Chapter 6 - The Hunt & The Ally
The storm continued to rage as the heavy land cruiser tore down the slick mountain highway.
Inside the cab, the heater blew warm air, drying Clara’s wet clothes. In the back seat, baby Leo had finally fallen into a quiet, exhausted sleep, lulled by the steady hum of the engine.
David kept his eyes glued to the rearview mirror. His hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel.
"Are they following us?" Clara asked, holding the velvet evidence bag in her lap like a precious treasure.
"Not yet," David said, his voice raspy. "Eleanor knows taking private security cars onto the public highway in pursuit of a crashing truck will draw too much immediate attention. She’s going to use the official channels now."
As if on cue, the radio on the dashboard—tuned to the regional emergency broadcast frequency—cut out with a sharp static burst.
A clear, computerized voice echoed through the speakers:
"ATTENTION ALL UNITS. AN AMBER ALERT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE METROPOLITAN AREA. SUSPECT IS CLARA STERLING, FEMALE, 26 YEARS OLD, SUFFERING FROM SEVERE PSYCHOTIC DELUSIONS. SUSPECT HAS ABDUCTED A SIX-MONTH-OLD INFANT, LEO STERLING. SUSPECT IS CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. REPORT ALL SIGHTINGS TO DISTRICT THREE HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY."
Clara gasped, covering her mouth. "An Amber Alert?! She turned me into a fugitive!"
"She owns Chief Miller at District Three," David said, his jaw clenching so hard his teeth clicked. "If a patrol car stops us, they won't ask questions. They’ll arrest us, take Leo, and hand him straight over to Eleanor’s custody team."
"Where do we go?" Clara asked, panic creeping back into her chest. "We can't go to a hospital. We can't go to my parents' house—she’ll have guards waiting there!"
David took a deep breath, turning the heavy truck off the main highway onto a dark, unpaved logging road that wound deep into the coastal pine forest.
"There's one person Eleanor can't control," David said softly. "Someone who hates her even more than we do."
"Who?"
"My father's younger brother. Marcus Sterling."
Clara looked at him in surprise. "Your Uncle Marcus? I thought he died ten years ago! Eleanor said he was a criminal who ran away to Europe!"
"That was Eleanor’s story," David revealed, his voice dark. "Marcus was Arthur’s legal partner thirty years ago. He discovered that Eleanor was embezzling from the estate and tried to expose her. Eleanor framed him for corporate fraud, destroyed his legal license, and drove him out of the city. He’s been living off the grid in the coastal marshes for fifteen years."
After twenty minutes of driving through muddy trails, the land cruiser pulled up behind a weathered, two-story wooden cabin hidden beneath towering cypress trees. The house was dark, but smoke curled steadily from a fieldstone chimney.
David killed the headlights. He grabbed a heavy flashlight and led Clara and Leo up the wooden porch steps.
Before David could knock, the heavy front door swung open silently.
Standing in the doorway was a tall, thin man in his late sixties, possessing the same sharp blue eyes as David's late father. He wore a heavy wool sweater and held a double-barreled shotgun aimed casually at David’s chest.
"You have your mother's eyes, David," Marcus Sterling said, his voice like gravel scraping over stone. "Which means you have five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't pull these triggers."
"Uncle Marcus," David said, stepping into the light of the porch lantern. "She took my son. She drugged my wife. We have her private ledgers."
Marcus stared at David, then glanced at Clara, who was cradling the sleeping infant against her chest.
May you like
Slowly, Marcus lowered the shotgun. A slow, dangerous smile spread across his weathered face.
"Well, well," Marcus murmured, stepping aside to let them in. "It took you long enough to wake up, nephew. Come inside. The coffee is hot, and the war has been waiting fifteen years for this."
