Chapter 11 - THE SECOND ESCAPE
Sergeant Lewis fired first.
Not at the men.
At the tunnel lights.
Glass shattered.
Darkness swallowed the far end.
“RUN!”
Claire grabbed Ethan.
Laura covered them.
Malcolm limped behind.
The armed team opened fire.
Bullets struck the concrete walls.
Lewis returned fire while retreating.
“There’s another exit!”
“Where?” Claire shouted.
“Maintenance stairs!”
They ran deeper into the garage.
Ethan could hear men pursuing them.
Laura grabbed a metal cart and shoved it across the corridor.
It crashed behind them.
Someone cursed.
Claire reached the stairs.
The door was locked.
Lewis fired twice at the latch.
It opened.
“UP!”
They climbed.
Malcolm struggled.
His hospital injuries slowed him.
Laura stopped.
“Come on.”
“Leave me.”
“No.”
“They want Claire.”
“They’ll kill you.”
Malcolm looked at her.
“They already tried.”
Laura grabbed his arm.
“Then make them try harder.”
They kept climbing.
Ethan almost laughed despite the terror.
They reached the first floor.
Lewis opened the door.
A police parking yard stretched beyond it.
Several patrol cars remained.
“No keys,” Lewis said.
Malcolm pointed.
“Those cruisers use proximity ignition.”
“How do you know?”
“I donate to the department.”
Lewis stared.
“That is somehow the least surprising thing you’ve said.”
They reached a cruiser.
Lewis smashed the window.
The alarm screamed.
He climbed inside.
Claire pushed Ethan into the rear.
Laura and Malcolm joined him.
The engine started.
Lewis smiled.
“Good.”
Then the windshield shattered.
“DOWN!”
He accelerated.
The cruiser crashed through a security barrier.
Two Aegis vehicles followed.
Claire grabbed a radio.
“Mara.”
No response.
Static.
Laura looked behind them.
“They’re gaining.”
Lewis turned onto an industrial street.
Ethan saw the river ahead.
Claire looked at Malcolm.
“Where can we go?”
“Not police.”
“Not hospital.”
“Not your house.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you know anyone Richard doesn’t know?”
Claire almost said no.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Daniel.”
Claire looked at him.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“He stood up at the funeral.”
Laura shook her head.
“Richard knows Daniel.”
“But he doesn’t know Daniel’s cabin.”
Claire frowned.
“What cabin?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Mr. Mercer took Dad there.”
“When?”
“Before Dad died.”
Claire stared.
“You remember that?”
“I remember Dad telling me about it.”
Malcolm leaned forward.
“Where?”
Ethan gave the name of a lake two counties north.
Lewis changed direction.
“That’s forty minutes.”
“We won’t make forty minutes with them behind us.”
Laura looked through the broken rear window.
One Aegis SUV was close enough that she could see the driver.
“Take the old quarry road.”
Lewis glanced back.
“You know it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My mother used to hide there.”
Nobody asked from whom.
Lewis turned.
The road narrowed.
Dust rose behind them.
The SUVs followed.
Laura pointed ahead.
“Fork coming.”
“I see it.”
“Take left.”
Lewis did.
The police cruiser bounced violently.
Ethan held the seat.
The road climbed.
One pursuing SUV remained close.
The second fell behind.
Then Laura shouted.
“Right!”
“There’s no road.”
“Exactly.”
Lewis turned onto a narrow dirt path.
Branches scraped the cruiser.
The pursuing SUV followed.
Then the path ended.
A ravine opened ahead.
Lewis slammed the brakes.
Claire screamed.
The cruiser stopped three feet from the edge.
The Aegis driver tried to stop.
Too late.
His SUV struck the cruiser from behind.
The police car lurched.
Its front wheels slid over the edge.
Ethan screamed.
Lewis shifted into reverse.
The wheels spun.
The Aegis SUV pushed them again.
“Everybody out!”
They opened doors.
Claire pulled Ethan through the rear passenger side.
Laura climbed out.
Lewis followed.
Malcolm struggled with his seat belt.
The cruiser shifted farther over the cliff.
“Malcolm!”
Claire reached for him.
“Go!”
The vehicle moved again.
Laura jumped onto the rear bumper.
She leaned through the broken window.
“Give me your hand.”
Malcolm tried.
The seat belt jammed.
Lewis climbed beside her.
Together they pulled.
The belt released.
Malcolm fell out.
Seconds later the cruiser slid over the edge.
It crashed into the quarry below.
The Aegis SUV stopped near the rim.
Two men climbed out.
Lewis raised his weapon.
“Police!”
They fired.
Lewis dropped behind a tree.
Laura dragged Ethan into the woods.
Claire and Malcolm followed.
Gunfire cracked behind them.
They ran downhill.
Branches tore at Claire’s clothing.
Ethan slipped.
Claire caught him.
“Keep moving.”
They reached a creek.
Laura jumped across.
Malcolm could barely stand.
“You go.”
Laura grabbed him again.
“I already told you no.”
Another shot hit a tree.
Wood splintered.
Ethan saw movement across the creek.
A man with a rifle.
He shouted.
“STOP!”
Claire froze.
Then the man lowered the rifle.
“Claire?”
She stared.
“Daniel?”
Daniel Mercer stepped from behind the trees.
Ethan almost collapsed with relief.
“How did you know we were here?”
Daniel pointed toward the sound of gunfire.
“I didn’t.”
“I was checking hunting cameras.”
Laura stared.
“You own this land?”
“Part of it.”
Lewis appeared behind them.
“Two armed suspects coming.”
Daniel raised the rifle.
“Then everyone get behind me.”
The Aegis men reached the creek.
Daniel fired into the ground near them.
“Next one isn’t a warning.”
They stopped.
Lewis shouted.
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS.”
One man raised his gun.
Daniel fired.
The weapon flew from the man’s hand.
Lewis rushed forward.
The second man ran.
Laura watched him disappear into the woods.
“He’ll bring more.”
Daniel nodded.
“My truck is up the hill.”
They moved quickly.
Ten minutes later they were driving toward Daniel’s cabin.
Claire finally looked at him.
“What happened after we were taken from the funeral?”
“Police questioned everyone.”
“Did you see Richard escape?”
“No.”
“Did you see Laura?”
Daniel looked at the rear mirror.
“Yes.”
Laura stared.
“Where?”
“At the funeral.”
“Before Richard exposed himself?”
“Yes.”
Laura became tense.
“You knew I was there.”
“I invited you.”
Claire turned sharply.
“What?”
Daniel kept driving.
“I sent Laura the funeral details.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t believe you were dead.”
Claire stared.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Your body was never identified.”
“Richard refused an autopsy.”
“And Malcolm signed the certificate from a clinic that had no record of admitting you.”
Claire looked at him.
“You checked?”
Daniel nodded.
“The night Richard called me.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“They told me grief can make people suspicious.”
Mara would not have.
But Mara had not been assigned yet.
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“So I told Ethan to listen carefully during the funeral.”
Ethan stared.
“You told me?”
“Remember when I hugged you outside?”
Ethan remembered.
Daniel had whispered five words.
Stay close to your mother.
At the time Ethan thought it was only comfort.
Daniel continued.
“I hoped I was wrong.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You suspected I was alive inside the coffin?”
“No.”
“I thought Richard was hiding the real circumstances of your death.”
“Nobody expected this.”
They reached the cabin near sunset.
It was small.
Remote.
Surrounded by pine trees.
Daniel locked the gate behind them.
Inside, Claire finally sat.
Ethan curled beside her.
Laura examined Malcolm’s bandage.
Lewis called Mara through a landline.
Daniel opened a cupboard.
Then Claire noticed a framed photograph.
Nathan.
Her dead husband stood beside Daniel at the same cabin.
Between them was another man.
Younger.
Smiling.
Claire walked closer.
Her blood went cold.
The third man was Richard Hale.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
Claire pointed.
“You knew Richard before I did.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Laura stopped moving.
Ethan looked up.
Claire lifted the frame.
“You told me you met Richard at our wedding.”
Daniel slowly sat down.
“I lied.”
Claire’s voice became dangerous.
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
Then at Claire.
“Because Nathan made me promise.”
“Promise what?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with guilt.
“That if anything ever happened to him, I would never tell you who Richard really was.”
Claire stared.
“That makes no sense.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“It will.”
“What was Richard to Nathan?”
Daniel looked up.
May you like
“His brother.”
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