Chapter 8 - The Shadow in the Rearview

"Ray! Grab the kid! Back exit now!" Vance shouted down the hallway.

Uncle Ray scooped Leo into his arms before the boy was even fully awake. I bolted across the linoleum, grabbing the evidence bag containing the flash drive and Rachel’s legal letters.

At the far end of the hallway, Sheriff Miller stepped through the security gate, flanked by two deputies in unmarked tactical vests. Miller’s badge gleamed beneath the harsh halogen lights, but his eyes were sunken, cold, and desperate.

"Detective Vance, stand down," Miller barked, his hand resting heavy on his service weapon. "State Police don't have jurisdiction over a municipal custody transfer. Marcus Miller is my prisoner."

"You take one more step forward, Tom, and you’re committing federal obstruction," Vance yelled back, her weapon pointed straight at the floor between them. "I know about the French Broad River deeds. Your signature is on the second escrow account."

Miller’s jaw twitched. He didn't pull his gun, but his two deputies shifted their weight, their hands hovering over their belts.

"Go! Out the sally port!" Vance ordered us without taking her eyes off Miller.

Uncle Ray kicked the emergency exit bar open. The alarm screamed, a high-pitched siren piercing the concrete hallway as cold mountain rain slammed into our faces.

We threw ourselves into Uncle Ray’s battered Ford F-250. Ray jammed the key into the ignition, the diesel engine roaring to life with a violent shudder just as the sally port doors burst open behind us.

"Hold on to Leo!" Ray yelled, throwing the truck into reverse and smashing through the plastic traffic cones guarding the exit gate.

Tires spun against wet asphalt, gripping at the last second, launching us into the rain-slicked highway.

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Leo clutched my jacket, his face buried in my ribs. "Aunt Sarah, are the bad men following us?"

I looked in the side mirror. Two sets of high-beam headlights were barreling out of the station lot, cutting through the heavy mountain fog at ninety miles an hour, closing the distance fast.