Chapter 15 - The Plan to Betray Them
Mara’s plan depended on one thing.
Thomas believing I was desperate enough to surrender Emma.
He was right about the desperation.
Wrong about the surrender.
We obtained a medical training doll from one of Luka’s contacts.
Inside its blanket, Mara placed a transmitter.
From a distance, it looked enough like a sleeping infant to buy us seconds.
Maybe minutes.
Emma remained with a retired federal agent named Helen Price.
My father had trusted her years earlier.
Leaving Emma again nearly broke me.
I kissed her forehead.
“I’m coming back.”
Her tiny fingers wrapped around mine.
I wanted to promise nothing would happen.
I had learned how dangerous promises could be.
So I gave her the only truth I had.
“I will fight like hell.”
At eleven forty-five, I arrived at the Lake Haven compound.
Alone.
At least that was what Thomas believed.
Luka was positioned on the north side.
Ethan approached the security server through an underground maintenance tunnel.
Mara coordinated with federal agents waiting outside the property.
They needed evidence before moving.
I walked through the gate holding the fake baby.
Thomas waited inside a glass atrium.
My mother stood beside him.
Grace slept in a bassinet.
Samuel Voss was there too.
For the first time, I saw the man who had manipulated my pregnancy.
He looked disappointingly ordinary.
Gray hair.
Wire-rimmed glasses.
A doctor’s gentle face.
“Clara.”
Voss said.
“I’ve waited twenty-five years to meet you.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
Thomas held out his hands.
“Emma.”
“First my mother.”
He smiled.
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not in a position.”
I lifted the blanket slightly.
“You need her alive.”
His smile disappeared.
“Bring Elena.”
He ordered.
A guard pushed my mother forward.
She stumbled.
I caught her with one arm.
For one second, we simply stared at each other.
“I’m sorry.”
She whispered.
“Later.”
I answered.
Thomas extended his hands again.
“The child.”
I gave him the bundle.
He took it.
Two seconds passed.
Then he realized.
His expression changed.
“What is this?”
I grabbed my mother.
“Now.”
The atrium lights went out.
Luka had cut the power.
Gunfire erupted somewhere outside.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Thomas shouted.
Voss grabbed Grace’s bassinet.
I ran toward him.
“Put her down.”
Voss smiled.
“Grace belongs to Meridian.”
My mother screamed.
“She belongs to no one.”
Voss pulled a handgun.
Before he could raise it, Ethan appeared from the side corridor and tackled him.
The gun slid across the floor.
Thomas grabbed me from behind.
His arm locked around my throat.
“You ruined everything.”
He hissed.
A shot rang out.
Thomas jerked.
He released me.
Luka stood ten feet away.
His weapon lowered.
Thomas collapsed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Not fatal.
Deliberate.
Luka walked toward him.
“You don’t get to die before trial.”
Sirens filled the compound.
Federal agents rushed through the doors.
For one glorious second, I believed it was over.
Then Mara ran toward us.
Her face was white.
“Emma.”
My heart stopped.
“What about her?”
“Helen’s house was hit.”
The room vanished around me.
“Where is my daughter?”
May you like
Mara’s eyes filled with fear.
“She’s gone.”
