Chapter 13 - THE TRAIL
David hit the doors at a run.
A federal agent caught up beside him. "What key?"
"My archive key. The hardware token that can authorize deletion of protected internal review files."
"Does Hale know you have it?"
"He gave it to me for my birthday three years ago as a joke. Said even I should have a key to my own kingdom."
The joke tasted rotten now.
Airport security pulled camera feeds onto a wall monitor.
There.
Malik leaving the evidence room.
Martin waited near a vending machine.
He did not grab the boy.
He crouched and said something.
Malik looked confused.
Then frightened.
Then he followed.
David slammed both hands on the console. "Audio?"
"No."
They watched Martin guide him into an employee corridor.
Catherine pointed at the screen. "Stop. Go back."
The operator rewound.
"There," she said.
Malik's hand dipped into his pocket as he turned the corner.
Something small fell behind him.
A silver luggage tag.
David knew it.
Malik's initials were engraved on one side.
"Next camera."
Another corridor.
Another turn.
Malik dragged two fingers along a wall and dropped a pen beside a fire extinguisher.
Catherine looked at David. "He's leaving a trail."
David's throat closed.
He had taught Malik that after a kidnapping story on the news scared him at age seven.
If somebody moves you somewhere you don't want to go, leave pieces of your path behind.
Shoelace.
Receipt.
Anything.
Make yourself findable.
"Next camera."
Parking access.
Malik bent like he was fixing his shoe.
One lace stayed on the floor.
The camera operator traced them toward the maintenance side of the airport.
Then the feeds ended.
"Blind zone," the operator said. "Old hangars. Mostly storage."
David's phone rang.
Malik.
He answered on the first vibration.
"Malik?"
A whisper. "Dad."
David's whole body locked.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Where are you?"
"Big room. Smells like oil. No windows near me. I saw a C on the door before he took my phone."
Hangar C.
David signaled the agent.
They ran.
"Why did you go with him?" David asked.
Malik's breath shook. "He said you collapsed outside and he was taking me to you."
David swallowed hard.
Martin had used trust, not force.
That was worse.
"Listen to me. You did nothing wrong. Keep the call hidden."
Metal scraped through the speaker.
Malik whispered, "He's looking for something in a cabinet."
"Can you get to a door?"
"I think so."
Martin's voice came from farther away.
"Malik?"
The boy stopped breathing.
David did too.
"Who are you talking to?"
The call ended.
Hangar C appeared ahead.
The main doors were closed.
A side personnel door stood open two inches.
The federal agent held David back. "Tactical is thirty seconds out."
A crash sounded inside.
Then Malik shouted.
"Dad!"
David tore free and shoved through the door.
Darkness swallowed him.
A work light snapped on.
Malik stood twenty feet away beside a tool cabinet.
One shoe had no lace.
Martin Hale stood behind him.
The man who had eaten Thanksgiving at David's table for twelve years raised a steel wrench.
May you like
"Don't move."
