Chapter 5: What Volkov Knew
Sarah took the call in the bedroom with the door closed.
She stood by the window and listened to Vincent's voice, flat and careful the way it got when the situation was bad and he was working to keep it from sounding worse than it was.
"One of our people at the daycare," Vincent said.
"A woman named Tasha — she's been on the staff there for eight months.
We ran her originally, nothing flagged.
But she has a cousin who works freight for Volkov's operation out of Newark.
We don't know how long the connection has been active."
"How much does Volkov know?"
"Her name.
The address.
The daycare.
Possibly the school she's enrolled for in September."
Sarah looked at the wall.
"When did you find this out?"
"An hour ago.
One of our people at the port picked up a conversation — Volkov's logistics man asking for confirmation on a residential address in this zip code.
We cross-referenced it in twenty minutes."
"Does Adrian know?"
"I called you first.
He's in the next room with the girl and I didn't want to—"
"Tell him," Sarah said.
"Right now.
I'll be out in a minute."
She hung up.
Stood still for exactly three seconds.
Then she opened the bedroom door and walked back into the kitchen.
Adrian was sitting on the floor.
He was sitting on the kitchen floor with his back against the cabinet and Lily was beside him, both of them looking at a drawing she'd produced from her backpack — a new one, done this morning at Carol's, she was explaining, because she'd wanted to fix the face now that she knew what it looked like.
Adrian looked up when Sarah came in.
He read her face in under a second.
"Lily," he said, his voice unchanged.
"Can you do me a favor?
Can you go pick which book you want to read later and put it on the table so we don't forget?"
Lily looked between them with the instinct of a child who has learned to read rooms.
"Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Adrian said.
"I just really want to hear a good book and I need you to pick the right one.
That's an important job."
Lily accepted this with the pragmatism of someone who has been given a task and intends to complete it properly.
She took her backpack and disappeared down the hallway.
Adrian was on his feet before she turned the corner.
"Vincent called you," he said.
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Her name.
This address.
The daycare.
Possibly the September school."
Adrian's expression didn't change.
That was the thing about him that had always unsettled Sarah — not that he became cold under pressure, but that he became very, very focused, the way a lens focuses, everything narrowing to a single point.
"How long have we had?" he asked.
"Vincent doesn't know.
The conversation at the port was a confirmation request, not an order.
It may mean Volkov is still planning.
It may mean he already has people moving."
"It means we move first." Adrian pulled out his phone.
"I need you to pack a bag for her.
Enough for a week.
Don't take anything that looks like you're leaving permanently — if anyone is watching the building, a rolling suitcase reads differently than a backpack."
"Where are we going?"
"There's a property in Connecticut.
It's not connected to me on paper — it's held under a corporate structure my attorney set up three years ago.
Clean address, no surveillance history, full security system.
I've had a team there since the sh00ting."
"Adrian—"
"I know this is not how today was supposed to go," he said.
"I know that."
"That's not what I was going to say." Sarah looked at him steadily.
"I was going to say — is she safe right now?
This minute?"
"Yes.
Vincent has two men on the building.
They've been here since I arrived."
Sarah nodded once.
"Then I'll pack the bag.
You call Vincent." She paused.
"And when Lily comes back with that book — you sit down with her and you read it.
All the way through.
Whatever is happening outside that door, she gets the whole book."
Adrian looked at her.
"She's been waiting three years," Sarah said.
"She gets the book."
Something crossed his face — not quite relief, not quite gratitude, something older and quieter than either.
"All the way through," he said.
"All the way through."
He called Vincent.
Sarah went to pack.
And when Lily came back four minutes later carrying a book about a bear who gets lost and finds his way home, Adrian was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her.
He read the whole thing.
Twice, because she asked.
He was on the second reading, doing different voices for each character, when Vincent appeared in the doorway behind Lily's back and held up two fingers.
Two hours.
Adrian didn't miss a word.
But when the book ended and Lily slid off her chair to get her backpack because Mama had said they were going on a little trip, Adrian stood up and met Vincent in the hallway.
"Tell me," he said quietly.
"Volkov moved the timeline up," Vincent said.
"He's not planning anymore.
He has a car on this block.
Gray sedan, two men, engine running.
They've been there forty minutes."
Adrian looked at the front door.
"How do we get her out?"
"Back exit to the service alley.
I have a car there.
But we need to move in the next fifteen minutes, before they rotate the watch."
"Does Volkov know I'm here?"
Vincent's expression answered that before his words did.
"He sent you a message," Vincent said.
He held out his phone.
On the screen was a text from an unknown number.
May you like
Four words.
*Enjoy the book, Adrian.*
