Chapter 8: The Girl in the White Van
The video on Ethan’s phone lasted only eleven seconds.
Sophie’s bedroom window stood open.
The curtains moved in the night wind.
Her worn stuffed rabbit lay facedown on the pillow.
Then the screen went black.
Ethan lunged toward the steel door.
“Open it!”
Vanessa’s laughter echoed through the underground speakers.
“You spent years building walls, gates and security systems,” she said. “And none of them protected your daughter.”
Detective Reyes raised her weapon toward the blinking camera.
“Vanessa, harming Sophie will guarantee you never leave this country.”
“I’m not planning to leave.”
The speakers fell silent.
Reyes ordered her officers to search the room.
The steel door had locked electronically. The tactical team’s radio signals were being blocked by equipment hidden inside the walls.
Anna Mercer lay restrained on the hospital bed, fighting to remain conscious.
Ethan approached her.
“How did they get to the guesthouse?”
Anna swallowed painfully.
“Michael.”
“He drugged the officers?”
“He created the compounds. He knows exactly how much to use without killing someone.”
Ethan gripped the bed rail.
“Where are they taking Sophie?”
Anna turned her head toward him.
“If Daniel is following the original plan, Catalina Island.”
“The place where he supposedly died.”
“There’s an abandoned marine research station on the western coast. Claire worked there during college.”
“Why would they take Sophie there?”
“Because the main database was created there.”
Detective Reyes examined the intravenous line connected to Anna’s arm.
“What did they give you?”
“A sedative. They discovered I had been recording them.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“You sat at my kitchen table with them.”
“I had to.”
“You helped destroy my family.”
Anna’s eyes filled with shame.
“Yes.”
The answer struck harder because she did not deny it.
“I altered Claire’s medication,” Anna continued. “Margaret threatened my younger sister. She said she would make her disappear if I refused.”
“So you chose Claire.”
“I chose fear.”
Ethan stepped away before his anger overwhelmed him.
Anna looked at him desperately.
“But Claire did not die because of the medication I changed.”
Ethan stopped.
“What are you saying?”
“Her cancer was real. Margaret used her illness to weaken her, confuse her and search for the database. Michael adjusted her pain medication, but Claire discovered what we were doing.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“She was afraid you would confront them and get yourself killed.”
Ethan turned back toward her.
“Did Claire know Vanessa?”
“Not as Vanessa.”
Anna’s voice weakened.
“She knew her as Olivia.”
The lights flickered.
Detective Reyes found an emergency panel behind a metal cabinet. One of her officers removed the cover.
The locking mechanism had a manual release, but the cables had been cut.
“We need another exit,” Reyes said.
Anna pointed weakly toward the floor beneath her bed.
“There’s a drainage passage.”
The officers moved the hospital bed.
A rusted metal grate was embedded in the concrete.
They forced it open.
A narrow tunnel disappeared into darkness.
Reyes looked at Ethan.
“You stay behind me.”
“My daughter is already ahead of us.”
One by one, they entered the passage.
Cold water reached their ankles. The tunnel twisted beneath the remains of Rosehaven, passing collapsed walls and burned support beams.
Behind them, an alarm began to sound.
“They know we found the exit,” an officer said.
They moved faster.
After several minutes, the tunnel ended beneath a heavy storm drain in the hillside.
The tactical team forced it open.
Fresh air rushed inside.
Police vehicles surrounded the ruined hospital, but the command officers outside had been unable to contact Reyes’s team.
A dispatcher immediately reported the attack at the Santa Monica guesthouse.
The two officers guarding Sophie were alive but unconscious.
Security footage showed a white medical transport van entering through the service gate.
The driver had used police credentials registered to a retired officer who died three years earlier.
The van left eight minutes later.
Traffic cameras tracked it south toward Marina del Rey.
Reyes called the Coast Guard.
“Lock down every marina between Santa Monica and Long Beach.”
Anna was placed inside an ambulance.
Before the doors closed, she grabbed Ethan’s sleeve.
“Daniel owns a boat called Second Life.”
“What does it look like?”
“Forty feet. Dark blue hull. Registered under a shell company.”
“Why Catalina?”
“Because Claire hid the original research beneath the station.”
Ethan leaned closer.
“And what do they need Sophie for?”
Anna hesitated.
“The files are protected by a biological encryption system.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Speak clearly.”
“Claire used Sophie’s genetic profile as one part of the security key.”
Rage spread through Ethan’s chest.
“They’re going to take her blood?”
“They only need a small sample.”
“They are not touching her.”
Anna tightened her grip.
“There’s something else. Daniel believes Claire created a second access code.”
“What code?”
“One based on a memory from your marriage. Something only you would know.”
Vanessa had Sophie.
But she still needed Ethan.
That meant his daughter would remain alive as long as he possessed something they wanted.
At 4:21 a.m., the Coast Guard located the Second Life leaving Marina del Rey.
A helicopter transmitted grainy thermal footage.
Several figures stood on deck.
One was small.
Sophie.
Ethan watched the screen from the back of an unmarked police vehicle.
She wore the same yellow pajamas.
A woman held her by the shoulder.
Vanessa.
Daniel stood near the helm.
Michael and Margaret Hart were also aboard.
“They have the entire group,” Reyes said.
“Can the Coast Guard stop them?”
“They can intercept, but Daniel may hurt Sophie if he feels trapped.”
Ethan watched the boat cut through the dark water.
Then the helicopter pilot reported movement.
Daniel looked up.
He had spotted them.
A bright light flashed from the rear of the boat.
The helicopter camera shook.
“He’s firing at the aircraft,” an officer shouted.
The Coast Guard pulled back.
The boat accelerated toward Catalina.
Ethan’s phone rang from a blocked number.
He answered immediately.
Sophie’s frightened breathing came through the speaker.
“Daddy?”
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
“I’m on a boat.”
“I know. I’m coming.”
Vanessa took the phone.
“Bring Claire’s key and the database.”
“If Sophie is harmed—”
“You are in no position to threaten me.”
“You still need the password.”
Vanessa became quiet.
Ethan continued.
“Claire hid it inside a memory you will never understand.”
“Then come explain it.”
“Let me speak to Sophie again.”
“You’ll see her at sunrise.”
The call disconnected.
Reyes looked toward the eastern sky.
The first pale light was appearing above Los Angeles.
A Coast Guard vessel waited at the marina.
Ethan boarded with the tactical team.
As they pulled away from shore, another officer approached Reyes.
“We recovered footage from the guesthouse.”
“Did you identify the driver?”
“Yes.”
The officer showed them a frozen image.
The man driving the medical van was Marcus Dean.
His flight to Mexico had been a decoy.
Ethan stared at the face of his former security chief.
Marcus had not escaped.
He had stayed behind to help take Sophie.
And according to the marina cameras, he had not boarded Daniel’s boat.
May you like
He was still somewhere in Los Angeles.
Waiting for Ethan’s return.
