CHAPTER 2 – THE MAN WHO KNEW HER NAME
Ethan’s breath turned white in the freezing air.
The figure on the rooftop did not move.
He simply stood there, holding the camera toward them.
Watching.
Recording.
Then, slowly, he raised one hand and pointed directly at the little girl.
The child immediately grabbed Ethan’s coat.
“We have to go,” she whispered.
Her voice was no longer calm.
For the first time, she sounded terrified.
The tall man in the black coat stepped closer.
“My car is behind the church,” he said. “If you stay here, they’ll take her.”
Ethan tightened his grip around the silver key.
“Who are you?”
“There’s no time.”
“Then make time.”
Ethan stepped between the stranger and the child.
He had spent ten years searching for answers.
He wasn’t about to follow another mysterious man into the darkness without knowing why.
The stranger glanced toward the rooftop.
The figure had disappeared.
“That’s worse,” he muttered.
“What is worse?”
“When you can see them, you know where they are.”
A black SUV suddenly turned the corner.
Its windows were tinted.
Its headlights were off.
It moved slowly through the snow, coming directly toward the park.
The stranger’s face changed.
“Run.”
The SUV accelerated.
Ethan grabbed the girl’s hand.
They raced across the frozen path as the vehicle mounted the curb behind them.
People screamed and scattered.
The SUV stopped only inches from the wooden bench.
Two men jumped out.
Both wore dark coats.
Both had identical silver pins shaped like a broken circle.
“There!” one shouted.
Ethan ran faster.
The little girl struggled to keep up, her boots slipping in the snow.
The stranger pulled open a narrow gate beside the church and pushed them through.
“Down the stairs!”
They entered a dark basement beneath the old building.
The stranger slammed the door and locked it.
Heavy footsteps thundered outside.
The little girl pressed herself against Ethan.
He could feel her trembling.
“What’s your name?” Ethan whispered.
She stared at the floor.
“Lily.”
The name struck him like a bullet.
Emily had always wanted a daughter named Lily.
They had chosen the name years before her disappearance.
Ethan slowly stepped back.
“How did your mother know that name?”
Lily looked up.
“She said you chose it.”
The room fell silent.
Ethan felt as though the walls were closing in.
The stranger removed his black coat.
Underneath, he wore a dark sweater stained with blood near his shoulder.
“You’re hurt,” Ethan said.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if I’m supposed to trust you.”
The man sighed and sat against the stone wall.
“My name is Daniel Cross.”
Ethan froze.
He knew that name.
Daniel Cross had been the lead detective assigned to Emily’s disappearance.
Three months into the investigation, Daniel had vanished too.
Police records claimed he had resigned.
Some said he had stolen evidence.
Others believed he had been killed.
“You were the detective,” Ethan said.
Daniel nodded.
“And I failed your wife.”
Ethan lunged forward and grabbed him by the collar.
“Where is she?”
Daniel did not resist.
“I don’t know.”
“Liar!”
“I knew where she was eight years ago.”
Ethan’s grip tightened.
“Then tell me.”
Daniel looked at Lily.
“Not in front of her.”
“She already knows more than I do.”
The pounding on the church door above grew louder.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Emily didn’t disappear because she wanted to leave you.”
“I know that.”
“No, you don’t.”
He reached inside his sweater and pulled out a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
The faded name printed on it read:
EMILY COLE
The date was from nine years earlier.
One year after Emily disappeared.
Ethan’s knees nearly gave way.
“She was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At a private medical facility outside the city.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because everyone who tried to expose it died.”
Daniel pointed toward Lily.
“And because Emily made me promise to protect her daughter.”
Ethan looked at the little girl.
His daughter.
The thought was impossible.
Yet her eyes...
Those hazel eyes...
They looked exactly like his mother’s.
Ethan crouched slowly.
“Lily, how old are you?”
“Eight.”
His heart pounded.
Emily had disappeared ten years ago.
The numbers didn’t make sense.
Unless...
“You’re not Emily’s biological daughter,” he said.
Lily’s face fell.
Daniel looked away.
“Tell him,” Lily whispered.
Daniel remained silent.
“Tell me what?” Ethan demanded.
Lily reached beneath her scarf.
Around her neck was a small silver locket.
Ethan recognized it instantly.
He had given that locket to Emily on their first anniversary.
Lily opened it.
Inside were two tiny photographs.
One was Emily.
The other was a baby.
On the back, written in Emily’s handwriting, were four words:
Ethan, forgive me. She survived.
Ethan stared at the message.
“Survived what?”
Before Daniel could answer, the basement lights flickered.
Then went out.
A red emergency light turned on near the ceiling.
Someone was inside the church.
Footsteps moved slowly above them.
One step.
Then another.
Then another.
Lily covered her mouth to stop herself from crying.
Daniel pulled a handgun from beneath his coat.
“There’s another exit behind the altar,” he whispered. “Take Lily and go.”
Ethan didn’t move.
“Who are those men?”
Daniel looked directly into his eyes.
“They work for the people who kept Emily alive.”
“Why?”
“Because Emily saw something she was never supposed to see.”
The basement door handle began to turn.
Daniel raised the gun.
“What did she see?”
Daniel’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“She saw the results of an experiment.”
The door shook violently.
“And Lily?”
Daniel looked at the frightened child.
“She wasn’t adopted.”
A loud crack split the wooden door.
“She was created.”
The lock broke.
The door swung open.
A man stepped into the red light.
He removed his hood.
Ethan stopped breathing.
The man had Ethan’s face.
The same eyes.
The same scar above his eyebrow.
The same voice.
But he looked ten years younger.
He smiled at Ethan.
“You finally found her.”
May you like
Then he turned toward Lily.
“Hello, daughter.”
