Chapter 19 - The Net Tightens
A cold chill plunged down my spine.
Madison and I both looked up through the windshield of the SUV toward the corrugated metal rolling door of the storage bay.
From outside in the alleyway came the low, rhythmic idle of a heavy diesel engine. Headlights cut through the small frosted windows at the top of the bay door, casting long, menacing shadows across our vehicle.
"You really think Daniel acted alone tonight?" Evelyn’s voice chimed sweetly through the phone speaker. "Daniel was merely the distraction at the house to draw the federal marshals away from the city. The men outside your storage unit aren't mercenaries, Rachel. They're my private security team. And they have orders to bring my granddaughter to the private airfield in Teterboro by dawn."
"You're insane," I snarled into the phone. "The feds will intercept you the second that plane enters international airspace!"
"Not if Chloe is listed on my diplomatic manifest," Evelyn smiled, a grotesque, victorious curl of her lips. "I still hold honorary consular status with three European microstates, my dear. The marshals cannot touch my aircraft. You have three minutes to hand Chloe through that door, or my men will breach the unit. You won't survive the crossfire. Chloe will."
The line went dead.
Madison reached into the door panel, drawing a second handgun, her breathing shallow. "Rachel, the back of this storage bay has an emergency fire door, but it leads into a fenced commercial lot. There are at least four armed men outside that front shutter."
I turned around to look at Chloe. She was sleeping peacefully, her tiny chest rising and falling, completely unaware that her entire existence was surrounded by wolves.
I looked down at my phone. It had one bar of cellular reception.
I dialed Agent Vance's private direct frequency.
"Rachel," Vance’s voice came through instantly, strained with agonizing pain, background sirens wailing in the distance. "Tell me you're clear."
"Vance, we're at the White Plains storage facility on Elm Street," I whispered rapidly. "Evelyn’s extraction team has us pinned inside Unit 402. They have a transport waiting to take Chloe to Teterboro."
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"Listen to me carefully," Vance wheezed through the speaker. "The tactical teams are five minutes out. You need to buy five minutes. Do not let them open that bay door."
A loud, metallic thump echoed against the corrugated shutter. The chain began to rattle as the lock was cut from the outside.
