Part Two: What the Case Held
Dust scratched hard against my throat as I crouched motionless in that attic, listening.
Below, Marcus set the three passports down carefully on the table. "The Bureau moved considerably faster than we expected," the stranger said.
My stomach dropped straight through the floor. Bianca.
Marcus's jaw tightened visibly. "How close are they, exactly?"
"Close enough that your wife's sister may already know everything."
I clutched my phone tight, silently praying for a message to appear on the screen.
Marcus lifted my laptop higher. "She never checks this thing closely. And even if she somehow did, she wouldn't understand a word of what she found."
The stranger let out a low chuckle. "You chose well, at least."
Marcus's voice hardened further. "That was never part of the actual plan. But the kid complicates matters now."
Oliver.
"Your parents are already moving him," the stranger said.
I bit down hard on my own knuckle to keep from crying out loud.
Marcus nodded slowly. "Good. Once we cross the border, everything resets completely."
My phone vibrated silently against my palm. Bianca's message finally came through: FBI and local police two minutes out. Stay hidden. Oliver is safe. We already intercepted him.
Safe. I nearly sobbed out loud reading that single word.
Downstairs, Marcus's own phone started ringing. His face drained of all color instantly. "What do you mean they took him?"
The stranger cursed sharply under his breath. Marcus's eyes lifted slowly upward, toward the attic ceiling directly above him.
"Teresa?" His voice softened suddenly, coaxing, gentle in a way that now sounded genuinely monstrous to me. "Baby, where exactly are you?"
The attic steps creaked once beneath approaching weight.
Then sirens split the night apart entirely. Red and blue light flashed sharp through the small attic vent overhead.
"FBI! Open this door immediately!"
The stranger bolted instantly. Marcus froze at the bottom of the attic stairs, staring straight up into the darkness where I hid.
And then, impossibly, he smiled.
"Your sister really should have stayed out of this."
The door burst open a heartbeat later.
