They Disappeared

66

Manhattan, New York City

In Manhattan, the white EMS ambulance and police vehicles stopped in a narrow alley somewhere off of Broadway.

The rear doors opened to several uniformed NYPD officers.

Two of them stepped into the ambulance and approached Sarah, who was still strapped to the stretcher. The one who sat on the bench next to her was the leader. He was clean shaven and unrecognizable from the way he’d looked at the warehouse.

He would bear no resemblance to the photograph the CIA would provide for circulation to national security and NYPD officials within the next twenty-five minutes.

He was a different man.

His face was a study of resolve as he removed her oxygen mask.

“Pay attention,” he said.

She was trembling under her bindings.

“It’s very important. Do I have your attention?”

Sarah swallowed and nodded.

The officer standing over them turned his cell phone to Sarah, showing her a small video of Cole. She saw his head and shoulders. His face was a mask of fear while offscreen an adult said something inaudible, prompting Cole to look at the camera.

“I’m so scared, Mom. Just listen to them.”

Sarah cried out in agony for Cole.

The phone was taken away.

“Listen to me,” the leader said. “Are you listening?”

Sarah nodded.

“If you want to see your son again, you will do as we say. If you try to escape or attract attention, your son will die. You will do what we tell you when we tell you. Is that understood?”

Sarah nodded.

The men removed her restraints, gave her a new ID that had been made using her driver’s license photo. It said Press and a forgery of the correct media credential for the event. It looked completely authentic. They gave her a ball cap, dark glasses, a notebook.

They led her out of the ambulance through the front passenger door.

The leader and one of the other officers started escorting Sarah through the streets of New York. Behind her she saw the emergency vehicles ease from the alley.

Sarah could not believe what was happening.

“Today is a day of glory,” the leader said as he looked to the crowd in the near-distance.