Chapter 5 – Blood Isn't Always Family
Darkness swallowed the house.
Daniel pulled Emily behind him by instinct, shielding her with his body as another scream echoed from outside.
The deputies rushed toward the front porch, flashlights cutting through the night.
Then came another sound.
A car engine roaring.
Tires screeching.
Daniel threw open the front door.
The black SUV was speeding away.
Attorney Richard Harlan lay on the driveway, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. His leather briefcase had burst open, scattering legal documents across the pavement.
One deputy shouted into his radio.
"Officer down! Suspect fleeing east!"
Daniel knelt beside Richard.
"Who shot you?"
Richard coughed, blood staining his collar.
"I... I tried to stop them..."
"They weren't working for your mother."
Daniel frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Richard grabbed Daniel's sleeve with surprising strength.
"Your father..."
"...never died of natural causes."
Daniel's world stopped.
Richard forced a folded photograph into his hand before losing consciousness.
It showed Daniel's father.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
The photo had been taken only three weeks earlier.
On the back, written in shaky handwriting, were six words:
I'm still alive. Don't trust anyone.
The ambulance sirens grew louder.
Emily cried out in labor.
Margaret stood frozen on the porch, staring at the photograph as every trace of confidence vanished from her face.
Daniel slowly looked up at her.
"You knew."
She whispered only one sentence.
"No..."
"I've been trying to find him too."
Before Daniel could answer, his phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A weak, familiar voice came through the speaker.
"Son..."
"It's Dad."
The call suddenly filled with static.
Then one final desperate warning:
May you like
"They're coming for the baby..."
The line went dead.
