Chapter 4 - The Flight through the Storm
Z
The dark hallway upstairs felt ten times longer than it ever had before. Behind me, I could hear the heavy thud of boots tearing up the steps, accompanied by Melissa’s panicked, piercing screams from the floor below. Fear gave my legs a sudden burst of power. I reached the guest bedroom door, threw it open, slammed it shut behind me, and threw the small metal lock into place.
Lily was sitting under the desk, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, sobbing silently.
"Rachel!" she cried out.
"Shh, sweetie, I've got you," I gasped, rushing to the desk, pulling her out into my arms, and scooping her up against my chest.
The wooden bedroom door shook violently as a heavy body slammed against the outside frame. The lock groaned, wood splinters popping out onto the carpet. They were going to break through in seconds.
I looked around frantically. The bedroom window led out onto the sloped roof above the garage. It was a ten-foot drop down to the soft grass of the side yard, but right now, it was our only chance.
I grabbed Lily's pink backpack, threw it over my shoulder, and rushed to the window. I unlocked the latch and shoved the sash upward, letting the cool night air flood into the warm room.
"Hold on to my neck, Lily! Hold on as tight as you can!" I ordered, my voice fierce.
She locked her tiny arms around my neck, burying her face into my collarbone. I hoisted myself up onto the windowsill, swung my legs out, and stepped out onto the slick, wet asphalt shingles of the garage roof.
BOOM!
Behind us, the guest room door crashed open, splintering into pieces against the wall.
"She's on the roof!" a male voice yelled inside.
I didn't hesitate. I slid down the slope of the garage roof, caught the edge of the gutter with my free hand to slow my momentum, and let myself drop.
We fell through the air for a terrifying second before hitting the rain-softened lawn below. Pain shot up through my ankles and knees, but I absorbed the impact, rolling onto my side to protect Lily from hitting the ground.
"Are you okay?" I gasped, breathing heavily as I scrambled back to my feet.
Lily nodded frantically, her teeth chattering with fear. "I'm okay! I'm okay!"
"Run!"
We sprinted through the dark back garden, tearing through the wooden side gate into the neighbor's alleyway. Rain had begun to fall in heavy, blinding sheets, washing away the heat of the night and turning the dirt paths into slick mud. Behind my house, I could hear shouting and the heavy revving of an engine.
I pulled my car keys from my pocket. My sedan was parked three blocks away, down on the main avenue—a habit I had developed whenever I hosted visitors with multiple cars. Tonight, that habit saved our lives.
We sprinted down the dimly lit alley, ducking behind high wooden fences every time headlights swept down the main thoroughfares. My chest burned, my lungs screaming for oxygen, but the image of those masked men breaking into my home drove me forward.
We reached my silver sedan parked beneath a streetlamp on 4th Street. I unlocked the doors with the remote, shoved Lily into the backseat, scrambled into the driver’s seat, and slammed the doors shut, hitting the master lock button instantly.
I shoved the key into the ignition, threw the car into drive, and pulled out into traffic just as a dark Ford Explorer barreled down the cross street, its high beams searching the sidewalks.
They didn't spot us. I took three quick right turns, cutting through quiet residential neighborhoods until we were merged onto the Interstate highway heading south toward the state capital.
My hand was shaking so badly on the steering wheel that the car drifted slightly between the lines before I regained control. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. The screen was cracked from the drop off the roof, but it still functioned.
I dialed James's cell phone.
It rang four times before going to voicemail.
"James! Where are you?!" I cried into the speaker, trying to keep my voice steady so Lily wouldn't panic. "They came to my house! Arthur Vance’s men! They broke in! Melissa betrayed us—she gave them our address! I have Lily and the flash drive, and we’re driving south on I-95. Call me the second you get this!"
I threw the phone onto the passenger seat and caught Lily’s eye in the rearview mirror. She was shivering, clutching her wet stuffed rabbit against her chest.
"Where are we going?" she asked quietly.
"To a safe place," I said, trying to force a warm, calm smile onto my face. "A place where nobody can find us."
An hour later, we pulled into the parking lot of a rundown, neon-lit motel off Exit 42. The sign buzzed loudly in the rain, flashing VACANCY in red letters. I paid cash for a room at the front desk under a fake name, taking the heavy metal key and leading Lily into room 114.
The room smelled of stale tobacco and old carpet, but it had a heavy deadbolt on the door and thick curtains over the window. I locked the door, slid the chain into place, and pushed a heavy wooden armchair up against the handle for good measure.
"Okay," I breathed, sitting down on the edge of the double bed. "We made it."
I pulled the steel USB drive and the small brass key from my pocket, laying them on the nightstand. My mind was racing. If Arthur Vance was powerful enough to buy off local law enforcement and send armed men into a suburban neighborhood, I couldn't rely on normal channels. I needed to see what was on this drive myself.
I pulled my laptop out of my work bag, which I had fortunately left in the trunk of my car earlier that afternoon. I booted up the computer, disabled the Wi-Fi connection to prevent any location tracking, and inserted the flash drive into the side port.
A folder popped up on the screen. It was password protected with a high-level encryption prompt.
PASSWORD REQUIRED.
I stared at the blinking cursor. My mind flashed back to what Lily had said in the bedroom back home.
He said... 'Blueberry pancake.' He said only a real friend who wanted to save us would know it.
I typed in the words carefully, all lower case, no spaces: blueberrypancake.
I hit Enter.
The screen flashed green, and the folder unlocked instantly.
Dozens of PDF files, scanned bank statements, wire transfers, and audio recordings filled the screen. I clicked on the top document titled Vance_Offshore_Ledgers_Final.pdf.
As I scrolled through the pages, the full scale of the corruption was revealed. It wasn't just local real estate deals. Arthur Vance was operating an extensive illegal syndicate involving state infrastructure funds, bribery of judicial officials, and human trafficking networks running across three state lines.
And then, I found a audio file titled Arthur_Call_0812.mp3.
I clicked play. A familiar, cold voice filled the small motel room.
"If Marcus keeps digging into the Sterling accounts, make sure he doesn't reach the courthouse on Monday. I don't care how you handle it. Cut the lines, push him off the ridge, whatever it takes. Just make sure the drive dies with him."
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand.
It was a clear, unedited confession of murder. Marcus Vance had recorded his uncle ordering his hit.
"Rachel?" Lily whispered, standing by the bathroom door in a oversized t-shirt I had pulled from my bag. "Is that the mean man?"
"Yes, Lily," I said, looking at the computer screen with newfound determination. "This is the man who hurt your dad. But he’s not going to hurt anyone ever again."
Just then, my cracked phone on the nightstand lit up with an incoming call.
It wasn't James.
It was an encrypted video call request.
I hesitated, then swiped to accept.
May you like
The screen lit up to show Arthur Vance sitting behind a mahogany desk in a luxurious office. But he wasn't alone. Sitting in a leather chair beside him, her hands cuffed behind her back and a bruise blooming across her cheek, was my sister Melissa.
"Good evening again, Rachel," Arthur said smoothly, looking directly into the camera. "It seems you are quite resourceful. But as you can see, your sister’s usefulness to me has expired—unless, of course, you bring me that drive in exchange for her life."
