Chapter 8 - THE NIGHT VINCENT KANE BROKE HIS OWN RULE
I remember three things from the police station.
The sound of the fire alarm.
The smell of smoke.
And Vincent Kane kneeling in front of me afterward.
His white shirt had blood on the sleeve.
Not his.
“Rory.”
I couldn’t stop shaking.
“Where’s Mom?”
“We’re going to get her.”
“That’s not where.”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I started crying.
Adults always said crying made it harder to talk.
That wasn’t true.
I talked a lot.
“You said she’d be safe. You said Marco was downstairs. You said there were police.”
Vincent’s face changed with every sentence.
“I know.”
“You lied.”
He didn’t defend himself.
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
He looked at Marco.
“Take her to Elena.”
“No.”
I grabbed Vincent’s jacket.
“I’m going.”
“You’re not.”
“Yes.”
“Rory.”
“You need me.”
Vincent blinked.
“For what?”
“Mr. Buttons.”
“The rabbit?”
“I know where I left him.”
Marco crouched.
“Kid, we can find a stuffed rabbit.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“There are lots of cubbies.”
“Then tell us which.”
“I can show you.”
Vincent looked at Marco.
Marco shook his head.
“No chance.”
“I agree.”
I crossed my arms.
“I won’t tell you.”
Vincent stared.
Marco whispered, “She’s definitely Megan’s.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Rory.”
“My mom got taken because of Daddy’s secret.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Yes, we do.”
He opened his mouth.
I kept going.
“You said dangerous people make predictable choices.”
His eyes narrowed.
“When did you hear that?”
“At the bakery.”
“You were supposed to be asleep.”
“I wasn’t.”
He looked toward the ceiling as if asking God for patience.
I continued.
“They think Mr. Buttons is at my house.”
“They may already know he’s at preschool.”
“But if they know, why take Mom?”
Vincent stopped.
Marco looked at him.
I was four and a half.
But it made sense.
If Leon Voss already had the rabbit, why take Mom?
Vincent stood.
“Because they don’t have it.”
I nodded.
“They need her to find it.”
Marco said, “Or they think she knows where Daniel hid whatever’s inside.”
Vincent pulled out his phone.
“Preschool first.”
The school looked scary at night.
During the day there were paintings of suns and dinosaurs on the windows.
At midnight, everything looked different.
Vincent’s men entered first.
Then Marco carried me.
“Which room?”
“Ladybugs.”
He found the Ladybugs room.
There were fourteen cubbies.
I pointed.
“That one.”
Empty.
My stomach dropped.
“Mr. Buttons?”
I climbed down.
The cubby was empty except for my pink mittens.
“No.”
Vincent searched the room.
“Could a teacher have moved it?”
“Maybe.”
Then I saw something.
A paper star.
Purple crayon.
Taped to the bottom of the shelf.
I pulled it off.
Mom didn’t draw purple stars.
I did.
But I hadn’t drawn that one.
On the back were three letters.
R.C.
Vincent crouched beside me.
“Rory Carter.”
“No.”
“What?”
“That’s Daddy.”
Everyone stared.
“My dad’s name was Daniel.”
Vincent nodded.
“But he called me Rocket Carter.”
“Rocket?”
“Mom said it was his nickname for me.”
The letters weren’t R.C.
They were a rocket.
A tiny drawing.
I turned the paper sideways.
Vincent saw it.
On the back, beneath the rocket, was a number.
Marco searched the classroom.
“Twenty-seven?”
There were numbers on everything.
Books.
Toy bins.
Hooks.
We found a wooden puzzle shelf marked 27.
Nothing.
Then I remembered.
“Books have pages.”
Vincent looked toward the reading corner.
We opened book after book to page twenty-seven.
Nothing.
Then I found my favorite.
Goodnight Moon.
I had made Mom read it so many times the school bought a second copy.
Page 27 had been cut open.
Inside the paper was a thin metal strip.
Marco stared.
“What is that?”
Vincent took it carefully.
“Micro-storage.”
“A data strip?”
“Older technology. Harder to detect.”
There was a handwritten note behind it.
For my Rocket.
Mom knows the song.
My heart hurt.
“Daddy wrote that?”
Vincent didn’t answer.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Talk.”
A man’s voice came through.
Calm.
Older.
“Vincent Kane.”
Vincent’s entire body changed.
“Leon.”
Marco looked at me.
I knew that name.
Voss.
“Wonderful,” Leon said. “We can skip introductions.”
“Where is Megan Carter?”
“Safe.”
“I want proof.”
“Of course.”
A video arrived.
Vincent opened it.
Mom sat in a chair.
Her hands were tied.
She looked terrified but alive.
David Sterling sat on the floor nearby.
His face was bruised.
Leon Voss stepped into frame.
He looked exactly like the photograph.
Older.
Gray hair.
Same eyes.
“Hello, Rory,” he said.
My stomach turned.
He knew I was there.
Vincent covered the screen.
Too late.
Leon continued.
“I remember holding you.”
Mom lunged against the chair.
“Don’t talk to her!”
Leon smiled.
“Your mother has always been protective.”
Vincent’s voice was ice.
“What do you want?”
“You already found it.”
Vincent looked at the metal strip.
“The ledger isn’t enough?”
“The ledger is insurance. Daniel Carter’s real gift is the master record.”
“What’s on it?”
“Everything.”
“Names?”
“Names are boring. Transfers. Signatures. Recordings. Authentication keys.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“Enough to destroy you.”
Leon laughed softly.
“Enough to embarrass many people who dislike embarrassment.”
“What’s the exchange?”
“Megan Carter for the data.”
“And David?”
Leon looked down at him.
“David made choices.”
David shouted, “Don’t give him anything!”
Leon kicked him out of frame.
Mom screamed.
Vincent’s face became unreadable.
“Location.”
“You’ll receive it.”
Then Leon said something that silenced everyone.
“Bring Rory.”
Vincent’s answer came immediately.
“No.”
Leon smiled.
“Then Megan dies.”
Mom screamed, “Do not bring her!”
Leon leaned toward the camera.
“I’m not interested in hurting the girl.”
Vincent said, “That sentence usually means the opposite.”
“She is necessary.”
“For what?”
“Daniel encrypted the master record.”
“With what?”
Leon smiled.
“Her voice.”
Everyone looked at me.
I didn’t understand.
Vincent did.
“What phrase?”
“I don’t know.”
Leon’s smile disappeared.
“That was Daniel’s final joke.”
Mom started crying.
Leon continued.
“The strip activates only after voice confirmation by Rory Carter.”
“She was a baby.”
“Daniel used early biometric sampling.”
Vincent looked at Elliot.
Elliot nodded slowly.
“Possible.”
Leon gave the time.
2:00 a.m.
An abandoned printing warehouse on the South Side.
Vincent said, “Megan walks out before Rory goes anywhere near you.”
Leon smiled.
“You still think you’re negotiating.”
Then the call ended.
Marco immediately said, “No.”
Vincent looked at the strip.
“No what?”
“No child.”
Vincent didn’t answer.
Marco stepped closer.
“I’ve worked for you twelve years. We do not put kids into deals.”
“That is not what we’re doing.”
“It sounds exactly like it.”
Vincent looked at me.
Then at the note.
Mom knows the song.
“What song?”
I knew.
Every night, Mom sang the same one.
Not a real song.
Daddy made it up.
“Rocket girl, rocket bright,” I whispered.
Vincent crouched.
“Keep going.”
“Fly through every darkest night.”
Marco’s face changed.
I continued.
“When you’re lost and cannot see…”
The room went still.
“Follow love and come back to me.”
Vincent stared at the metal strip.
Elliot inserted it into a secure reader.
A prompt appeared.
VOICE AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
I looked at Vincent.
“Is that it?”
“Maybe.”
He shook his head.
“You are not going to that warehouse.”
“But Mom—”
“I’m getting your mother.”
“How?”
He looked toward Marco.
Then toward the dark school windows.
For years, Vincent Kane had lived by rules.
Never involve children.
Never attack family.
Never trust law enforcement completely.
Never make promises he could not keep.
That night, he broke one.
He put his hand on my shoulder.
“I promise I’m bringing her back.”
Marco stared at him.
Vincent stood.
“Prepare two teams.”
“What’s the plan?”
Vincent looked at the data strip.
“We give Leon Voss exactly what he asked for.”
I wiped my face.
“You said I’m not going.”
“You’re not.”
“Then how?”
Vincent looked toward the classroom’s old speaker system.
And smiled.
“Because Leon didn’t ask for you.”
“He said bring Rory.”
“No.”
May you like
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
“He asked for your voice.”
