Chapter 5 - THE CHASE IN THE DARKThe underground parking garage was cold, damp, and dimly lit by flickering fluorescent tubes that hummed an irritating, high-pitched tune.
Victor dragged his screaming hostage toward a sleek black sedan idling near the corner pillar—his getaway car, left parked and ready just in case his legal defense crumbled.
“Get in! Open the door, damn you!” Victor hissed at the stenographer, trying to open the driver’s side door with one hand while keeping the weapon pressed to her neck.
Suddenly, a small, rapid patter of footsteps echoed sharply against the concrete floor.
Victor whipped his head around. Sprinting out of the stairwell entrance, ignoring the stinging pain in his lungs, was young Leo. And right behind him, moving with the speed of a charging panther, was Detective Vance, his service pistol drawn and leveled.
“Drop the weapon, Ashford! It’s over!” Vance bellowed, his voice bouncing off the concrete walls.
“Stay back, or she dies!” Victor shrieked, panic overriding his logic. He shoved the terrified woman away, sending her crashing into the side of a parked SUV, and lunged not for his car, but straight toward the young boy.
If he couldn't escape, he could silence the only witness who had broken the curse of silence.
“Leo!” Martha screamed, bursting out of the stairwell just in time to see Victor lunging across the hood of a car toward the child with the brass letter opener raised high.
Time seemed to dilate. The hum of the fluorescent lights stretched into a low, roaring hum. Leo didn't run away. Remembering the night of the fire—remembering his father’s dying sacrifice to push him under the bed—the boy stood his ground.
As Victor leaped off the hood, arms outstretched like a predatory bird, Leo channeled every ounce of the fury, the grief, and the courage he had bottled up for three hundred and thirty days.
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Just as Victor reached him, Leo stepped sharply to the side and swung the heavy brass paperweight with all his might, catching his uncle squarely across the kneecap.
A sickening crack echoed through the garage.
