Jack pressed play.
Static.
Then a woman's voice.
Mia recognized it instantly.
Her mother's voice.
"Mia."
Mia covered her mouth.
"If you're hearing this, then Daniel failed to bring you here himself."
Her mother paused.
"I'm sorry."
Mia began crying.
"I need you to know that your father loved you more than anything."
Static.
"I am alive."
Mia closed her eyes.
"I have been hiding because they believe I'm dead."
Another pause.
"But I can't hide forever."
The recording crackled.
"Lena."
A man's voice interrupted.
Then the tape stopped.
Jack stared at the recorder.
Mia whispered:
"Who was that?"
Grace shook her head.
"I don't know."
Jack rewound the tape.
Played it again.
This time, he heard something beneath the voices.
A sound.
A bell.
Three times.
Then a horn.
Jack looked up.
"I know that place."
Mia wiped her tears.
"Where?"
"Old Saint Mary's train station."
Frank frowned.
"That station has been abandoned for fifteen years."
Jack looked at him.
"Not completely."
He stood.
"We leave in ten minutes."
Mia looked at Grace.
"What about her?"
Jack shook his head.
"She's coming with us."
Grace laughed weakly.
"I'm seventy-two."
Jack helped her stand.
"Then you're old enough to know how to keep your mouth shut."
For the first time, Grace smiled.
Outside, however, a black sedan waited across the road.
And inside it sat Victor Hale.
He had heard everything.
Saint Mary's Station
Old Saint Mary's Station sat beneath a hill on the edge of the county.
The railroad had stopped using it in 2009.
The windows were broken.
The tracks were overgrown.
The station sign hung crooked.
But at 3:17 a.m., Mia saw a light upstairs.
Someone was there.
Jack raised his hand.
The group stopped.
"Stay here."
Mia grabbed his sleeve.
"No."
Jack looked at her.
"If my mother is inside, I'm going."
Jack hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Stay beside me."
They entered through the side door.
The station smelled of rain and rust.
A staircase led upstairs.
Every step creaked.
Mia's heart pounded.
At the top was a hallway.
A single door stood open.
Jack entered first.
A woman stood beside the window.
Gray coat.
Brown hair.
Older than Mia remembered.
But the face was unmistakable.
Mia stopped.
"Mom?"
The woman turned.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Mia ran.
Lena caught her.
They held each other.
Mia cried against her mother's shoulder.
"You were alive."
"I'm sorry."
"You were alive."
"I know."
"You let me think you were dead."
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice!"
Lena closed her eyes.
"I know."
Jack stood in the doorway.
Lena looked at him.
"You came."
Jack nodded.
"Daniel asked me to."
Lena smiled sadly.
"He always trusted you."
Jack looked down.
"I failed him."
"No."
Lena shook her head.
"You kept Mia alive."
"I didn't know where she was."
"Daniel did."
Jack looked up.
"What?"
Lena took a small envelope from her coat.
"Daniel knew where she was."
Mia stared.
"He knew?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't he come?"
Lena looked at her.
"Because if he came, they would follow him."
Mia shook her head.
"He could have called."
"He did."
"What?"
Lena opened the envelope.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
All addressed to Mia.
Never sent.
Mia's hands trembled.
"He wrote these?"
Lena nodded.
"Every month."
Mia opened the first.
Her father's handwriting.
Dear Mia,
Today I saw a girl about your age riding a motorcycle down Main Street. For a second I thought it was you.
Mia couldn't continue.
She opened another.
Dear Mia,
I hope you're still drawing. You used to draw houses with impossible roofs. Your mother said you wanted one with a garage big enough for six motorcycles.
Another.
Dear Mia,
If I don't come home, please remember that leaving you was never the same as abandoning you.
Mia pressed the letters against her chest.
Lena touched her hair.
"I'm sorry."
Mia cried.
"I hated him."
"I know."
"I thought he didn't love me."
"He loved you more than himself."
Jack looked away.
He couldn't watch.
Then Cole entered.
Lena's expression changed.
"You."
Cole stopped.
"I need to explain."
Lena's voice hardened.
"You almost got us killed."
"I know."
"You gave Hale the address."
"I gave him a false one."
"He knew."
"Because someone followed me."
Lena frowned.
"Who?"
Cole looked at Jack.
"That's the problem."
Jack stared.
"What?"
Cole reached inside his jacket.
He removed a photograph.
A man stood beside a police vehicle.
Jack recognized him.
Chief Deputy Alan Price.
Mia looked confused.
"Who is that?"
Jack's expression darkened.
"Someone who shouldn't be alive."
Cole nodded.
"Alan Price was listed as killed in a car accident two years ago."
"But?"
"But he wasn't."
Lena stepped closer.
"He's working for Hale."
Cole nodded.
"And he's the one giving Hale information."
Jack studied the photograph.
"How do you know?"
"Because Daniel found him."
Mia looked at Cole.
"Where is my father?"
Cole hesitated.
Jack stepped forward.
"Tell us."
Cole whispered:
"He's alive."
Mia stopped breathing.
"What?"
"Daniel is alive."
"Where?"
Cole shook his head.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Then how do you know?"
Cole pulled another object from his pocket.
A small metal tag.
Engraved with numbers.
Mia recognized it.
Her father had worn one identical around his neck.
"Daniel gave this to me."
"When?"
"Six weeks ago."
Jack's eyes widened.
"Six weeks?"
Cole nodded.
"Daniel contacted me."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he told me not to."
Mia stepped forward.
"Why?"
Cole looked at her.
"Because he was planning something."
"What?"
"An escape."
"For who?"
Cole looked at Lena.
"For all of you."
A gunshot exploded through the window.
Lena screamed.
The glass shattered.
Jack pulled Mia to the floor.
More shots followed.
The station erupted into chaos.
Frank returned fire.
Cole dragged Lena behind a concrete pillar.