## CHAPTER 19 — COURTROOM 4B
Khloe refused to bring Nora.
Instead, she placed her daughter under Dana’s protection at a secure federal residence whose location had not been entered into any courthouse system.
Khloe carried a realistic training doll beneath Nora’s pink blanket.
Leo drove her to the courthouse shortly before midnight.
The building was officially closed, but the eastern entrance stood open.
No guards waited inside.
The elevators had been disabled.
A line of small lights led toward Courtroom 4B.
Khloe entered alone.
Harrison and Evan were tied to chairs beneath the judge’s bench.
Both appeared injured but conscious.
Dr. Shaw stood beside them.
Cal Rourke guarded the door.
The gray-suited man from the hidden video waited in the jury box.
Khloe finally saw his face clearly.
It belonged to State Senator Malcolm Reed, chairman of the committee that had funded the courthouse safety renovations.
He had attended the plaque ceremony and shaken Khloe’s hand.
“You honored the emergency responders,” Khloe said.
Reed smiled.
“Public grief is useful. It attracts funding without questions.”
“Where is my father?”
“Nearby.”
Dr. Shaw extended her hands.
“Give me Nora.”
Khloe held the blanket tighter.
“Release Harrison first.”
Reed shook his head.
“The child unlocks the trust.”
“And then?”
“The Initiative continues.”
“You mean more children disappear.”
“We place them where their potential can be protected.”
“You steal them.”
Reed looked toward Harrison.
“Your brother benefited from our work.”
Harrison struggled against the restraints.
“I’ll testify against every one of you.”
“You will be remembered as the man who murdered Judge Vale.”
Judge Vale appeared on a monitor behind the bench.
He was alive.
The shooting had been staged using a blood packet and a protective vest.
Vale had helped frame Harrison.
“You said my father shot you,” Harrison said.
“I needed the officers to believe Daniel had returned.”
“Where is he?”
The rear courtroom doors opened.
A hooded man entered.
Khloe recognized his posture before seeing his face.
He removed the hood.
Daniel Cole looked older, thinner, and exhausted.
But he was alive.
Khloe could not move.
“Dad?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
Reed ordered him to place a metal archive drive on the evidence table.
Daniel obeyed.
“The child first,” Dr. Shaw said.
Khloe approached slowly.
Daniel glanced at the pink blanket.
Then at Khloe.
He gave the smallest shake of his head.
He knew Nora was not inside.
Khloe threw the blanket toward Dr. Shaw.
Leo cut the courthouse power.
Darkness filled the courtroom.
Harrison overturned his chair.
Evan attacked Rourke.
Dana and federal officers entered through the service corridor.
Gunfire struck the walls.
Khloe crawled toward Harrison.
Someone grabbed Daniel near the judge’s bench.
When emergency power returned, Reed, Shaw, Vale, Rourke, and Daniel were gone.
A section of the courtroom floor stood open.
Beneath it was a tunnel.
Harrison found the metal archive drive on the floor.
Before police could secure it, the screen behind the bench activated.
Daniel appeared in a live video.
Two armed figures stood behind him.
“Do not follow me,” he said. “The archive is not what they think it is.”
The camera moved closer.
“There is something you need to know about Nora.”
May you like
The feed cut off before he could finish.
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