Chapter 8 - The Blackout
Lucia reached for Sofi.
Her arms closed around empty air.
“Sofi?”
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
The child had been standing beside Alex one second earlier.
Now she was gone.
Lucia screamed her name.
Alex dropped to his knees and searched beneath the security console.
The inhaler lay near an open service panel.
Behind it, a narrow maintenance door stood ajar.
A guard entered the passage.
Alex followed before anyone could stop him.
The corridor was barely wide enough for one person.
Old electrical pipes ran along the ceiling.
At the far end, a metal door opened into the laundry room.
A housekeeper lay unconscious near a cart.
Her uniform was missing.
Security footage from the kitchen showed a woman wearing that uniform leaving through the basement loading bay with a covered linen cart.
Lucia watched the recording and began shaking.
“She took my daughter.”
Ruiz ordered roadblocks around the estate.
Alex called the gatehouse.
A delivery vehicle had departed during the blackout.
The authorization came from Charles Prescott’s phone.
Charles insisted the device had been taken during his interview.
Ruiz found it beneath his chair.
Someone had accessed it without his passcode.
Charles’s face finally showed fear.
“This is not Genevieve.”
“She does not know my security codes.”
“Marcus does,” Alex said.
Lucia pressed both hands against her mouth.
“She needs her medication.”
“She had one treatment less than an hour ago,” the doctor said.
“She may remain stable for several hours if she stays calm.”
Lucia turned on him.
“She is three years old and has been kidnapped.”
“How is she supposed to stay calm?”
Alex faced the surveillance wall.
He forced himself to think.
Marcus did not take Sofi merely to silence her.
The child had already spoken.
He took her because she could be exchanged.
“For the memory card,” Alex said.
Ruiz nodded.
“Or for your cooperation.”
A call reached Alex’s private phone.
The number was blocked.
Marcus’s voice emerged through the speaker.
“You always did underestimate human leverage.”
Alex gripped the phone.
“Let her go.”
“Bring Javier’s card to the monastery.”
“Come alone.”
“If I see police, the child disappears.”
Lucia stepped toward the phone.
“Please.”
“Please do not hurt her.”
Marcus was silent for a moment.
Then Sofi’s small voice came through.
“Mommy?”
Lucia broke.
“I’m here, baby.”
“I’m right here.”
A hard breath rasped through the speaker.
Sofi was already struggling to breathe.
Marcus ended the call.
Alex removed his jacket.
Ruiz blocked the door.
“You are not going alone.”
Alex looked at Lucia.
Her entire world had been reduced to the fading sound of her daughter’s breath.
May you like
“Yes,” he said.
“I am.”
