Chapter 10 - THE SAFE HOUSE WAS NEVER SAFE
Darkness swallowed the room.
Claire reached for Ethan immediately.
Her hand found empty air.
“Ethan?”
A second later he answered.
“I’m here.”
She grabbed him and pulled him against her.
Laura turned on her phone flashlight.
“Backup power should start.”
It did not.
A security alarm began sounding somewhere outside.
Claire’s heart raced.
“This isn’t an outage.”
Laura moved toward the door.
“Stay back.”
A voice came through the hallway.
“Facility breach.”
Another voice shouted.
“Lock interior doors!”
Claire dragged a table against the door.
Ethan helped.
Laura checked the narrow window.
“What do you see?” Claire asked.
“Nothing.”
Then gunfire sounded from the far side of the building.
Ethan flinched.
Claire crouched.
“Under the table.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“I’m not hiding while you—”
“You are doing exactly what I say right now.”
He crawled beneath the table.
Laura reached inside her coat.
Claire looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
Laura produced a small pistol.
Claire stared.
“You brought a gun into a police building?”
“I wasn’t planning to be searched politely.”
Claire almost shouted.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“I’m the one protecting Ethan.”
“So am I.”
“You have done a terrible job so far.”
Laura’s face hardened.
Another burst of gunfire interrupted them.
Then footsteps raced down the corridor.
A man shouted.
“Claire Parker!”
Nobody answered.
“Ms. Parker, police evacuation!”
Laura shook her head.
Claire whispered.
“How do we know?”
“We don’t.”
The handle moved.
The barricade held.
“Claire?”
Another voice.
“Detective Quinn sent us.”
Laura whispered, “Ask something only Mara knows.”
Claire raised her voice.
“What did Richard tell Mara at Blackridge?”
Silence.
Then the man outside said, “Ma’am, there is no time.”
Laura aimed at the door.
“Wrong answer.”
The first bullet punched through the wood.
Claire dragged Ethan behind a concrete wall.
Laura fired twice.
Someone screamed outside.
Then automatic gunfire tore through the door.
Wood splintered.
Laura dropped behind a cabinet.
Claire covered Ethan’s head with both arms.
The shooting stopped.
Smoke drifted through the room.
A voice whispered from the hallway.
“Flash.”
Laura heard it.
“DOWN!”
An object flew through the broken window.
Laura grabbed a chair and knocked it back.
A bright explosion erupted outside.
Men shouted.
Laura rushed to the door.
“Now.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
“They’re disoriented.”
“Where are we going?”
“Anywhere else.”
Laura pulled the barricade aside.
They stepped into the corridor.
Two attackers in tactical clothing were on the floor.
One reached for his weapon.
Laura kicked it away.
Claire recognized neither man.
“They aren’t police.”
“No.”
“What are they?”
Laura pulled a security badge from one man’s vest.
The badge looked legitimate.
“Contractors.”
“For whom?”
Laura read the company name.
“Aegis Response Group.”
Claire frowned.
Laura’s face changed.
“What?”
“Aegis is one of Vale’s donors.”
More footsteps approached.
Laura grabbed Ethan’s hand.
“Move.”
They ran toward the rear staircase.
A wounded officer appeared around the corner.
Claire nearly screamed.
He raised both hands.
“Parker?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Sergeant Lewis.”
“How do I know?”
He tossed his badge toward them.
Laura checked it.
“Real.”
Lewis pointed toward the lower level.
“They compromised the control room.”
“How many?”
“At least eight.”
“Why is there no backup?”
“Communications are jammed.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“How do we leave?”
“Garage tunnel.”
Laura stared at him.
“There is a tunnel?”
“Prisoner transport exit.”
“Show us.”
They followed Lewis downstairs.
Emergency lights flickered.
The lower hallway smelled like burned wiring.
They passed another officer lying unconscious.
Ethan looked away.
Claire kept moving.
The tunnel entrance was behind a reinforced door.
Lewis entered a code.
Nothing happened.
“Power lock.”
Laura pointed at a manual release.
“Use that.”
Lewis pulled it.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed in.
The tunnel descended toward an underground parking structure.
Claire stopped.
A black SUV was waiting below.
Its headlights came on.
Laura raised the pistol.
“Back up.”
The SUV accelerated toward them.
Lewis pushed Claire aside.
“MOVE!”
They jumped behind concrete pillars.
The SUV slammed into the wall.
Airbags exploded.
The driver stumbled out.
Laura aimed.
“DON’T MOVE.”
The driver removed his mask.
Ethan froze.
“Dr. Voss?”
Malcolm Voss raised both hands.
He was still wearing a hospital gown beneath a coat.
Claire stared.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving you.”
Laura kept the gun aimed.
“You were in intensive care.”
“Vale sent someone to finish me.”
Claire narrowed her eyes.
“And you stole a car?”
“Yes.”
Lewis looked inside the SUV.
“No passenger.”
Malcolm stepped closer.
“Mara arrested Richard.”
Claire nodded.
“He surrendered.”
Malcolm’s face drained.
“That’s bad.”
Laura almost laughed.
“Richard being arrested is bad?”
“He was never supposed to be arrested.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he has a deal.”
“With Vale?”
“No.”
“With prosecutors.”
Claire stared.
“How could he have a deal already?”
“Because he arranged it months ago.”
Laura’s eyes widened.
“He prepared a cooperation agreement.”
“Yes.”
“Against Vale?”
Malcolm shook his head.
“Against Claire.”
Nobody moved.
Claire looked at him.
“Against me for what?”
Malcolm took a breath.
“Richard has spent a year creating records that make it appear you were stealing from Ethan’s trust.”
Claire’s mouth went dry.
“He stole the money.”
“I know.”
“But the transactions carry your digital signature.”
Laura whispered.
“That’s why he needed her dead.”
Malcolm nodded.
“After Claire’s death, Richard becomes Ethan’s guardian.”
“When investigators find missing trust funds, Claire takes the blame.”
“The dead woman cannot defend herself.”
Claire stared in horror.
“And now that I’m alive?”
Malcolm looked at her.
“Richard can claim you staged your own death to escape prosecution.”
Ethan shook his head.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“To us.”
Malcolm looked at him sadly.
“But Richard built documents.”
“Emails.”
“Transfers.”
“Witnesses.”
“Even recordings.”
Claire remembered Richard’s surveillance devices.
“He edited me.”
“Yes.”
Laura lowered the gun slightly.
“Vale would still be exposed.”
“Not if Richard testifies that Claire orchestrated everything and blackmailed Vale.”
Claire laughed in disbelief.
“He’s turning me into the criminal.”
“He has been preparing that story for months.”
Sergeant Lewis’s radio crackled suddenly.
Static.
Then Mara’s voice came through.
“Claire.”
Claire grabbed the radio.
“Mara?”
“Are you safe?”
“For the moment.”
“Richard is in custody.”
“I know.”
“Do not trust anything he says.”
“Malcolm just told me about the evidence against me.”
Silence.
Mara spoke carefully.
“We found some of it.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“How bad?”
“Bad.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Tell us.”
Mara continued.
“There are bank records showing transfers authorized by Claire.”
“Emails between Claire and Samuel Trent.”
“Messages threatening Peter Walsh.”
Claire shook her head.
“They’re fake.”
“I know.”
“But Richard also gave us a recording.”
“What recording?”
Mara hesitated.
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What recording?”
“You arguing with Nathan the night before his fatal crash.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Ethan looked at his mother.
“My dad?”
Claire whispered.
“Nathan died in a boating accident.”
Mara’s voice became grim.
“Richard says it wasn’t an accident.”
Ethan stared.
“What is he saying?”
Mara did not answer.
Claire knew.
“He’s saying I killed Nathan.”
Mara’s silence confirmed it.
Then Ethan noticed Malcolm looking toward the tunnel entrance.
The doctor had become pale.
“What’s wrong?”
Malcolm whispered.
“They’re here.”
At the far end of the tunnel, eight figures stepped from the darkness.
All wore Aegis uniforms.
One carried a loudspeaker.
“Claire Parker.”
Claire pulled Ethan behind her.
The man raised the speaker.
“By order of the United States Marshals Service, you are being taken into federal custody.”
Laura laughed bitterly.
“No.”
The man continued.
“Do not resist.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“They are not here to arrest Claire.”
“How do you know?” Lewis asked.
Malcolm stared at the armed team.
May you like
“Because I hired them for Vale three years ago.”
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