Chapter 11 - The Second Time Ethan Ran
Samuel expected panic.
Andrew gave him silence.
“Where is Ethan?”
“He’s safe.”
“You’re bleeding in my house.”
“That isn’t mine.”
Andrew shut his eyes for one second.
Good.
Not Ethan.
“What do you want?”
“My mother wants what Rachel took.”
“The files are with federal investigators.”
“Not those files.”
Andrew thought of Sarah.
“What files?”
“The original dataset.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You will.”
The call ended.
Owen rushed in.
“Security found a service exit forced open.”
“How did Samuel get inside?”
“Credential override.”
The ghost account.
Andrew turned.
“Track Ethan.”
“He doesn’t have a phone.”
Andrew remembered something.
The Northwestern hoodie.
Marcus’s grandson used it for school trips.
A small AirTag had been stitched inside after the child once lost the sweatshirt.
“Marcus.”
His driver understood immediately.
They pulled the tracker.
Moving south.
Fast.
Police responded.
Andrew was ordered to stay behind.
He did not.
The signal stopped near an abandoned printing warehouse by the river.
Police surrounded the building.
Andrew arrived anyway.
Ruiz swore when he saw him.
“You are incapable of following one instruction.”
“He has Ethan.”
“That’s why I need you outside.”
Then a small figure appeared at the far end of the alley.
Running.
Ethan.
Alone.
“Andrew!”
Andrew broke past Ruiz before anyone could stop him.
Ethan slammed into him exactly as he had on the sidewalk.
Same desperate arms.
Same shaking body.
Andrew held him.
“You’re okay.”
“He tried to make me get in the car.”
“How did you get away?”
Ethan took a breath.
“I bit him.”
Despite everything, Andrew laughed.
One sharp sound.
“That was extremely irresponsible.”
“He screamed.”
“I’m proud of you.”
Police entered the warehouse.
Samuel was gone.
But he left something behind.
A laptop.
On the screen was a photograph of Sarah.
Alive.
Taken two days before the crash.
She stood beside Jonathan Pierce.
Andrew stared.
Under the photograph:
ASK YOUR BEST FRIEND WHAT SARAH GAVE HIM.
Andrew turned slowly.
Jonathan had followed to the scene.
His face drained of color.
Andrew walked toward him.
“What did she give you?”
Jonathan looked at the laptop.
Then at Andrew.
“I was going to tell you.”
“What.”
“A drive.”
Andrew’s voice dropped.
“Where is it?”
“Safe.”
“WHERE?”
Jonathan flinched.
“In a bank vault.”
Andrew stared.
“You’ve had Sarah’s evidence for fifteen months?”
“Yes.”
Andrew hit him.
The punch came before thought.
Jonathan fell against the hood of a police car.
Officers moved.
Ruiz held up a hand.
Jonathan touched his bleeding lip.
“I deserved that.”
“You let me spend fifteen months believing her death was an accident.”
“I didn’t know it wasn’t.”
“You had her evidence!”
“I couldn’t decrypt it.”
“Then give it to me.”
Jonathan shook his head.
“I tried.”
“What does that mean?”
“Sarah built a dead-man safeguard. The drive needs two biometric keys.”
Andrew stared.
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
“And?”
Jonathan looked at Ethan.
Andrew’s stomach dropped.
“No.”
Jonathan swallowed.
“Rachel Miller’s.”
Hours later, inside an FBI digital lab, Andrew and Rachel provided fingerprints and voice authentication.
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
Financial records.
Children’s names.
Contracts.
Then one video.
SARAH_FINAL.
Andrew could not breathe.
Rachel squeezed Ethan’s hand.
Andrew clicked.
Sarah appeared sitting in her car.
Pregnant.
Alive.
Andrew had to look away for a second.
Then back.
“If you’re watching this,” she said, “then I probably failed to stop Evelyn.”
Andrew’s chest cracked open.
Sarah continued.
“The system is called HarborNet. It uses stolen family-services data to identify children whose guardians are most vulnerable to losing custody.”
Documents appeared behind her.
“Evelyn’s organization then influences referrals, evaluations, placements, and treatment billing.”
Rachel began crying.
“Gregory helped move money,” Sarah said. “But he also tried to stop me from confronting Evelyn because he believed she would kill me.”
Andrew clenched his jaw.
Then Sarah leaned closer.
“The person you need to find is Samuel Dane.”
Andrew stared.
“He handles intimidation.”
Sarah looked directly into the camera.
“Andrew, if anything happens to me, do not become like them to punish them.”
His eyes burned.
“Stay you.”
The video cut.
Then a second file unlocked automatically.
A live account ledger.
Thousands of transactions.
Names of politicians.
Judges.
Doctors.
Corporate executives.
The conspiracy was bigger than anyone expected.
Then Ethan pointed at one name.
“Her.”
Andrew looked.
ELENA MARSH — $2,400,000.
“Who?”
Ethan’s finger shook.
“That’s the lady who comes to the home.”
Rachel went white.
Andrew turned.
“You know her?”
Rachel whispered, “Everyone does.”
“Who is she?”
Rachel looked at him as if she couldn’t believe he had to ask.
“She’s the Illinois Secretary for Children and Family Services.”
The official responsible for protecting children across the state.
May you like
The woman who had publicly praised St. Matthew’s.
And according to Sarah’s files, one of the people being paid to keep it alive.
