Chapter 4 - The Garage Network
At 5:00 AM, while the children slept under the watch of a sympathetic pediatric nurse, Daniel stood outside the hospital in the freezing fog, pacing the pavement with a cell phone pressed to his ear.
"Marcus," Daniel said as soon as the line picked up. "I need you."
"Daniel?" a raspy voice answered. Marcus Vance (no relation to Richard) was Daniel's best friend, a former investigative journalist turned criminal defense investigator who had helped Daniel search for Sarah years ago. "It's five in the morning, man. What's wrong?"
"I found Sarah," Daniel said, his voice thick with raw emotion. "She's in the ICU at Northwestern. And her kids are here."
A sharp intake of breath echoed through the phone. "What? Sarah? Is she okay?"
"She's sick, Marcus. Pneumonia. But that's only half of it," Daniel said rapidly. "A guy named Richard Vance showed up with a temporary custody order signed by Judge Harrison. He's trying to snatch the kids at nine o'clock."
"Richard Vance?" Marcus cursed loudly over the line. "Daniel, do you know who Richard Vance is?"
"He said he was the brother of Sarah's late husband."
"Julian Vance," Marcus said, his voice suddenly sharp and deadly serious. "Julian Vance was the sole heir to Vance Global Logistics—a three-billion-dollar shipping titan in Chicago. Julian died four years ago in a private helicopter crash. He left his entire personal estate—worth nearly eighty million dollars—in a irrevocable trust for his surviving children."
Daniel felt a cold chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the March wind.
"Eighty million dollars," Daniel repeated quietly.
"If Julian's kids are dead or declared legally incapacitated," Marcus continued rapidly, "the entire eighty million defaults directly to Richard Vance. That's why Richard has been looking for Sarah! It was never about family, Daniel. It's an asset recovery operation for eighty million bucks!"
"That's why she was hiding," Daniel realized, his heart hammering against his ribs. "She knew if Richard got hold of those kids, he'd lock her in an asylum and take the trust."
"Daniel, listen to me," Marcus warned. "Judge Harrison is on the Vance family payroll. I've been tracking Harrison's campaign contributions for two years. That temporary guardianship order was rubber-stamped in a private chamber meeting. If Richard takes those kids at nine AM, he'll move them to a private estate in Switzerland before you can even file an appeal."
"How do I stop it?" Daniel demanded, his knuckles turning white around his phone.
"You need an emergency injunction signed by a federal circuit judge before nine AM," Marcus said. "And you need hard proof that Richard Vance is an unfit guardian who poses an active danger to those children."
"I don't have proof, Marcus," Daniel said desperately. "I have an eleven-year-old girl who told me Richard locked her mother up."
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"Then we need to find Sarah's old files," Marcus said. "Where was she living before she vanished four years ago?"
Daniel remembered the worn leather wallet in Sarah's room. "I know where to start."
