Chapter 4 - Echoes of the Past
I didn't waste a second. I called my commanding officer in Germany, explaining the situation. Within an hour, my military leave was indefinitely extended under emergency family provisions. Next, I called Marcus, a former Army Ranger buddy who now ran a private security and investigation firm out of Chicago. I needed a ghost, and Marcus was the best.
"I'm sending a team to guard your kids' hospital room," Marcus told me over the phone. "And I'm pinging this Sarah woman's burner phone. I'll have her location in five."
By midnight, I was sitting in a dingy, neon-lit diner two towns over, sliding into a booth across from a terrified woman in her late thirties. Sarah kept glancing at the door, clutching her coffee mug like a lifeline.
"Thank you for coming," I said softly, keeping my hands on the table to show I wasn't a threat.
"Wade is a psychopath," Sarah began, her voice trembling. "He targets single mothers. He plays the perfect gentleman, the wealthy savior. But once you move in, the isolation begins. He separates the kids from the mother. He calls it 'strict discipline.' He loves the power of breaking a child."
"Ava showed me photos of a lock on Tommy's bedroom door," I said, my blood boiling all over again.
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut. "The lock. Yes. He did that to my Leo. When Leo was eight, Wade locked him in a closet for two days because he spilled juice on a rug. When I tried to stop him, Wade broke my arm. Said I fell down the stairs."
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"I did!" Sarah cried, drawing a look from the waitress. She lowered her voice. "I went to the local cops. But Richard Vance is a kingmaker in this state. He swooped in, paid off the chief, and threatened to have me arrested for child neglect. He told me if I didn't take my son and disappear, he'd make sure I never saw Leo again."
I thought back to the living room, to the moment Wade's father had grabbed his wife's arm and hissed, "Not again, Patricia." They knew. The whole family knew exactly what Wade was, and they enabled him.
"Sarah," I said, leaning forward. "They are trying to take my kids away. They are trying to throw my twelve-year-old daughter in juvenile detention to protect Wade's reputation. I need you to testify. I need you to go on the record."
Sarah shook her head wildly. "No. No, I can't. Richard will ruin me. He'll take Leo."
"Richard Vance is a bully who hides behind his checkbook," I said, my voice hardening into a commander's tone. "I've faced warlords and insurgents. I'm not scared of a country club politician. I have men watching my family, and I will have men watching yours. I will protect you. But I cannot let him destroy another child."
Sarah looked at me, tears streaming down her face. She saw the unwavering determination in my eyes. Slowly, she reached into her large purse and pulled out a battered, old iPad.
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"I didn't just run," she whispered. "Before I left, I set up a hidden camera in the hallway. I caught Wade beating Leo. I caught Richard Vance coming to the house, handing Wade a stack of cash, and telling him how to lie to the doctors. I have the video, John. I've been hiding it for five years."
A cold, triumphant smile touched my lips. "Sarah... you just gave me the nuclear launch codes."
