A bruised little boy burst into our Nashville police station screaming for help—and the man chasing him stopped dead when he saw me behind the desk.

I drove back to the station as fast as the law allowed.

Faster, actually.

"How?" I demanded.

Sarah was on the phone with the desk sergeant.

"One of the officers on duty let him go. Says he had orders from the captain."

I slammed my fist on the steering wheel.

Daniel was right.

The corruption went deep.

All the way to the top.

"Which officer?"

"Mike Torres. New transfer. Started last month."

I knew Mike.

Or thought I did.

He seemed like a good guy.

Hard worker.

Eager to please.

Turns out he was eager to please the wrong people.

"And the captain?"

"Says he never gave any such order. But there's no paper trail. No recording. Just Mike's word against his."

I didn't believe it for a second.

Captain Henderson had been on the force for twenty years.

He had connections.

Lots of connections.

The kind that came with money and power.

The kind that Webb would buy.

We pulled into the station parking lot.

It was chaos.

Officers running everywhere.

Reporters starting to gather.

I pushed through the front doors.

The first person I saw was the CPS worker who had been with Evan.

She was crying.

"Where is he?" I asked, grabbing her arm.

"Who?"

"Evan. The little boy."

Her face crumpled.

"They took him. Two men came in. Said they were from another agency. Said there was a mix-up in paperwork. I tried to stop them, but they had badges. They looked real. And then they just... took him."

I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

Evan was gone.

And Ryan was free.

They would kill him.

I knew they would.

He was a witness.

He knew too much.

And he was just a kid.

"Which way did they go?" I demanded.

"Out the back. They had a black SUV. No license plates that I could see."

I ran toward the back door.

Sarah was right behind me.

"Jake, wait! We need to call this in. We need to set up roadblocks."

"We don't have time!" I shouted. "Every second we wait is another second they're getting further away. Another second they're hurting that kid."

I burst through the back door.

The alley was empty.

But there were skid marks on the pavement.

Fresh ones.

They had left in a hurry.

I looked around.

A security camera pointed at the alley entrance.

"Sarah, get the security footage from that camera. Now. And get an APB out on a black SUV, no plates, heading north from downtown."

She was already on the phone.

I ran to my car.

I didn't wait for her.

I couldn't.

Evan's life was on the line.

And Daniel's too.

If they had Evan, they would use him to get to Daniel.

They would make Daniel talk.

Or worse.

I drove north, my eyes scanning every car on the road.

Black SUV.

There were hundreds of them.

How was I supposed to find the right one?

And then my phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

I answered.

"Officer Marlow."

A voice on the other end laughed.

It was Ryan.

"You're looking for the boy, aren't you?"

"Where is he, Ryan? If you hurt him—"

"You'll what? Arrest me? You already tried that. And look how well that worked out."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to back off. You and your little investigation. You stop digging. You forget about your brother. And maybe, just maybe, the boy gets to live."

My hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"I'm not going to stop. I'm going to find Daniel. I'm going to find Evan. And I'm going to make sure you spend the rest of your life in a cell so small you won't be able to turn around."

Ryan laughed again.

"Bold words for a man who has no idea who he's dealing with. You think this is just about me? About Webb? You have no idea how deep this goes, Officer. How powerful the people are that you're messing with. They will destroy you. They will destroy your family. They will destroy everything you care about. And they won't even break a sweat doing it."

"I'm not scared of them."

"You should be."

The line went dead.

I slammed my phone down.

Ryan was trying to intimidate me.

And it was working.

Not because I was scared for myself.

But because I was scared for Evan.

Scared for Daniel.

Scared for my mother.

He was right about one thing.

This went deeper than I had imagined.

But he was wrong about another.

I wasn't going to back off.

Not now.

Not ever.

My phone rang again.

This time it was Sarah.

"Jake, I got the security footage. The SUV had a bumper sticker. A farm supply store in Goodlettsville. And I ran the plates from the traffic cameras at the intersection. They're fake, but the camera caught a glimpse of a VIN number through the windshield. I'm running it now."

"Good. Keep me posted."

"And Jake... the captain wants to see you. He's furious. Says you're running an unauthorized investigation. Says he's going to suspend you if you don't come back immediately."

I thought about it.

If I went back, I would be suspended.

Off the case.

Unable to help Evan or Daniel.

If I didn't go back, I would be running rogue.

No badge.

No backup.

No authority.

But I would be free.

Free to do whatever it took to find them.

"Tell him I'm busy," I said.

"Jake..."