Chapter 14 - The Safe House
Claire left Noah one final clue.
A motel key card.
Room 214.
The motel had been closed for renovation for almost a year.
Vanessa wanted to come.
I said no.
She laughed without humor.
“You still don’t trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone.”
“That’s exactly what Claire warned you about.”
She was right.
I hated that.
I took Noah and Lily to Mrs. Alvarez again, this time with two off-duty officers I had known since college.
Then Hale and I drove to the motel.
Room 214 smelled like dust and old carpet.
Nothing moved.
Then I saw a fresh coffee cup on the windowsill.
Warm.
Someone had been there minutes earlier.
A closet door stood open.
Inside hung Claire’s blue coat.
The one she wore the winter before she disappeared.
I touched the sleeve.
“She’s here.”
Hale shook his head.
“Or someone wants you to think she is.”
A television clicked on behind us.
Claire appeared on-screen live.
Not a recording.
She saw me react.
“Hi, Danny.”
Only Claire called me that.
My throat closed.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Come here.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian is watching you.”
I looked around the room.
Claire smiled sadly.
“Not through the motel.”
Then her eyes moved to Hale.
“Through Marcus.”
I stepped away from him.
Hale looked horrified.
“No.”
Claire continued.
“There’s a tracker implanted under his left shoulder blade.”
Hale stared at her.
“What?”
“Adrian put it there after you tried to leave the program.”
Hale ripped open his shirt.
A small scar crossed his shoulder.
He had thought it was from a biopsy.
Claire gave us instructions.
Ten minutes later, I removed a capsule-sized transmitter with a first-aid blade while Hale cursed into a towel.
We placed it inside a delivery truck headed west.
Claire watched everything through the screen.
“Now leave.”
“Not without you.”
She closed her eyes.
“Daniel.”
“Thirteen months.”
My voice broke.
“I thought you hated me for thirteen months.”
“I never hated you.”
“Then come home.”
She looked off-screen.
Fear crossed her face.
“Too late.”
The television went black.
Then somebody knocked on the motel door.
Claire’s voice came from the hallway.
“Danny?”
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