Chapter 10 – The Second Tracker
Chapter 10 – The Second Tracker
The blinking blue dot kept moving.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Southbound.
No one in the greenhouse said a word.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"Zoom in."
Nora enlarged the map.
The signal followed a narrow county road.
It was gaining speed.
Whatever carried the tracker was now inside a moving vehicle.
I looked at the coordinates.
Then something caught my eye.
"Wait."
I pointed at the screen.
"That route doesn't lead away from the city."
Daniel frowned.
"It leads to..."
"The river."
Nora finished his sentence.
The riverfront industrial district.
The same area where Blackridge Logistics had once leased several abandoned warehouses.
Most had supposedly been sold after the federal investigation began.
Supposedly.
Daniel immediately keyed his radio.
"Command."
"We have a moving signal."
"Prepare aerial support."
A voice answered.
"State Police helicopter is twelve minutes out."
"Twelve minutes is too long."
I looked at Daniel.
"We can't wait."
He already knew.
"We're going."
Grant stepped forward.
"I know that district."
Every head turned toward him.
"I've been there."
"When?"
Daniel demanded.
Grant swallowed.
"Three months ago."
"Victor took me to a warehouse."
"I signed paperwork."
"What paperwork?"
"I didn't read all of it."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"You signed legal documents without reading them?"
Grant lowered his head.
"I thought they were property transfers."
"You thought."
Daniel repeated.
Grant nodded weakly.
"They told me it was routine."
Vanessa let out a bitter laugh.
"You believed every lie they told you."
Grant didn't argue.
He couldn't.
I looked toward the house.
"Lily stays here."
Daniel nodded.
"Agreed."
Two agents approached.
"We'll remain with her."
"Nobody gets within fifty feet."
I knelt beside the lead agent.
"If anything changes..."
"We move immediately."
He nodded.
"I give you my word."
I walked back toward the driveway.
The burning FBI SUV had finally been extinguished.
Smoke still drifted into the night.
Victor's armored vehicle remained abandoned near the broken gate.
Daniel stopped beside it.
"Search every inch."
Within moments, forensic agents began examining the SUV.
One called out.
"Sir."
"We've got fingerprints."
Another shouted.
"DNA samples."
A third agent opened the rear compartment.
His flashlight revealed several plastic storage bins.
Inside were children's toys.
Dolls.
Coloring books.
Small backpacks.
Tiny shoes.
My chest tightened.
Daniel looked inside.
None of the items appeared new.
Every toy showed signs of heavy use.
One doll still wore a hospital bracelet around its tiny wrist.
Another backpack had a first-grade name tag sewn inside.
Emily.
Jacob.
Sophia.
Different names.
Different children.
The realization hit every agent at once.
These weren't random objects.
They were trophies.
Evidence of victims.
Nora carefully lifted a faded teddy bear.
She turned it over.
A stitched label on the back read:
Property of Grace Children's Shelter
Daniel quietly cursed under his breath.
"The shelter fire."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Five years ago."
He stared at the bear.
"Everyone believed the children died."
My stomach dropped.
"You think they didn't?"
He slowly shook his head.
"I think someone took them first."
Silence swallowed the group.
One of the younger agents suddenly shouted.
"Sir!"
"I found a hidden compartment."
Daniel hurried over.
The agent had removed part of the rear floor.
Beneath it sat a waterproof steel case.
Daniel opened it carefully.
Inside were six passports.
Bundles of foreign currency.
Several encrypted phones.
And one thick manila folder.
Across the front were handwritten words.
PROJECT LEGACY
Nora opened the folder.
The first page contained photographs of children.
Dozens of them.
Each photograph included a name.
An age.
And a status.
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"What does the status mean?"
Nora scanned the page.
"Transferred."
"Pending."
"Recovered."
Then she froze.
One final entry appeared near the bottom.
She slowly looked up at me.
"Evelyn..."
My heart pounded.
"What?"
She handed me the folder.
The final photograph showed Lily.
Taken only two weeks earlier outside her dance studio.
Below it were four words written in black ink.
Priority Acquisition – Phase Two
For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
Someone had been planning to abduct my daughter.
Not someday.
Soon.
Very soon.
Daniel gently took the file back.
"This wasn't personal."
I looked at him.
He continued.
"They have a system."
"They select children."
"They monitor families."
"They wait for the right opportunity."
Grant stared at Lily's photograph.
His face crumpled.
"Oh God..."
"They were never threatening me."
"They were preparing to replace me."
Daniel looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
Grant pointed at the page.
"I've seen this format before."
Everyone turned.
He swallowed hard.
"When someone becomes unreliable..."
"They remove the child."
"And then..."
His voice broke.
"They remove the parent."
Silence filled the driveway.
A radio suddenly crackled.
"Command."
"This is Air One."
Daniel grabbed the microphone.
"Go."
"We've located the moving tracker."
"Vehicle stopped."
"Warehouse District."
"Pier Seventeen."
Daniel looked at me.
"Looks like we found their next stop."
Before anyone could move, another transmission came through.
This one from the agents still guarding the house.
The voice was panicked.
"Agent Carter!"
"Lily is gone!"
Everything inside me stopped.
The world blurred around the edges.
I grabbed the radio.
"What do you mean she's gone?"
The answer shattered the night.
May you like
"The bedroom window is open..."
"And Bunny is lying on the floor."
