Chapter 2 - THE GIRLS WHO DIDN'T EXIST
The plane landed in Ireland under rain.
Nobody was allowed off.
Matteo's people searched every bag in first class.
Then business.
Then economy.
They found nothing.
No second device.
No weapon.
No explanation.
Leah sat beside Maya while Matteo questioned the crew.
Maya woke.
“Are we in Rome?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Plane got tired.”
Maya accepted this immediately.
Three-year-olds were useful that way.
She looked toward Nico.
“Baby.”
“Yes.”
“He loud.”
“Not anymore.”
Maya climbed down.
Leah caught her.
“Stay here.”
But Maya pointed toward the aisle.
A man was standing there.
Gray jacket.
Baseball cap.
Watching them.
The moment Leah saw him, her body went cold.
She knew him.
He had stood across from their house two nights before their mother disappeared.
Leah screamed.
“THAT'S HIM!”
The man ran.
Matteo's security moved.
The cabin exploded into motion.
He reached the rear galley before they caught him.
His name was Owen Pike.
At least, that was the name on his passport.
Matteo searched his phone.
One photograph.
Leah.
Leaving school.
Another.
Maya at a playground.
Another.
Their mother entering a parking garage.
Then a final image.
The red door.
Matteo looked at Leah.
“When did your mother disappear?”
“Four days ago.”
“What does she do?”
“She fixes computers.”
“What kind?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
Leah did.
“Security things.”
“What security things?”
“She said she made bad computers tell the truth.”
Matteo stared.
“Cybersecurity.”
Leah shrugged.
“Probably.”
Pike refused to speak.
Until Matteo showed him the black disc.
Then his face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“My son.”
Pike actually laughed.
“That means you're already late.”
Matteo grabbed his collar.
“Late for what?”
Pike looked toward Leah.
“Ask her mother.”
Then he bit down.
A capsule hidden in his tooth cracked.
He collapsed.
Dead before anyone could stop him.
Leah screamed.
Matteo covered her eyes too late.
That night, they were moved into a secure airport suite.
Matteo sat opposite Leah.
“I know what the red door means.”
She waited.
“Your mother worked for someone I knew.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
Leah stared.
“Is he bad?”
Matteo didn't answer.
Which was an answer.
His brother's name was Salvatore Rinaldi.
Missing for six years.
Presumed dead.
And before disappearing, Salvatore had operated a private intelligence network hidden behind legitimate security companies.
“The red doors were secure rooms,” Matteo explained.
“For what?”
“Information.”
“What kind?”
“The kind people kill for.”
Leah looked down.
“My mom isn't bad.”
“I didn't say she was.”
“You thought it.”
Matteo paused.
“Maybe.”
“She isn't.”
“All right.”
“You don't believe me.”
Matteo leaned forward.
“Leah, somebody put a device on my infant son. Somebody followed you across the Atlantic. Somebody altered an airline manifest.”
He softened slightly.
“I don't know what to believe yet.”
Maya appeared from the bedroom holding her rabbit.
“Leah?”
“What?”
“Bunny has a bump.”
Leah froze.
“What bump?”
Maya handed over the rabbit.
Leah squeezed its stomach.
Something hard was inside.
Matteo took a knife.
Opened the seam.
A tiny flash drive fell out.
Attached was a paper label.
One word.
RINALDI.
But underneath it, written in Leah's mother's handwriting, were three more.
NOT THE FATHER.
THE SON.
Matteo read them.
Then looked toward Nico.
And went white.
Because he wasn't his father's only son.
There was another.
His seventeen-year-old son, Luca.
May you like
Who was already waiting for them in Rome.
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