Chapter 11 - The First Door
The engine outside roared to life.
Dad grabbed my arm.
“Camila, we have to go.”
I held Noah tighter against my chest.
“Why?”
“Because whoever started this just realized we found the first door.”
Another lock clicked somewhere beyond the warehouse doors.
Then came the sound of tires tearing across gravel.
Ethan moved toward the exit.
“I'll see who it is.”
“No,” Dad snapped.
Ethan stopped.
Dad looked at Daniel.
“Get everyone out through the east loading bay.”
Daniel nodded.
The investigators split instantly.
For a moment, nobody moved toward the main doors.
We all listened.
Another engine.
Then another.
My heart pounded.
“There are at least three vehicles,” one investigator said.
Dad's jaw tightened.
“They weren't here to rescue Diane.”
“No,” I whispered.
Diane was still in handcuffs.
She stood beside the overturned chair, staring toward the dark loading area with an expression I'd never seen on her face before.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“Diane.”
She looked at me.
“Who is out there?”
She didn't answer.
I stepped toward her.
“Who is it?”
Her eyes moved to Noah.
Then back to me.
“People who don't like loose ends.”
Ethan swore.
Dad turned toward the investigators.
“Move.”
Everything happened at once.
The warehouse lights went out.
Noah cried.
I instinctively wrapped one arm around his head and dropped behind a concrete support column.
A gunshot cracked outside.
Then another.
Someone screamed.
Dad pushed me lower.
“Stay down.”
“I have Noah.”
“I know.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that had probably saved his life a hundred times.
Then I saw him pull the weapon he'd concealed beneath his jacket.
Ethan looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Stay here.”
He started to move.
I grabbed his hand.
“Don't.”
He looked down at our fingers.
Then at me.
There was something different in his eyes.
Not the selfish panic I'd become used to.
Not the frightened husband who had spent days blaming everyone except himself.
This was determination.
“I'm not leaving you.”
Before I could answer, a heavy object struck the side of the warehouse.
Metal screamed.
One of the investigators shouted that someone was trying to breach the loading gate.
Dad motioned for everyone to move.
“East side. Now.”
Daniel ran ahead.
Robert appeared from behind a stack of crates.
“There's another exit.”
Diane laughed.
All of us turned.
She looked almost pleased.
“You still don't understand.”
Dad pointed his weapon toward the floor beside her.
“Start talking.”
Diane's smile faded.
“They aren't here for me.”
I felt cold.
“Then who are they here for?”
Her eyes settled on Noah.
“You.”
My stomach dropped.
“Me?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Not you.”
Her gaze remained on Noah.
“Him.”
A crash exploded from the far end of the building.
The loading gate buckled.
Dad shoved me toward Daniel.
“Go!”
I ran.
Noah's cries filled my ear.
Ethan was beside me.
Robert followed.
We reached the east corridor just as one of the side doors burst open.
A man in black stepped inside.
He lifted his weapon.
Dad fired first.
The man dropped behind a crate.
“Keep moving!”
We burst through the exit into the cold night.
I didn't stop until we reached the armored SUV.
Daniel yanked the rear door open.
“Get in!”
I climbed inside with Noah.
Ethan followed.
Dad got in last.
The vehicle accelerated before the door was fully closed.
I looked through the rear window.
Two black SUVs shot out of the warehouse lot.
“They're following us.”
Dad looked at Daniel.
“Take the river road.”
Daniel shook his head.
“They'll expect that.”
“Then give them what they expect.”
I looked at my father.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying us distance.”
I hated how easily he said it.
Like our lives were positions on a map.
Noah whimpered.
I pressed my lips against his forehead.
Dad reached for him.
I didn't let go.
He stopped.
“Camila.”
“No.”
“I wasn't taking him.”
“I know.”
“But?”
“I don't know who I can trust.”
The words hurt him.
I could see that.
He leaned back.
“You're right.”
Ethan looked at me.
“You can trust me.”
I turned toward him.
“I don't know that anymore.”
His face fell.
“You should.”
“You lied to me.”
“I know.”
“You let your mother into our lives.”
“I know.”
“You told me you had no idea what she was doing.”
“I did.”
“And now we're discovering she planned this before we were even married.”
Ethan looked down.
“I didn't know.”
I watched him for a long moment.
“That's the problem.”
The SUV jerked violently.
Daniel shouted, “They're trying to ram us.”
Dad looked toward the rear window.
“They want us stopped.”
“Why?”
He didn't answer.
My phone vibrated.
Everyone went silent.
A text message.
One sentence.
Do not take Noah to a hospital. Do not take him home. Do not trust the man sitting on your right.
I looked slowly toward Ethan.
His eyes met mine.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
His face changed.
Then Dad took it.
He read the message.
“Who is on my right?” Ethan asked.
I looked toward the front.
Dad was on my left.
Daniel was driving.
Ethan was on my right.
I swallowed.
“Who sent it?”
“No number,” Dad said.
Another message appeared.
You already know his blood does not belong where you think it does.
I stared at Noah.
My son.
His tiny fist was wrapped around my finger.
“What does that mean?”
Dad went pale.
Ethan noticed.
“Dad?”
Michael looked at him.
“Do you know something about Noah's blood?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
I felt something inside me break.
“You're lying.”
“Camila—”
“You promised.”
“I promised I would tell you the truth.”
“You said no more secrets.”
He looked at the sleeping child in my arms.
Then at the dark highway.
“I need proof before I tell you something that could destroy your family.”
“What family?”
Nobody answered.
My phone buzzed again.
A photograph loaded.
It showed a hospital bracelet.
Noah Moretti.
Underneath it was a date.
A date from before Noah had been born.
I stared at it.
Ethan leaned closer.
“That isn't possible.”
Dad's eyes fixed on the screen.
“Where did they get that?”
I looked at him.
“You tell me.”
His face hardened.
“That's what we're going to find out.”
The SUV turned sharply.
The pursuing vehicles disappeared behind us.
For a few seconds, there was only the sound of Noah breathing.
Then Daniel spoke.
“General.”
Dad looked forward.
“There is a problem.”
“What?”
Daniel hesitated.
“We just lost the investigators.”
Dad stared at him.
“Why?”
“They were never following us.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel looked at my father through the mirror.
“They were being followed.”
A silence settled over the vehicle.
Then my phone received one final message.
The first door was never the warehouse.
The second one is your father's memory.
And the third one is Noah.
I looked at my son.
May you like
For the first time, I wondered whether bringing him into this world had been the beginning of the danger—
or the reason someone had been waiting for us to come back.
