My phone rang again. Samantha. The real one. “Daniel,” she said, her voice shaking. “Security found something.”
“What?”
“There’s another report.”
“Another what?”
“Another woman who looks like me.”
Across the lot, the figure tilted her head slightly, studying me as if she were measuring my reaction. “You chose wrong,” my phone buzzed with a new message. I felt dizzy.
Lucas pounded on the window, crying now. The woman took one slow step backward toward the shuttle bus. Then another. And then she was gone.
Security vehicles screamed into the lot seconds later. Officers surrounded the SUV, asking questions I couldn’t answer without sounding insane. When Samantha finally ran toward me from the garage entrance, flanked by two airport officers, I felt my knees nearly give out.
She looked exhausted. Frightened. But when she reached me and wrapped her arms around my waist, I felt something unmistakable. Vanilla lotion. Three taps against my back. Pause. Two taps. Lucas burst into tears inside the car.
For a moment, relief flooded me so powerfully it hurt. Until my phone buzzed again. Unknown Number. I hesitated before opening it. The message read: You can’t protect them forever.
