Chapter 13 - FOUR MINUTES
Maya immediately radioed Thomas.
No response.
Olivia ran toward the service entrance.
Sarah grabbed Lucy and followed.
Maya shouted.
“Sarah!”
“My husband is in there.”
Inside, smoke already drifted through the west hallway.
Not fire.
Gasoline.
Someone had prepared accelerants.
Olivia knew the floor plan.
“My father brought me here when I was twelve.”
Sarah stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew there were children.”
“I thought it was an emergency shelter.”
“When I became a prosecutor, I found sealed cases connected to the place.”
“And?”
“My father told me to stop asking.”
They found Rebecca and Emily first.
Emily was weak but conscious.
Rebecca held her tightly.
Arthur appeared moments later.
“Thomas and Evan went downstairs.”
Maya yelled,
“The building is rigged.”
Arthur ran.
They reached the basement corridor as Thomas emerged carrying a metal case.
Evan followed.
“Move!”
Everyone raced toward the east exit.
The first explosion struck the opposite wing.
Glass shattered.
The building shook.
Sarah covered Lucy with her body.
Thomas grabbed them both.
They reached the yard seconds before another blast collapsed part of the roof.
Rebecca screamed.
“Emily!”
Emily was outside.
Arthur was outside.
Maya.
Olivia.
Thomas looked around.
“Evan?”
Nobody answered.
Thomas turned back toward the building.
Sarah grabbed him.
“No.”
“He’s inside.”
“You’ll die.”
“He saved us.”
Thomas pulled free.
Before he reached the door, Evan stumbled through smoke.
He fell to his knees.
Thomas dragged him away.
Evan coughed.
“Still think I’m the traitor?”
Thomas almost smiled.
“Ask me tomorrow.”
They escaped in two vehicles.
The metal case Thomas recovered contained paper records.
Not copies.
Original intake logs from Hawthorne.
Maya scanned the first pages.
Names appeared beside numbers.
V-01.
V-02.
V-03.
Payments.
Transfers.
Adoptive placements.
Then Sarah saw Lucy.
V-17.
Beside her daughter’s name was a scheduled transfer date.
Two days from now.
Destination:
CRANE FOUNDATION PRIVATE RESIDENCE.
Sarah stared at Olivia.
“Your family was going to take my child?”
Olivia looked horrified.
“I didn’t know.”
Thomas pointed to another column.
AUTHORIZED BY N.C.
Nathaniel Crane.
Then Maya turned another page.
There was a second signature.
J.C.
James Calder.
The federal deputy director.
Olivia sat back.
“My father and Calder.”
Arthur shook his head.
“They still answer to someone.”
Sarah looked at him.
“How can you possibly know that?”
“Because this symbol is on every page.”
He pointed toward a small black circle pierced by a vertical line.
Rebecca whispered.
“I’ve seen it before.”
“Where?”
“On Malcolm Voss’s original ledger.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“What does it mean?”
Arthur answered.
“It’s not the Circle’s symbol.”
“It belongs to the person who created the Circle.”
Everyone went quiet.
Sarah asked,
“Who?”
Arthur looked at her.
“I never knew.”
Then Emily spoke weakly from Rebecca’s arms.
“I do.”
They turned.
Emily swallowed.
“I heard Senator Crane say her name.”
Sarah leaned closer.
“Her?”
Emily nodded.
May you like
“He called her Mrs. Vale.”
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