Chapter Text
The door to Madison’s room opened, and Mark pushed his way past the man who had just opened it.
“Russell,” the Monarch soldier said. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Mark didn’t answer as he stared around Maddie’s room. In the primitive, unthinking part of his brain he expected the place to be soaked in blood. Yet it was pristine. Every book, bedsheet, decoration, and pen sat in an orderly fashion.
The room didn’t bear the signs of a shoot-out or a kidnapping; no bullet holes or blood on the walls. Even the bed appeared tidy.
“Is your daughter Madison Russell?” the apartment staff had asked him over the phone. That sentence alone hadn’t held bad news, but somehow it had dug claws into his heart when he heard it.
His eyes wandered over to her purple purse on the bed. Stepping over to it, he dug around until he found her cell phone. He dropped it, shaking his head. Shock, fear, and guilt had all become familiar bedfellows. But they never got easier to deal with. He replayed the conversation he had with Maddie before she left for college, then replayed their last phone call.
Maybe, if he had used different words, or if he’d been more diplomatic then she would have stayed closer to home. Who knew, if he had visited her that day, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
“And you’re sure this was him?” he asked.
“Positive,” the soldier said. “Jonah claims responsibility. Only the young man’s body was found in the room. It’s clear to us on the team she’s being held somewhere for ransom.”
Mark felt the echoes from the past. Once upon a time, he had video of Madison’s kidnapping by these same people. Except back then, the kidnapping was a front for a much bigger operation. “She shouldn’t have been here,” he said. “Once she was doxed, she shouldn’t have…”
“I’m sorry,” the guard said. “We can go back to your car anytime.”
“No,” he said, forcing himself to look around the room. In the hallway, the guard raised his walkie talkie and spoke to someone on it.
He considered her cell phone being left behind. When he focused on it, it became clear that Maddie had been taken by surprise. That information didn’t do much good, though.
“We have an anonymous tip on her location,” the guard announced.
“An anonymous tip?” Mark asked.
“Tarkan is headed to get the tip at the moment.”
“He’s going to get it? In person?” Mark asked. “They couldn’t just give him a location over the phone?”
The guard shook his head. “But if they’re holding her for ransom, then it’s unlikely they will harm her.”
Mark didn’t bother to respond. Alan Jonah was the last person he trusted not to harm Maddie in any circumstance. He recalled taking aim at Jonah all those years ago, trying to beckon Maddie and Emma over to him on that faithful catwalk in the ice sheet of Antarctica. He ought to have pulled the trigger, but of course he had been a coward. And here he was, still paying the price.
He strode over to the window, wondering what Emma would say. Perhaps she was better at protecting Maddie. Or maybe neither of them were good at protecting Maddie anymore. Losing Andrew had broken them beyond repair. It had made them lesser.
“I have to get out there,” Mark said. “I can find her.”
“Sir,” the guard said. “You’ve had this discussion with my colleagues.”
“Well maybe we need to have it again,” Mark said, turning and heading toward the man. “I think she’s worth more than a five minute conversation, don’t you?”
“The Interpersonal Division has it covered,” the bearded man said. “The best people are out looking for her right now. I mean it when I say the best thing you can do for her is stay right here.”
Mark put his hands on a wall, looked down, and closed his eyes. Maddie was the one thing he didn’t want to fail, yet he failed her every day. The guard was right. Loathsome as it was, he was right. All he could do was wait.