Chapter 4 - THE CHASE THROUGH THE RAINMarcus lunged forward, swinging the heavy master drive like a club, but my tactical training took over. I ducked under his arc, drove the heel of my palm upward into his chin, and kicked his knee outward. He crashed against the bedroom wall, gasping for air as his weapon skittered across the hardwood floor.
I didn't hesitate. I scooped up his dropped sidearm, pinned him against the drywall with my forearm across his chest, and slapped a pair of heavy flex-cuffs around his wrists.
"You're done, Marcus," I panted, pressing my comms unit. "Luis, this is Maya. Marcus Vance is compromised. He’s the internal head of Aethelgard. Secure the perimeter around my complex—Chloe’s trying to clear the local servers."
"Copy that, Maya," Luis’s voice crackled back over the static. "We're heading back to your location now. But... we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"Your mother confessed during the transport. She says Chloe didn't just drain Grandma’s accounts. There's a second vault—a physical one—buried beneath the foundation of your family's Portland home. And it contains something much worse than money."
My blood ran cold. "What are you talking about?"
"Files, Maya. Real, physical files dating back twenty years. Not just financial fraud. Kidnapping records. People who 'disappeared' after refusing to sign over their properties to the syndicate."
I looked down at Marcus, who was bleeding slightly from a split lip, a smug, dark grin spreading across his face.
"You think your sister is running away with the money, Agent Cole?" Marcus chuckled, coughing slightly. "Chloe isn't running. She’s going back to the house. To destroy the original ledgers before your little police friends find them. And if she has to burn the house down with your parents and your grandmother inside to do it... she won't hesitate."
I shoved him hard against the wall, grabbed the master drive and his encrypted burner phone, and sprinted out of the apartment.
The rain was coming down in sheets now, turning the Portland streets into black mirrors reflecting the neon glow of streetlights. I threw myself back into the cruiser, bypassed the ignition lockout with Marcus’s admin code, and slammed the accelerator to the floor.
The digital dashboard clock blinked.
May you like
9:24 PM.
I had less than fifteen minutes to get back to my parents' house before Chloe erased the final pieces of evidence—and buried our family's darkest secrets forever.
