Chapter 3 - LAURA'S PLAN
Laura had spent the previous night making three terrible decisions and calling them a plan.
First:
she copied the final ledger export.
Second:
she hid the card in Emma’s shoe because Voss’s men had already searched Laura’s apartment twice and she believed no one would search a toddler.
Third:
she agreed to meet Daniel at the mall.
The third decision was the worst.
Daniel said he had arranged a safe car and a motel outside the city.
Laura believed him because she desperately needed one person to believe.
He told her:
“Once you hand over the files, we disappear.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere nobody knows us.”
“What about Emma?”
“With us.”
That was the promise.
Then, one hour before they left home, Daniel called again.
His voice had changed.
“Don’t bring the card on you.”
Laura stared at the little plastic casing in her palm.
“Why?”
“If we get searched, it’s over.”
“What do I do with it?”
Silence.
Then Daniel said:
“Put it somewhere they won’t look.”
Laura looked at Emma.
That was the moment.
The moment she could have stopped.
Called police.
Called a lawyer.
Called anyone.
Instead fear narrowed her world to one goal:
Get the evidence out.
And Emma became part of the route.
Later, Laura would hate herself most for how reasonable it had felt in panic.
Laura ran to the parking garage.
Not away from Emma.
Toward a man waiting beside a gray sedan.
Daniel Price.
Thirty-three.
Clean shirt.
Sweating.
“You did it?”
Laura could barely breathe.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the card?”
“With Emma.”
Daniel stared.
“You put it on your daughter?”
“In her shoe.”
“Are you insane?”
Laura snapped:
“She’s the only person Voss won’t search.”
Daniel looked toward the mall.
“You left her alone.”
“I left her where security would find her.”
That was the story Laura told herself.
Crowded mall.
Cameras.
Security.
Safe.
Then Daniel said:
“Victor Kane is inside.”
Laura froze.
“What?”
“He had a meeting.”
Her face changed.
Victor was the one man Voss feared.
And the one man Laura had been told never to approach.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“We leave now.”
Laura pulled away.
“My daughter—”
“You go back, Voss finds you.”
“Emma—”
“Security will call you.”
Laura looked torn.
Then Daniel opened the car door.
One thing Laura did not know:
Daniel had already texted Voss.
SHE MOVED THE FILES.
May you like
And Voss had replied:
FIND THE CHILD.
