Chapter 6 - The Race Against the Storm
Nathan kicked open the heavy glass exit door of his firm’s office building and tore into the freezing rain.
The black SUV idling by the fire hydrant surged forward the second his dress shoes hit the wet asphalt.
Its tires squealed against the slick road surface, throwing a plume of dirty street spray across the sidewalk.
Nathan did not hesitate or look back to see who sat behind the tinted glass.
He sprinted down the narrow brick alleyway that flanked the firm’s parking garage, cutting off the vehicle’s immediate turning radius.
Cold rain lashed into his eyes, blinding him as he fumbled the electronic key fob out of his overcoat pocket.
His sedan beeped twice beneath the dim sodium lights of the parking deck.
He threw himself behind the steering wheel, slammed the lock down, and jammed his foot onto the ignition pedal.
The engine roared to life with a desperate whine.
Nathan threw the gear into reverse, spinning the car around the concrete support pillars, and blasted through the exit gate before the wooden barrier arm could lift completely.
The wooden bar splintered across his windshield with a sharp bang.
He swung hard onto Main Street, his rear tires fishtailing across the painted crosswalk lines before finding traction.
Through his rearview mirror, the wide grill of the black SUV burst out of the side alley, its high beams cutting through the gloom like twin searchlights.
Nathan snatched his phone from the passenger seat, hit the speaker toggle, and dialed Marcus Callahan back.
"Marcus, they're on me!" Nathan roared over the roar of the wipers.
"Who is on you?" Marcus shouted over the receiver, engine noise rattling in his background as well.
"The black SUV—it was parked outside my firm!"
"They followed me out of the alley!"
"Nathan, listen to me carefully," Marcus ordered, his voice cutting through the panic like cold steel.
"Do not lead them to your house if you can help it!"
"My kids are at that house, Marcus!" Nathan screamed, swerving aggressively past a delivery van.
"Vanessa is with Lily and Leo alone!"
"She knows I was in the basement files last night!"
"She knows the clock ran out!"
"If Vanessa wanted them dead, she would have done it six years ago," Marcus countered firmly.
"The children are her leverage, Nathan!"
"She needs Lily and Leo to keep control of the trust and to keep you docile!"
"If you drive straight up the front driveway with that truck behind you, you trap yourself in an ambush."
Nathan gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning chalk-white against the leather steering wheel.
Logic fought against primal fatherly instinct.
Marcus was right; rushing blindly into a crossfire with his children inside the walls was suicide.
"What do I do?" Nathan breathed, glancing in the mirror as the SUV surged closer, trying to clip his rear bumper.
"Route 9 has road construction at the old quarry junction," Marcus commanded.
"There’s a concrete barrier narrowing the lane to single file before the bridge."
"Cut through the industrial service road behind the timber yard!"
"I'm three minutes away from your neighborhood with two retired state troopers who still honor their badge."
"Buy me five minutes, Nathan!"
"Just five minutes!"
Nathan stomped on the accelerator, rocketing past the yellow caution signals at the entrance of the commercial timber yard.
Claire’s father had owned this very yard thirty years ago.
Nathan had reviewed the architectural blueprints for its timber storage yards a dozen times during his early career.
He knew every blind corner, every loading bay, and every dead-end access road behind the towering stacks of pine planks.
The black SUV roared behind him, its heavy steel bumper ramming his rear trunk with a deafening metallic crunch.
Nathan’s head snapped back against the headrest.
The sedan skidded sideways across the wet gravel yard.
Nathan didn't fight the skid; he steered directly into it, pulling the handbrake upward with all his strength.
The sedan whipped around 180 degrees, spraying gravel and rainwater across the SUV’s windshield.
For a split second, Nathan locked eyes with the driver of the SUV through the momentary swipe of the wipers.
It wasn't a stranger.
Behind the steering wheel sat Thomas Wright, the disgraced insurance adjuster, his face twisted in a desperate snarl.
Beside him in the passenger seat sat a man in a state trooper’s utility jacket—Raymond Vance.
His own uncle.
The family patriarch had come to bury the final loose end.
Nathan slammed the transmission back into drive, flooring the gas pedal toward the narrow corridor between two forty-foot lumber stacks.
The sedan squeezed through with barely inches to spare on either side, the side mirrors clipping the rough wooden boards with loud clatters.
The wider, heavier SUV tried to force its way through the same gap.
Its broad bull-bar slammed directly into the corner support post of the towering timber stack.
A mountain of wet, six-inch pine beams collapsed in a thunderous avalanche of splintering wood and dust.
The timber fell directly across the SUV's hood and roof, crushing the front suspension and pinning the heavy vehicle beneath tons of raw lumber.
Nathan didn't wait to see if they crawled out.
He blasted out of the timber yard's rear gate, tires throwing mud as he cut across the access gravel and merged onto the residential road leading to Oakridge.
His hands were shaking so violently he could barely hold the steering wheel straight.
His sedan's trunk was crumpled like foil, his front windshield was cracked, but the engine was still firing.
He tore into his suburban subdivision, the manicured lawns and gentle streetlights blurring into streaks of grey and gold.
He turned onto his street.
The front door of his house was wide open.
Rain was blowing directly into the warm foyer, soaking the rug where he had stood only hours before.
A sleek black town car was idling in the driveway with its trunk open.
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Vanessa stood on the front porch, holding an umbrella in one hand and dragging a heavy duffle bag with the other.
Behind her, bundled in oversized winter parkas, stood Leo and Lily, their faces pale with confusion and terror.
