Page 113 of Fatal Betrayal

"I'm alive. Cooper was able to disarm the device."

"How did you do that?" Hannah asked Cooper.

"Very carefully," he said. "I'm really grateful to you, Hannah. I never would have found Andi if you hadn't come back to save her."

Hannah bit down on her lip, clearly holding back tears. Andi was once again caught by the familiarity of the moment. Hannah, as a two-year-old, had never liked to cry. Even when she got hurt, she tried to hold it in, like she was holding it in now.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you right away," Hannah said. "I'm even more sorry I told my mother that you called me Hannah. I think that's when they realized you were a threat."

"They knew that long before you said anything, Hannah. It's not your fault. Who did you think was your mother?" she asked.

"Her name is Veronica Kuchova. I really had no idea she wasn't my mother, that I was kidnapped as a child. But now I think back to little things, like my mom never wanted to talk about my dad, who died before I was born. She also didn't care to talk about my birth or how I was when I was a baby. I thought she just didn't remember, or it was too painful, because she remembered being alone, without my father. But now I realize she didn't know anything about my birth, because someone handed me to her. I don't know why they gave me to her." Hannah shook her head in confusion. "There are so many things I don't understand. Like my mom, Veronica, she said she'd lost a baby once, and it was the most horrific thing she'd ever been through. Having me was the only thing that kept her from going crazy. But I wasn't hers. And as a mother, I don't know how she could live with the fact that she'd taken someone else's child. I don't know her at all."

"It will take time to figure it all out," she said, putting a hand on Hannah's shoulder. "Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"I don't want to go to the hospital. They might look for me there."

"They've all been arrested, Hannah. Everyone on the plane."

"Everyone?"

"Yes. You're safe now, Hannah. I won't let anything happen to you."

Hannah didn't look completely convinced, probably because she'd seen her tied up to a bed only a few minutes earlier.

"Do my real parents think I'm dead?" Hannah asked.

"I don't know," she answered honestly.

"You didn't tell them you found me?"

"Not yet. I didn't have any proof it was you, just my instincts. I didn't want to raise their hopes."

"So, there's a chance I'm not Hannah?" she asked in confusion.

"I think you are. The scar on your arm is very significant. But a DNA test will take all the doubts away."

Hannah nodded. "I can't have any doubts. I don't want to see them until I'm sure I'm their kid."

"I understand." She paused. "My FBI team is going to need to talk to you at length, Hannah. You'll go down to the offices and you'll go over everything you know. You need to be completely honest and open. Don't try to protect anyone, not even your mother."

Hannah gave her a troubled look. "I heard her scream for me when I jumped out of the van. I think she did love me."

"She can love you and still have made bad decisions."

"She loves babies. She runs the boutique. She has always wanted to help women become mothers."

She could see that Hannah was trying very hard to weigh what she thought she knew against what she'd seen in the warehouse, namely her being tied to a bed with a bomb next to her head.

"Am I going to be in trouble for what they did?" Hannah asked. "Because I did some things, too."

"What exactly did you do?" she asked. "Can you tell me what was going on?"

"Aunt Kim would fly in pregnant girls from poor countries, and then some midwives would take care of them in the warehouse until they gave birth. Then they would pay them and send them back home. Their babies would be adopted by parents who were having trouble getting kids through the normal channels. I thought everyone was getting what they wanted. The girls weren't mistreated, and the babies went to loving homes. I sometimes took supplies to the warehouse."

"You said Aunt Kim, but she's not really your aunt."

"Everyone called her Aunt Kim. I don't know why. I just grew up knowing her that way. I didn't think she was that nice to my mom and she was never friendly to me."

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