Chapter 8 - THE QUARRY
Police reached the quarry before Margaret.
Reeves ordered her to remain inside an armored vehicle.
Kayla sat beside her.
James stayed at the command post.
Daniel remained at the hospital with Lily under protection.
The tactical team entered the main processing building.
They found Rebecca alone with Rose.
Helen was gone.
Rebecca held the baby close.
Her face was bruised.
“She hit me,” Rebecca whispered.
“Where is she?” Reeves asked.
Rebecca looked toward Margaret’s vehicle.
“She wants Lily.”
Margaret’s blood became cold.
Helen had used Rebecca and Rose as a distraction.
Another officer called from the hospital.
A woman wearing a nurse’s uniform had attempted to enter Lily’s protected room.
She carried forged credentials.
Daniel recognized her as Helen’s longtime housekeeper, Nadine.
Nadine was arrested.
She admitted Helen ordered her to take Lily to a private vehicle.
The plan had failed.
But Helen remained nearby.
Rebecca surrendered Rose to a female officer.
Kayla was brought forward under supervision.
The moment she saw the child, she covered her mouth.
Rose opened her eyes.
Kayla touched one tiny hand.
Rebecca watched.
Pain crossed her face.
Margaret approached her sister only after officers searched her for weapons.
“You helped Mom.”
Rebecca nodded.
“You blocked me.”
“Yes.”
“You watched her hold Lily over the fire.”
Rebecca began crying.
“I thought she would stop.”
“You said I caused it.”
“I wanted you to feel the way I felt.”
Margaret stared at her.
“And did you?”
Rebecca looked toward Kayla holding Rose.
“No.”
“I felt worse.”
The apology did not erase the danger.
Rebecca was arrested for kidnapping, conspiracy, obstruction, and her role in the fire-pit attack.
She did not resist.
As officers placed her in a vehicle, a gunshot echoed across the quarry.
Everyone dropped.
The bullet struck the armored vehicle near Margaret’s head.
Helen stood on a steel platform above the stone pit.
She held a rifle.
Police ordered her to drop it.
Helen aimed toward Rebecca’s vehicle.
“You ruined everything,” she shouted.
No one knew whether she meant Margaret or Rebecca.
Perhaps she meant both.
James stepped from the command area.
Reeves grabbed him.
“Stay back.”
Helen saw her husband.
“You always choose them when they disappoint me.”
James’s voice carried across the quarry.
“I should have chosen them years ago.”
Helen fired again.
The bullet struck metal.
Officers moved into position.
Helen backed toward the platform edge.
Beneath her, dark quarry water waited hundreds of feet below.
She raised the rifle toward Margaret.
James did not run at her.
He did not repeat the fire-pit rescue.
He trusted the officers.
A sniper fired.
The bullet struck Helen’s weapon.
The rifle spun from her hands.
Helen lost her balance.
She caught the railing.
For one second, Margaret imagined letting her fall.
Then James shouted.
“Hold on.”
Helen stared at him.
After everything, he still did not want her dead.
Officers reached the platform and pulled her to safety.
Helen screamed that James had betrayed her.
He looked at her without anger.
May you like
“No.”
“I stopped helping you betray everyone else.”
