Page 120 of Hidden Tide
“Yes.”
Thomas’s voice breaks.
“You saw him before either Daniel or I did.”
The room falls silent.
“What happened?” Mom whispers.
Thomas closes his eyes.
“Kessler kept Daniel facing the water. Lawrence Vail approached from behind us. Calle called out to her father.”
I hear my own thirteen-year-old voice.
Dad, that man has a gun.
Ben’s hand finds mine.
I hold on to him as the rest of the memory returns.
Dad turns.
Kessler lunges for the film canister.
Thomas tackles Vail against the stone wall.
Dad grabs my hand and runs.
I stumble behind him, struggling to keep up.
He pulls me into a small space beneath the trees.
“Dad hid me.”
Thomas nods. “He put you behind an old maintenance barrier near the trail.”
“Then he gave me something.”
“The real film.”
Storm looks sharply at Thomas. “Then what did Kessler take?”
“A blank roll Daniel prepared in case the meeting was a trap.”
Dad knew.
He went to Lands End expecting betrayal.
“He put the film in my jacket pocket,” I say.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Daniel told me after we got you back to your mother.”
Mom presses both hands against her mouth.
