Chapter 6 - THE VOICE THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD
“Daniel isn't the one you should fear.”
Isabella's voice filled the car.
Then the recording stopped.
Outside, gunfire struck the hood.
I curled around Leo.
His little hands covered his ears.
“Mom?” he called again.
Nobody answered.
Vincent reached across the seat.
“Emma, keep him down.”
The driver's side window shattered.
Our driver collapsed against the wheel.
The car rolled backward.
Vincent caught the steering wheel and pulled hard.
We struck a ditch.
The impact threw me against the door.
Leo cried out beneath me.
I checked his face.
No blood.
Only tears.
“Look at me,” I whispered.
“Keep looking at me.”
Through the cracked windshield, I saw three figures moving between the trees.
One carried a rifle.
One wore a white scarf.
The third stood beside the truck, watching.
Vincent spoke into his phone.
“Marco, get my son out.”
A shot struck the mirror.
Vincent pulled his jacket over Leo's head.
Then the back door opened.
A man grabbed my wrist.
I swung Arthur into his face.
The button eye scraped his cheek.
He swore and stumbled.
Marco appeared behind him.
One punch sent the stranger into the snow.
“Move!” Marco shouted.
We ran toward the woods.
Leo's shoes slipped on frozen leaves.
I lifted him under the arms.
Vincent carried him the rest of the way.
Behind us, engines roared.
We reached a narrow drainage tunnel.
Marco pushed aside a rusted gate.
“Old service road,” he said.
“Leads to the ranger station.”
Vincent looked back toward the wreck.
His face had lost all color.
“Who sent that recording?”
“I don't know,” Marco said.
“It came through the car's emergency system.”
Leo clung to his father's neck.
“She sounded like Mom.”
Vincent kissed his hair.
“I know.”
I wanted to believe the voice was real.
But Claire could imitate Isabella's face.
Someone else might imitate her voice.
And the warning had arrived at the exact moment of the ambush.
That was not an accident.
At the ranger station, an elderly attendant let us inside.
He brought blankets and hot water.
I sat beside Leo near the heater.
Vincent paced by the window.
His phone rang.
He answered without greeting.
A woman's voice spoke so softly I could barely hear.
“Don't trust Marco.”
Vincent went still.
“Who is this?”
The caller disconnected.
Marco looked up.
“Problem?”
Vincent lowered the phone.
“Someone is trying to turn us against each other.”
Marco said nothing.
I noticed the blood on his sleeve.
“Are you hurt?”
“Just a scratch.”
But the blood was dark and spreading.
I brought the first-aid kit.
When he rolled up his sleeve, I saw an old tattoo.
A small crown over three lines.
I had seen the same symbol before.
On the silver lighter Sabrina kept in her handbag.
Marco followed my gaze.
“Something wrong?”
I shook my head.
Not because I trusted him.
Because I didn't.
Vincent sent him outside to check the road.
The moment the door closed, I told Vincent about the tattoo.
He listened without interrupting.
Then he reached for a photograph on his phone.
His father's old security team.
Four men stood behind a black limousine.
Thomas Reed was there.
So was Marco.
And between them stood a man with Vincent's eyes.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“My uncle,” Vincent said.
“Salvatore Caruso.”
“I thought he died.”
“He did. Fifteen years ago.”
Vincent enlarged the image.
The crown tattoo showed above Salvatore's collar.
“My father used that mark for his private security.”
“Then Marco could be loyal.”
“Or someone is using an old loyalty against us.”
Leo lifted his head.
“Dad?”
Vincent crouched beside him.
“Tell me something, buddy.”
“Did Mom ever mention Uncle Salvatore?”
Leo nodded slowly.
“She said the man with the crown knew where the blue door was.”
I looked at Vincent.
He looked back at me.
The drawing had shown a blue door.
And the real bear might be behind it.
A truck pulled into the ranger station parking lot.
Its headlights washed across the windows.
Marco came inside.
“Road's clear. We have transport.”
Vincent didn't move.
“Who called you?”
Marco frowned.
“Nobody.”
“Who told you where this station was?”
“I've known the route for years.”
Vincent studied him.
“Show me your phone.”
Marco's face hardened.
“Boss?”
“Now.”
For a moment, I thought he would refuse.
Then he placed the phone on the table.
There was one unread message.
A photograph of Leo sleeping.
Taken that night.
Inside the ranger station.
The message beneath it read:
YOU BROUGHT THEM EXACTLY WHERE WE WANTED.
May you like
I turned toward the dark window.
Someone was watching us from outside.
