Chapter 14 - THE ESCAPE

Ryan and the fake officer abandoned the transport van under a bridge.

The fake officer was identified as Lucas Vann, a former Harbor security contractor.

Emily shut down every route out of Nashville.

Ryan had one advantage.

He knew police procedure.

Bell had taught him.

Sarah had another fear.

"He'll come for us."

Emily agreed.

Because Ethan carried Daniel's photo.

Ryan did not know the memory card had been removed.

They moved Sarah, Ethan, and Lucy to a federal safe house.

Ethan hated it.

"Are we hiding?"

"For tonight," Sarah said.

"Then he wins."

Sarah sat beside him.

"No. Staying alive isn't losing."

That answer mattered.

At 1:12 a.m., a sensor triggered behind the safe house.

Agents found no person.

Only a backpack.

Inside:

Lucy's missing shoe.

Ryan had picked it up from the street after chasing them.

A note:

GIVE ME DANIEL'S CARD.

Emily realized Ryan knew.

Then Ethan said, "He doesn't know it's empty."

Everyone looked at him.

The boy wanted to use the photograph as bait.

Sarah said no immediately.

Emily agreed.

Ethan argued.

"Dad hid it with me."

"Your father hid evidence," Sarah said. "He did not volunteer you as a trap."

Ethan went quiet.

Good.

Adults could use a child's observation without using the child.

Emily created a fake evidence transfer.

News leaked that Daniel's memory card was being moved to federal court.

Ryan took the bait.

Cameras caught him near the transfer garage.

Police closed in.

Ryan ran through an alley.

Emily followed.

He reached a fence.

No exit.

He turned with a gun.

"Don't."

Emily held her weapon steady.

Ryan's hands shook.

"He was supposed to stop."

"Daniel?"

"He was supposed to stop digging."

"You mean stop protecting families you were stealing from."

Ryan's face twisted.

Then a shot cracked.

Ryan dropped.

Emily had not fired.

She looked up.

Someone on a parking deck had shot him.

Ryan was alive.

Bleeding from the shoulder.

And before he lost consciousness he whispered:

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"Reed doesn't want me talking."

Judge Malcolm Reed was still cleaning his own crime scene.