I opened the file box and found bank records, signed documents, and a flash drive hidden beneath the lid. The red folder contained wire transfers and signatures that immediately felt important.

Looking closer at the back wall, I noticed a sheet of plywood covering part of the unit. Behind it was a section of chain-link fence that had already been cut open.

My mother had prepared an escape route long before I arrived. She had known someone would come looking for me.

As the men pounded against the storage door, I grabbed the red folder, crawled through the opening, and ran along a drainage path toward the highway. Moments later, my phone buzzed with a text from my mother’s number telling me to find Daniel Brooks at the County Recorder’s Office-