Chapter 5 - Why Evelyn Chose Daniel
Evelyn survived.
She had undergone surgery and remained under guarded care at a private hospital.
Her injuries were serious but stable.
Michael explained that someone had already attempted to access her room using forged medical credentials.
The company’s internal security director might be compromised.
Local law enforcement had received conflicting information.
Even hospital staff could not know where Evelyn had been moved.
The briefcase needed to reach an independent federal office before the person responsible realized Daniel still had it.
“Why me?” Daniel asked.
“Because no one was supposed to know your name.”
“They know where I live.”
“They found you faster than expected.”
Michael placed a small burner phone on the table.
“Evelyn believes the leak is close to her. Anyone from the company could be watched.”
“So you want a cabinet repairman to transport evidence powerful people are willing to kill for.”
“I want the man who entered a burning car when seven others kept driving.”
Daniel looked toward Lily.
“No.”
Michael did not argue.
He only nodded.
“That is a reasonable answer.”
He turned toward the door.
Then Lily spoke.
“Will the bad people come back?”
Michael stopped.
“They may.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You brought danger to my home.”
“The danger arrived the moment someone saw you leave the highway with the case.”
“Then take my daughter somewhere safe.”
Michael looked at him.
“I can arrange that.”
Daniel hated every option.
Keep the briefcase and wait for another intruder.
Hand it to Michael without knowing whether he was honest.
Go to the police when the company had already identified possible leaks.
Or finish what Evelyn tried to do.
He looked at Lily.
“You stay with Ms. Alvarez downstairs.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Just for tonight.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Return something.”
“Will you come back?”
The question carried the memory of the recital promise.
Daniel knelt before her.
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
He hesitated.
Promises had become dangerous things.
Then he offered his little finger.
“I promise I’ll do everything I can.”
Lily hooked hers around it.
Michael arranged for two independent security agents to watch the building without entering.
Daniel placed the briefcase inside an old toolbox beneath scratched wrenches and cabinet hinges.
The cracked tablet went inside a bag of drywall tools.
They left separately.
Daniel drove his Ford.
Michael followed several cars behind.
For twenty minutes, nothing happened.
Then a black SUV began matching Daniel’s turns.
The same vehicle he had seen outside the apartment.
He called Michael on the burner phone.
“I have company.”
“Do not go to the meeting point.”
“Where do I go?”
Michael gave him an address belonging to an abandoned fire station used as an emergency command center.
The SUV accelerated.
Daniel’s old truck could not outrun it.
So he did what years of repair work had taught him.
He used the city itself.
Alleys.
Service entrances.
A construction zone he knew had a temporary access lane.
He turned through a lumber yard, crossed behind a warehouse, and emerged two streets away.
The SUV disappeared.
For six minutes.
Then headlights returned in his mirror.
Daniel reached the fire station.
The gates were closed.
No one was waiting.
Michael’s phone stopped answering.
Daniel sat alone behind the wheel with the toolbox beside him.
Then the fire station door opened.
Evelyn Jiao stepped into the rain wearing a hospital coat over bandages.
May you like
She should not have been standing.
But she was.
