“Which way?” I asked, kneeling beside her for a fraction of a second.

“The loading dock,” she gasped, pointing to the door. “They… they took the little girl.”

I threw my weight against the bar of the fire door, bursting out into the freezing darkness of the rear alleyway.

A black delivery van was idling twenty yards away, its rear doors wide open.

In the glow of the taillights, I saw Vanessa holding Lily, who was struggling silently in her grip.

Grant was in the driver’s seat, revving the engine.

“Drop her!” I screamed, leveling my weapon at Vanessa.

Vanessa looked at me, her face twisted in a cold grin, and pulled Lily in front of her as a human shield.

“Shoot me, Evelyn,” Vanessa dared, her hand tightening around Lily’s neck. “See what happens to your daughter.”

Grant slammed the van into reverse, the tires spinning on the ice, heading straight toward me.

I threw myself sideways into a stack of plastic recycling bins.

The van’s rear bumper slammed into the brick wall where I had been standing a second before.