Chapter 11 - THE TRADE
“No.”
Daniel said it before anyone else could speak.
“No chance.”
Amy turned to him.
“You don’t decide.”
“Yes, I do.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You want to try that sentence again?”
Daniel stopped.
Thomas stepped between them verbally before it became a fight.
“Nobody is trading anybody. We involve law enforcement.”
Ryan shook his head.
“Evelyn said no police.”
“Criminals always say that,” Thomas replied.
“She sent proof.”
Ryan handed over his phone.
A photo showed Vanessa tied to a chair in what looked like an abandoned office.
Her face was bruised.
A handwritten note rested against her chest.
AMY FOR VANESSA. 8 P.M.
Amy’s stomach turned.
Daniel read it.
“She can go to hell.”
Amy looked at Vanessa’s face.
Vanessa had lied to her.
Manipulated her.
Humiliated her.
Helped steal her medical information.
Amy had every reason to hate her.
But she couldn’t stare at a terrified woman and feel nothing.
“Where?”
Ryan hesitated.
“Old Blackwell shipping terminal in Jersey City.”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“Lots of empty warehouses.”
Daniel looked at Amy.
“You’re not going.”
She ignored him.
“Could we use me as bait without actually handing me over?”
Thomas studied her.
“Possibly.”
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“No.”
Amy turned.
“Stop.”
“I’m not letting you walk into a warehouse with our baby.”
“Our baby.”
Daniel froze.
Amy stepped closer.
“Not your baby. Not my baby. Our baby. Which means you don’t get fifty-one percent of the vote because you’re louder.”
His face hardened.
“I’m trying to protect you.”
“I know.”
“That’s apparently a crime now.”
“No. Controlling me and calling it protection is the problem.”
Daniel looked like she had slapped him.
Good.
He needed to hear it.
Thomas said, “There may be a way.”
Both turned.
“We wire Amy. Tactical team nearby. She never enters the building alone.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Thomas ignored him.
“We need Evelyn talking. We need proof.”
Amy nodded.
Daniel stared at her.
“You’re seriously considering this?”
“Yes.”
“You could get hurt.”
“So could Vanessa.”
“She helped do this to you.”
“Yes.”
“She broke into our home.”
“Yes.”
“She stole your ultrasound.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“And you’re still willing to help her?”
Amy’s voice softened.
“I don’t have to become cruel just because someone was cruel to me.”
Daniel looked away.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then he said quietly, “That’s why you were always better than me.”
Amy frowned.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn me into a saint so you can stay the villain. We both get to be complicated.”
Daniel almost smiled.
It disappeared quickly.
At 7:40 p.m., Amy stood inside an unmarked tactical van wearing a microphone beneath her blouse.
Thomas checked the transmitter.
Daniel stood outside the van.
Not arguing anymore.
Just watching.
Amy stepped down.
“You can say it.”
“What?”
“That this is insane.”
“It is.”
“Anything else?”
He swallowed.
“I’m sorry I made you lonely.”
Amy looked at him.
He continued.
“I know tonight isn’t the time to fix us.”
“No.”
“I know maybe there isn’t a way to fix us.”
She said nothing.
“But if you walk back out of that building, I want you to know something.”
“Daniel.”
“I’m not asking you to stay.”
That surprised her.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
He took a breath.
“I just want the chance to become someone our child doesn’t have to recover from.”
Amy’s eyes burned.
Damn him.
That was the first truly good thing he had said in months.
Thomas called, “We’re ready.”
Amy turned away before Daniel could see her face.
Twenty minutes later, she entered the abandoned terminal.
A single overhead light burned in the center.
“Evelyn?”
Her voice echoed.
A woman stepped from behind a steel column.
Sixties.
White hair.
Perfect posture.
A gun in her hand.
“Amy Harrison.”
Amy stopped.
“Where’s Vanessa?”
Evelyn smiled.
“She’s not here.”
Amy’s blood went cold.
“What?”
“You were never the trade.”
May you like
Evelyn raised the gun.
“You were the evidence.”
