Chapter 9 - The Wolf at the School Gate
The cold morning drizzle turned to gray sleet as Sadie reached the iron turnstile of St. Jude’s Public Primary.
Her lungs burned with every breath; she had run the two miles from the Raven Hill cliff road down to the port district on foot.
Her hands were covered in black coal soot from the delivery chute behind the wine racks.
It was only seven-forty-five in the morning; the municipal school bus had not yet arrived at the gate.
She stood behind the rusted shelter of the municipal bus stop, wiping her face with the sleeve of her uniform.
Across the street, a dark blue sedan with tinted windows sat idling by the curb, exhaust plume rising in the wet air.
It was not Ronan’s car; it bore the commercial plates of the Ashport Port Authority.
Inside the vehicle, two men in identical waterproof jackets sat watching the school’s main gate.
Sadie stepped into the shadow of the brick post office, her heart hammering a furious rhythm against her ribs.
Victor was not waiting for breakfast at Raven Hill.
He had sent his harbor collectors directly to the child’s throat to secure the leverage he needed to burn the ledger.
At seven-fifty, the yellow number sixteen bus turned the corner of Wharf Street, its brakes squealing against the wet asphalt.
The doors folded open with a hiss of compressed air, and a dozen children in bright raincoats began tumbling onto the sidewalk.
Among them, the yellow knit cap with the drooping pom-pom moved toward the school’s double doors.
The blue sedan’s doors swung open simultaneously.
Two men stepped onto the sidewalk, their hands inside their deep pockets, moving with the practiced casualness of professional abductors.
"Poppy!" Sadie screamed, throwing herself across the four lanes of morning traffic without looking for oncoming trucks.
A delivery van blared its horn, swerving violently to avoid her as her rubber soles slipped on the wet streetcar tracks.
Poppy turned at the sound of her mother’s voice, her yellow cap tilting back as her eyes widened in confusion.
"Mommy?" the child called out, holding up her left hand to make the broken sign for love.
The foremost man from the blue sedan reached out with an arm like an iron pipe, his fingers reaching for Poppy’s pink backpack.
Before his hand could touch the nylon strap, a black SUV smashed directly into the side of the blue sedan with the force of an artillery shell.
The sound of tearing metal and shattering safety glass erupted through the school street like an explosion.
The two men spun around, reaching into their coats, but Marcus was already stepping through the shattered windshield of the SUV.
The broad-shouldered driver held a short length of galvanized steel pipe in his leather-gloved right hand.
He struck the first man across the shoulder with a sickening thud, sending him sprawling into the slush of the gutter.
"Miss Cole!" Marcus roared over the screams of the school children and the blaring car horns.
"Get the girl into the passenger seat!"
Sadie did not wait.
She swept Poppy into her arms, crushing the child against her chest, and sprinted for the rear door of the black vehicle.
Poppy’s small hands clung to Sadie’s neck, her breath hot and fast against Sadie’s collarbone.
"Mommy, there was a loud bang, Mommy, my backpack dropped!"
"Hold onto me, Poppy, don't look back, just hold onto my hair!" Sadie gasped, diving into the rear leather seat.
Marcus slid behind the steering wheel, reversed the SUV with a savage screech of rubber, and spun the vehicle into the north avenue.
Behind them, the second harbor agent lay in the crosswalk, clutching his broken knee while the school sirens began to wail.
Sadie pulled Poppy into her lap, checking the girl’s arms, her forehead, her ribs with frantic, trembling hands.
"Are you hurt?
Did they touch you?
Did anyone touch you, Poppy?"
"I'm okay, Mommy," the child whispered, her small fingers reaching up to wipe a smudge of black coal from Sadie’s cheek.
"You're dirty like the chimney birds."
Marcus glanced into the rearview mirror, his face bleeding from a small glass cut above his right temple.
"Mr. Cain called from the mansion ten minutes ago," Marcus said, his voice level despite the blood trickling into his eyebrow.
"The house is locked down.
Victor brought nine of his dock men up the private drive before breakfast."
Sadie held Poppy tighter, feeling the cold weight of Julian’s brass key still sitting against her hip bone.
"Where are you taking us?" she asked.
Marcus accelerated through a red traffic signal, heading straight back toward the gray bluffs of Raven Hill.
May you like
"Mr. Cain said there is only one place in this county Victor’s men cannot bring down with shotguns," Marcus replied.
"The master bedroom in the East Wing."
