Chapter 1 - “Lock the Door!”The glass doors of the police station flew open so hard they struck the rubber stops behind them.
“LOCK THE DOOR!”
Officer Daniel Reed was on his feet before he fully understood what he was seeing.
A little boy had stumbled into the lobby.
Barefoot.
Dirty.
Terrified.
Maybe eight years old.
His brown hair was matted against his forehead. His shirt was wrinkled and stained. One cheek was swollen enough that Daniel noticed it from behind the duty desk.
The boy nearly fell.
Daniel moved around the desk.
“Hey. Slow down.”
“He’s chasing me!”
The boy looked over his shoulder.
Daniel followed his eyes toward the entrance.
A man appeared outside.
Dark hair.
Dark jacket.
Around forty.
He shoved through the doors.
“EVAN!”
The boy recoiled.
He pressed himself against Daniel’s side.
“GET BACK HERE!”
Daniel raised one hand.
“Sir, stop right there.”
The man immediately changed.
His anger vanished.
His shoulders lowered.
A worried-parent expression replaced the fury Daniel had seen through the glass.
“Sorry, Officer.”
He gave an embarrassed laugh.
“He’s my son.”
Daniel looked down.
The boy’s fingers had locked around his sleeve.
The man stepped forward.
“Evan, that’s enough. We’re going home.”
The boy shook his head.
“He’s not my dad.”
The man sighed.
“He’s confused.”
Daniel’s eyes moved to the boy’s forearm.
Bruises.
Not one.
Several.
The man noticed where Daniel was looking.
“He fell off his bike yesterday.”
Evan whispered, “I don’t have a bike.”
The lobby seemed to become quieter.
Daniel shifted his body slightly.
Not enough to alarm the man.
Enough to place himself between him and Evan.
“What’s your name, sir?”
“Ryan Cole.”
“ID?”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
Then he reached slowly toward his pocket.
Evan grabbed Daniel’s sleeve harder.
“Officer.”
Daniel looked down.
The boy leaned close.
His voice was almost inaudible.
“He kidnapped me.”
Daniel stopped breathing for half a second.
Evan’s eyes filled.
“He has a gun.”
Daniel’s gaze dropped.
Ryan’s jacket had shifted.
At his waistband, partly hidden beneath the fabric, Daniel saw the dark grip of a handgun.
Ryan realized it.
The false concern vanished from his face.
Daniel moved instantly.
“Face the wall.”
Ryan stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“Hands up.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
“Hands. Up. Now.”
Ryan took one step backward.
Daniel was already moving.
He caught Ryan’s wrist, turned him away from Evan, and pinned him against the wall before the man could reach his waistband.
Ryan cursed.
Another officer came running from the back hallway.
Daniel controlled both of Ryan’s arms.
“Gun!”
The second officer removed the weapon.
Daniel snapped handcuffs around Ryan’s wrists.
Ryan twisted his head toward Evan.
“That boy belongs to me!”
Evan flinched.
“He’s lying!”
“Evan!”
“Stop talking to him,” Daniel said.
Something changed in Ryan’s face.
Not fear of arrest.
Fear of the boy.
Daniel noticed.
Evan reached into the pocket of his dirty pants.
“Officer?”
“Stay behind me.”
“My real dad gave me this.”
He pulled out a small brass house key.
A faded plastic hospital wristband was tied through the hole with thin cord.
Daniel stared at it.
“What is that?”
“My dad said I had to keep it hidden.”
“Why?”
Evan looked toward Ryan.
Ryan suddenly struggled against the cuffs.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
Ryan’s face had gone pale.
“Don’t let him give you that.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Evan placed the key in Daniel’s palm.
“My dad gave it to me before he disappeared.”
Daniel looked down at the wristband.
Old.
Yellowed around the edges.
A hospital name printed across the plastic.
Evan continued.
“He said if anything happened…”
His gaze moved to Daniel’s badge.
“…I had to find his brother.”
Daniel barely heard him.
Because he was reading the surname printed on the wristband.
REED.
His fingers went cold.
“What was your father’s name?”
The boy hesitated.
Then answered.
“Michael Reed.”
Everything inside Daniel stopped.
He stared at the child.
Michael Reed.
His older brother.
The brother Daniel had not seen in nine years.
The brother Daniel had been told was dead.
Ryan began shouting behind him.
“He’s lying!”
Daniel slowly turned.
Ryan pulled against the officers holding him.
“You don’t know what that kid is!”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did you say?”
Ryan’s panic deepened.
Daniel lifted the hospital band.
“How do you know my brother?”
Ryan stared at it.
Then at Evan.
For the first time since entering the station, Ryan looked truly afraid.
Evan whispered behind Daniel.
“My dad said Ryan would kill me if he ever found out I had the key.”
Daniel’s eyes locked on the handcuffed man.
Ryan suddenly smiled.
It was small.
Cold.
And completely different from the frightened expression he’d worn seconds earlier.
“You want your brother?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
May you like
Ryan leaned closer.
“Then you better hope that key still opens the door.”
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