The wind from Lake Michigan rattled the thick glass of O’Hare’s terminal.

I pulled my heavy wool coat tighter around my shoulders to block the draft.

Ryker Steel walked ahead of me, his leather boots clicking sharply against the polished gray tile.

He stopped near the baggage claim carousel for international arrivals.

“Over there, Tessa,” he said.

He pointed toward a row of blue plastic chairs near the exit doors.

Two small children sat huddled together under a single, oversized gray fleece blanket.

The girl was shivering, clutching a worn plush rabbit with a missing ear.

The boy sat protectively in front of her, his tiny chin tucked into his chest.

They looked no older than five.

“Are those the kids Marco flagged on the security feed?” I asked.

“Yes,” Ryker said.

His voice was unusually quiet.

We walked toward them, the noisy airport crowd buzzing around us like static.

No one else was paying any attention to them.

As we got closer, I noticed the boy’s striking green eyes.

They were wide, alert, and filled with a deep, silent fear.

“Hey there,” Ryker said, kneeling on the cold floor in front of them.

He kept his hands visible, resting them flat on his knees.

The boy pulled his sister closer, his small shoulders tensing.

“Who are you?” the boy whispered.

“My name is Ryker,” he said gently.

“This is Tessa.”

I knelt beside him, offering a small, reassuring smile to the little girl.

“Are you Lily and Owen?” I asked.

The girl nodded slowly, her bottom lip trembling.

“A lady left us here,” Lily said, her voice barely audible over the roaring of a jet engine outside.

“She said to wait for the man with the silver car.”

“What did she look like, sweetie?” I asked.

“Cold,” Owen said. “She had shiny black hair and didn’t like to hold our hands.”

That sounded exactly like Celeste Reed, their cold stepmother.

Ryker reached out, his fingers brushing against a thin silver chain around Owen’s neck.

He gently pulled a small, tarnished metal pendant from beneath the boy’s collar.

It was a silver medallion shaped like an oak leaf.

I gasped.