CHAPTER 5 — The Promise Cole Could Not Break
The room exploded into motion.
Danny grabbed Victor before he could move.
Another guard searched his pockets.
Cole ignored them all.
Only one sentence echoed inside his mind.
There are children still missing.
Hours later, Victor sat alone inside a secure holding room.
He refused food.
He refused water.
He refused to answer a single question.
Every investigator failed.
Every negotiator walked away frustrated.
Finally Danny looked at Cole.
"He's waiting for you."
Cole entered the room alone.
Victor smiled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
Cole remained standing.
"What do you want?"
Victor answered immediately.
"Freedom."
"No."
Victor shrugged.
"Then the children disappear forever."
Cole stared at him for several seconds.
"You don't know where they are anymore."
Victor's smile faded slightly.
Cole continued.
"You only know who took them."
Another tiny crack appeared.
Cole had spent decades reading people.
Victor was lying.
Not completely.
Just enough.
Cole quietly placed one photograph on the table.
It showed Michael holding baby Sophia shortly after she was born.
"He trusted you."
Victor looked away.
For the first time, guilt crossed his face.
Only for a moment.
"I gave him opportunities."
"You gave him a funeral."
Silence.
Cole stood to leave.
At the door he stopped.
"I won't become you."
"I won't torture you."
"I won't threaten your family."
"I'm going to find every child."
"And when I do..."
"The only thing you'll have left..."
"...is the knowledge that you failed."
Cole walked out.
Victor said nothing.
But after several long minutes...
He whispered a single address.
Danny heard it through the monitoring system.
The race had begun.
Across town, Nora tucked Sophia into bed beneath her brand-new blankets.
Sophia smiled sleepily.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Mr. Cole doesn't look scary anymore."
Nora kissed her forehead.
"No."
"He just looks lonely."
Outside the apartment building, Cole sat alone inside his car.
May you like
For the first time in decades...
He cried where no one could see him.
