Chapter 6 - THE WRONG CAR
“Don’t get in the car,” Claire said.
Detective Ellis read the message and called her team. The address had been shared with only six people. Rourke knew it already.
The garage lights came back on. Across the room, an unmarked SUV sat with its engine running. A driver waited behind the wheel.
Ellis opened the passenger door and ordered him out. He protested that he had been assigned to take Claire and Lily to safety. His badge checked out. His assignment did too.
Then Atlas began to growl.
Lily clung to Claire’s coat. “He smells like the bad garden.”
The driver’s face changed.
He shoved past Ellis. Atlas leaped forward, forcing him away from Lily. Two officers caught the man before he reached the exit.
Inside the SUV, police found a second phone taped beneath the driver’s seat. It held a draft message addressed to Victor: THEY’RE IN THE CAR.
Ellis took Claire and Lily to a different location herself, changing vehicles twice along the way. Grant stayed behind to help police search Victor’s office.
By dawn, they found the leak. Victor had photographed the safe house address from a detective’s phone while officers reviewed the gate footage. The driver had been paid to deliver Claire and Lily to another location before anyone noticed.
Claire listened to Ellis explain it from a quiet apartment across town. Lily was asleep in the bedroom. Atlas lay against the front door.
“You said this place was safe,” Claire said.
“It is,” Ellis answered. “Only I know you’re here.”
Claire wanted to believe her. She had believed too many people that week.
At the estate, Grant opened a locked drawer in his study and removed a small metal case. He had kept the original records on a drive inside it for years. He called Ellis.
“I’m handing it over.”
“Bring it to the station.”
Before he could leave, his house phone rang.
Grant picked up. No one spoke. He heard traffic, then Victor’s voice somewhere in the background.
“Tell him about the girl.”
The call ended.
Grant checked the number. It had come from a pay phone two blocks from Claire’s apartment.
He called Ellis at once.
May you like
In the apartment, Atlas rose so fast his claws scraped the floor. He faced the bedroom window and let out a low, warning growl.
Someone was on the fire escape.
