Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THEY ESCAPEDGrant took Riley to a townhouse Dominic kept under a company name no one in his social circle knew.
Not glamorous.
Secure.
Quiet.
A woman named Helen Park managed property and asked no questions.
Riley chose upstairs room with two windows and door she could lock from inside.
Grant showed her every exit.
She appreciated that.
Dominic arrived an hour later carrying a cardboard box.
Riley looked suspicious.
“What?”
“Your father’s things.”
Her face changed.
Dominic placed box on dining table.
“I kept what he left in my apartment years ago.”
“You had his stuff?”
“A few things.”
Riley opened.
Old photograph.
Two young soldiers.
Nathan and Dominic.
Both thinner.
Both exhausted.
Both grinning.
Riley touched her father’s face.
“He looks so young.”
“We were idiots.”
“You still are.”
Dominic smiled.
Inside box:
A military patch.
A deck of cards.
A silver Zippo that no longer worked.
A folded note in Nathan’s handwriting.
Dominic had read it hundreds of times.
Riley unfolded.
Vance — you still owe me $20.
That was all.
She laughed.
Then cried.
Not loudly.
She sat at table and covered mouth.
Dominic stayed across room.
No touching.
No comforting without permission.
Eventually she asked:
“What happened after you escaped?”
Dominic sat.
“I thought we were going to die.”
Riley looked.
“You didn’t say that earlier.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because people prefer heroic stories.”
“What’s real one?”
Dominic stared at old photograph.
“We were terrified.”
He told her.
No movie heroics.
No perfect plan.
Just a power failure, a loose door, a moment.
Dominic acted.
Nathan could barely stand.
They moved through darkness.
Twice Nathan collapsed.
Second time he ordered Dominic to leave.
Dominic swore at him.
Nathan laughed.
“How far?”
“Far enough.”
Dominic smiled.
“That answer annoyed him too.”
At one point they hid in drainage ditch while patrol passed.
Nathan was shaking uncontrollably.
Dominic put hand over his mouth to stop teeth chattering.
Nathan whispered:
“If we get home…”
Dominic:
“When.”
“If.”
“When.”
Nathan rolled eyes.
“If one of us doesn’t…”
“Stop.”
“Promise.”
Dominic knew.
Family.
If one doesn't make home, other looks after family.
Dominic said yes.
Nathan survived.
Promise became joke between them.
Years later when Nathan had Riley, he revived it.
Dominic thought symbolic.
It wasn’t.
Riley stared at photograph.
“He trusted you more than anyone.”
Dominic felt guilt.
“He trusted me enough to give you number.”
“Then why didn’t he tell you what was happening?”
Dominic had asked himself same all night.
“Maybe he thought telling me would make things worse.”
Riley looked.
“Would it?”
Dominic answered honestly.
“Back then?”
“Probably.”
He had been more violent.
More reactive.
Nathan knew.
Riley’s phone buzzed.
Unknown message.
She tensed.
Grant came from doorway.
“What?”
Riley showed.
Photo.
The townhouse exterior.
Taken minutes ago.
Text:
DOMINIC CAN’T SAVE YOU. HE COULDN’T SAVE NATHAN.
Grant moved instantly to window.
Dominic stood.
“How did they find us?”
Grant cursed.
Townhouse address was compartmentalized.
Only Dominic, Grant, Helen, and security scheduler knew.
No Vincent.
Unless leak was deeper.
Dominic looked at Riley.
She had gone pale but not panicked.
That frightened him more.
She was used to this.
Grant said:
“We move now.”
Riley:
“No.”
Both men looked.
“I’m tired of moving.”
“Riley—”
“They keep finding me because everyone keeps taking me somewhere.”
She held phone.
“What if they want me scared enough to run?”
Dominic studied her.
Nathan's daughter.
Of course.
“What do you suggest?”
Grant looked surprised Dominic asked.
Riley said:
“Find out what they want.”
Dominic:
“They want something Nathan left.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“Maybe you do and don’t know.”
Riley thought.
Then her face changed.
“What?”
She stared at old photograph.
“My dad used to take me somewhere.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Where?”
“Every year.”
“A place outside city.”
“He called it our ‘memory stop.’”
“What was there?”
“I don’t remember.”
“How old?”
“Five. Six. Seven.”
“Before he died?”
She nodded.
Grant:
“Can you locate it?”
Riley closed eyes.
“There was a red tower.”
“Train tracks.”
“A stone angel.”
Dominic and Grant exchanged look.
Could be many places.
Riley opened eyes.
“And a locker.”
“What locker?”
“My dad put something in it once.”
Dominic felt the story shift.
“What?”
Riley whispered:
“He told me if anyone ever asked about it…”
May you like
Her face tightened as memory returned.
“…I was supposed to say I’d never seen it.”
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