.

Mara insisted on going.

The paramedics refused because she needed treatment.

Before the ambulance doors closed, she pulled me close.

“Cole blames Grace for everything.”

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Her voice broke.

“If the police surround him, he’ll hurt her first.”