Chapter 2 - Someone Wanted Him Dead
Adrian let the paramedics strap him onto the gurney.
He did not take his eyes off Daniel.
Daniel walked beside him.
“Who found you?”
Adrian tilted his head toward Ernesto.
“The boy.”
Daniel looked at him for the first time.
A nine-year-old in a soaked sweatshirt should not have made a security chief tense.
This one did.
“Where are his parents?” Daniel asked.
“Not your concern.”
“Adrian, we need to secure the scene.”
“Then secure it.”
The ambulance doors opened.
Ernesto backed away.
Adrian caught the medic’s arm.
“He comes with me.”
Daniel frowned.
“That’s not—”
“He comes with me.”
The medic looked at the police officer.
The officer shrugged.
“Kid found him. We need a statement anyway.”
Ernesto climbed in.
Daniel remained outside.
Adrian watched the doors close between them.
Only then did he exhale.
Ernesto stared at him.
“You don’t trust him.”
Adrian gave a weak smile.
“You’re nine.”
“I’m not blind.”
The ambulance jolted forward.
Adrian’s ribs burned.
“What did Daniel do last night?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
Ernesto rubbed his hands together.
“After your car went over, another car stopped up there.”
“What kind?”
“Black.”
“Daniel’s?”
“Maybe.”
“Then?”
“A man got out.”
“Daniel?”
“I couldn’t see his face.”
“What did he do?”
“He shined a light down the river.”
“Looking for me.”
Ernesto nodded.
“Then Marcus climbed out on the other side.”
Adrian’s pulse jumped.
“He was alive.”
“He told me to stay low.”
“What else?”
“He said if the flashlight came close, I should run.”
Adrian stared at the ceiling.
Marcus had known.
Not guessed.
Known.
The medic cut open Adrian’s shirt.
Bruising spread across his chest.
“Possible fractures.”
Adrian barely heard him.
His watch was gone.
His phone.
His driver.
His GPS.
And Daniel had arrived too quickly.
At County Hospital, security locked down the trauma floor.
Daniel appeared twenty minutes later with a tablet.
“Board wants confirmation you’re conscious.”
“Board can wait.”
“Your uncle is flying in.”
“Victor?”
“Already on the company jet.”
Adrian looked at Ernesto sitting near the wall with a sandwich a nurse had given him.
The boy had eaten half and wrapped the rest carefully in a napkin.
“For later?” Adrian asked.
“For my mom.”
Adrian frowned.
“Where is she?”
Ernesto’s face changed.
“She didn’t come home.”
Adrian sat straighter.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Before he could ask more, Daniel set the tablet down.
“The car’s onboard unit is gone.”
“Gone how?”
“Water damage.”
Adrian reached for the device.
Daniel’s hand stopped him.
“Rest.”
Adrian looked at the hand.
Then at Daniel.
“Move it.”
Daniel did.
Adrian opened the fleet portal.
The last location ping showed his car on Lake Shore Drive.
Then a system event.
TRACKING MANUALLY DISABLED.
He opened the authorization log.
One user.
DPRICE-SEC.
Daniel Price.
Adrian felt the room sharpen.
He looked through the glass wall.
Daniel had stepped into the hallway.
He was standing there now.
May you like
Watching him.
CUT.
