“We are dispatching an officer to meet you there, ma’am,” the dispatcher said. “Do not approach the vehicle yourself.”

I hung up the phone.

The taxi sped down the highway, passing rows of gray warehouses.

The rain began to fall harder, streaking the side windows with long lines of water.

My phone buzzed with a text message.

It was an audio file from Lucas’s secret number.

I tapped the screen and pressed my ear to the speaker.

The sound was scratchy, but I could hear Daniel’s voice clearly over the hum of the SUV’s engine.

“You will both sit there and keep your mouths shut,” Daniel said on the recording.

“Where is Mom?” Mason’s voice was barely audible.

“Your mother made her choice,” Daniel said. “She cares more about her little project than this family.”

“We are going to a place where nobody can bother us.”

“I don’t want to go,” Mason said.

“I don’t care what you want, Mason,” Daniel said. “You will do what you are told.”

“If either of you makes a scene at the gate, I will make sure you never see her again.”