Chapter 3 - Into the Shadows
The subterranean parking garage beneath the federal building was cold, smelling of damp concrete and diesel exhaust. Rain hissed through the drainage grates high above.
Agent Reyes, Daniel, and Emily rushed down the stairwell, carrying Lily between them. Daniel had used his state authority credentials and Reyes’s local tactical override to bypass the front lobby where Nathan Monroe’s high-priced lawyers and corrupt legal marshals were currently serving the fraudulent injunction.
"This is crazy, Reyes!" Daniel shouted over the echoing footsteps as they reached the basement floor. "If they catch us moving a federal witness without authorization, you'll lose your badge, and Emily and I will be charged with federal kidnapping!"
"If that little girl gets into the back of Nathan Monroe’s private security SUV, she’ll be on a private jet out of a non-listed airfield within an hour," Reyes spat back, hitting the unlock button on an unmarked dark blue Ford Explorer. "The legal system is being manipulated from the top down. Monroe’s connections go deeper than my field office."
Lily held onto Emily’s coat, her small face buried against Emily’s side. "Are they going to hurt me like they hurt Mom?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Emily knelt down despite the burning tension in her pelvis. She took Lily’s small face in her hands, looking straight into her tear-filled brown eyes. "Listen to me, Lily. Look at me."
Lily looked at her.
"I spent years fighting for children in courts where powerful adults lied," Emily said, her voice dropping into a fierce, unwavering vow. "I let a little boy down once because I trusted the paper instead of my gut. I promise you, on my life and the life of my unborn child, I will never let anyone hurt you again. Do you hear me?"
Lily wiped her nose with her sleeve and gave a single, firm nod. "I trust you."
"Get in!" Daniel called out, popping the rear door open.
Suddenly, a loud screech of tires echoed across the concrete pillars of the garage. A dark silver Mercedes SUV accelerated around the corner, its high beams blinding them with white light.
"Move!" Reyes yelled, drawing his Glock and stepping in front of the Explorer.
The silver SUV slammed to a halt twenty yards away, blocking the exit ramp. The doors swung open, and three men in tactical gear stepped out. They weren't police; they were high-end private military contractors hired by Monroe Global.
"Agent Reyes!" the lead operative yelled, his voice amplified through a megaphone. "You are harboring a minor in violation of a federal custody warrant! Stand down and hand over the child, or you will be fired upon under authority of executive protection mandates!"
"They have legal cover to use lethal force!" Daniel cursed, pushing Emily and Lily low behind the Explorer's reinforced steel engine block. "Reyes, don't shoot!"
"They're not leaving here with her!" Reyes gritted his teeth, holding his weapon raised.
"Wait!" Emily called out from behind the rear wheel. Her mind was racing, her advocate instincts overriding the terror surging through her veins. She looked at the heavy overhead sprinkler pipes running along the garage ceiling directly above the silver SUV.
"Daniel!" Emily yelled. "The emergency release valve on the main pillar by the wall! It’s the old halogen system!"
Daniel’s eyes lit up with sudden comprehension. As a forensic investigator, he knew older government structures had high-pressure chemical fire-suppression valves designed to flood garages with dense foam and high-volume water to prevent gas explosions.
Daniel reached into his coat, pulled out his heavy steel-frame duty flashlight, and sprinted toward the utility pillar five yards away.
"Hold your fire!" the operative yelled, raising his rifle.
Daniel didn't shoot. He swung the steel flashlight with all his strength, smashing the glass cover of the emergency pressure valve and yanking the red lever down.
A deafening, pressurized siren roared through the garage. A fraction of a second later, the ceiling pipes burst open with a terrifying roar, spraying thousands of gallons of high-pressure water and thick, blinding chemical extinguishing foam directly over the silver SUV and the contractors.
"Go! Go! Go!" Reyes screamed.
The contractors were instantly blinded, coughing and disoriented under the torrential cascade of foam. Reyes scrambled into the driver’s seat of the Explorer, while Daniel leaped into the passenger side. Emily threw herself into the back seat, pulling Lily down onto the floorboards beside her.
Reyes slammed the vehicle into reverse, the tires screaming against the slick concrete, flipped the wheel, and floored the accelerator toward the secondary maintenance ramp on the opposite side of the structure.
The Explorer smashed through a plastic security gate, bursting out into the torrential Chicago rain and tearing down the slick, neon-lit alleyway toward the highway.
In the back seat, Emily leaned against the leather interior, gasping for breath. Her body was shaking violently. She reached down and felt a sudden, unmistakable wetness spreading through her coat.
She pulled her hand back. Her palm was damp, but it wasn't water from the garage.
Her water had broken.
"Daniel..." Emily whispered, her voice cracking with sudden, overwhelming fear.
May you like
Daniel turned around from the front seat, his face pale. "Emily? What's wrong?"
"It's time," Emily said, looking down at her belly as a sudden, excruciating contraction tore through her abdomen, forcing a cry from her throat. "The baby is coming."
