The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (part three) She climbed over the barbed wire fence and ran to a few barren oak trees. “Can you help me?” she pointed to a piece of cement. “I can lift it, but with the baby, it’s awkward.” He lifted the piece of concrete and she grabbed the handgun from [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (part two) “I know. It’s just hard because every step…” “… is a step away from everything I wanted, everything I loved, my whole life,” he sniffed and cleared his throat. She gave him a soft, understanding smile and ate her sandwich. When he merged into the left turn lane [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (part one) Thursday early morning — 6:15 P.M. Days : 196 Lo stopped jogging and hopped in the passenger seat of Sy’s battered Chevy truck. He took off down Watercress Road. “Why are you running on the road?” Sy’s voice was angry. Lo looked at him for a moment and [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part twelve) “Newport Chemical Depot,” Sy said. “Sure. They closed the base in 2010. Why?” “It sounds crazy,” Lo said. “I mean, I know it’s crazy. But I wonder if Don destroyed it.” “Or tried to,” Larry said. “He could hire people fromNewportto set it up and do the [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part eleven) “No,” Larry said. “We checked every where and went through what’s left of the basement. Nothing.” “If anything was there, I’m sure Jaden took it,” Lo said. “Speaking of Jaden,” Sy said. “He’s looking for you Lo. He’s told everyone that you’ve been kidnapped.” “He filed a [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part ten) “My daughter and I went through our attic and basement,” Mrs. Williams said. “I didn’t tell her what we were looking for. I just said I wanted to clean things out. We went through every box and every scrap of paper. We didn’t find anything. I thought [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part nine) “I know,” she said. “You won’t do it again?” he asked. “I don’t think so,” Lo said. “And yeah, that’s the best promise I can give right now.” Manny nodded in the rearview mirror. “Ok, let’s go,” Manny said. He got out of the driver’s seat and [...]

  The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part eight) “Tall? Dark hair? Kind of vanilla looking?” Manny asked. “Uh huh.” “He’s a Fed,” Manny said. “One of those guys who doesn’t say where he works but has a high security clearance. Makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.” “Well, he said he [...]

The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part seven) Thursday early morning — 3:15 A.M. Days: 196 “I need to tell you something and I don’t want you to be mad,” Lo said to Manny. Hidden behind his dark tinted windows, Lo was sitting in the back seat of Manny’s sedan next to Yazmin. Sy Monquist sat [...]

The beginning CHAPTER TWENTY TWO (part six) She was standing in the middle of a large open concrete space. The empty terrain was dotted with tall, decaying brick buildings. She rode past what looked like a broken down guard tower and stopped on the red brick street in front of a falling down brick building. [...]