Her baby brother. Daniel, with the soft eyes and nervous laugh. Daniel, who used to call her when he couldn't sleep after their father died. Daniel, who had begged her to come home and stand in the front row.
The wedding invitation in her purse suddenly felt heavier than a gun.
Tom saw the pain in her face and twisted the knife.
"You think you were randomly in this taxi? You think Mike just happened to take this road?"
Sarah looked at Mike.
Mike stepped back, tears in his eyes. "Captain, I swear, I don't know anything."
Tom laughed. "Not him. He's just bait."
Sarah's blood ran cold.
Cole reached for his radio.
Too late.
A phone began ringing inside Mike's taxi.
Not Sarah's.
Not Mike's.
A cheap burner phone tucked beneath the passenger seat.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Tom smiled.
Then the street erupted.
A van screeched around the corner. Its side door slid open. Men in masks raised weapons.
"Down!" Sarah shouted.
Gunfire cracked through the night.
Glass shattered. People screamed. Officers dove behind cars.
Sarah grabbed Mike and pulled him behind the taxi as bullets tore through the windshield.
Collins fell to one knee, hit in the shoulder.
Sarah crawled to him, dragged him behind cover, and pressed her hand to the wound.
"Stay with me!"
Collins gasped. "Captain..."
"You're not dying on this street."
Across the road, Agent Cole fired back. His team spread out, disciplined but outnumbered.
Tom, handcuffed now, was laughing and crying at once.
"They're not here for me!" he shouted. "They're here for her!"
Sarah looked toward the van.
One of the masked men shouted, "Johnson! Come out, or the driver dies!"
Mike froze.
Sarah's heart pounded.
From the taxi radio, a voice crackled.
A familiar voice.
"Sarah?"
Her breath stopped.
Daniel.
The world narrowed to that voice.
"Sarah, please listen," Daniel said, trembling through the speaker. "I didn't know it would go this far."
Sarah stared at the radio as if it had become a living wound.
"Daniel?" she whispered.
"I tried to stop it. They said if I didn't help, they'd kill Elena. They knew you were coming. They wanted you tonight."
Sarah's eyes filled, but her voice stayed steady.
"Who wanted me?"
A pause.
Then Daniel sobbed.
"Mom."
Sarah could not move.
Even Tom stopped laughing.