Chapter 15 - THE STORM TUNNEL
We found Michael lying beside the tunnel wall.
Blood covered his shirt.
The bullet had passed through his side.
He was conscious.
“Sloan has Lily,” he gasped.
“Which direction?” Collins asked.
Michael pointed toward the western branch.
“Rachel Voss is with him.”
“They have a boat near the pumping station.”
Paramedics began treating him.
I started toward the tunnel.
Michael grabbed my sleeve.
“I told her to leave a trail.”
Small silver beads lay across the wet concrete.
Lily had broken the bracelet Anna gave her before the luncheon.
One bead appeared every twenty feet.
She was guiding us.
The trail led to an underground pumping chamber.
An old service ladder rose toward the lake.
We climbed into the rain.
A motorboat moved away from the dock.
Sloan stood behind the controls.
Rachel held Lily near the rear seat.
Detective Collins called the harbor patrol.
I saw a maintenance boat tied beside the station.
Its key remained inside the ignition.
Collins and I followed.
The rain intensified.
Sloan’s boat headed toward Evelyn’s Lake Briar house.
He believed police had finished searching it.
A private boathouse connected to the property through another tunnel.
Sloan reached it first.
By the time we arrived, the dock was empty.
The basement door stood open.
Inside, emergency lights glowed along the hallway.
Computer monitors displayed the false banking portal.
Sloan needed my face, voice, and signature to complete the transfer.
Lily sat in a chair beneath one of the cameras.
Her hands were tied.
Rachel held the counterfeit injector against her neck.
“You know what this contains,” Sloan said when I entered.
“One push could stop her heart before Collins reaches us.”
Detective Collins remained outside the doorway.
Her weapon was raised.
“You cannot escape,” she said.
“I do not need to escape yet.”
Sloan turned the monitor toward me.
“Authenticate the transfer.”
“The account is frozen.”
“You are lying.”
“Then try it yourself.”
He entered the code.
The portal requested trustee verification.
A camera activated.
Sloan pushed Lily closer to the screen.
“The trust recognizes her face.”
“She is a child.”
“She is the beneficiary.”
The system displayed an error.
ADULT TRUSTEE AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Sloan pointed the injector toward Lily’s chest.
“Sit down, Daniel.”
I obeyed.
The camera scanned my face.
A recording began.
Sloan placed a written statement before me.
It said I voluntarily transferred the remaining trust funds and admitted fabricating accusations against Evelyn.
“Read it,” he ordered.
Lily looked at me.
Her fear disappeared for a moment.
Then she said quietly.
“Dad, Grandma told me children remember things wrong.”
Sloan frowned.
“What?”
May you like
Lily looked toward the hidden security camera above the monitor.
“I remember everything.”
