Chapter 8 - The Hunt
Elena hung up.
“Move,” she said.
Sofia stared at her.
“What?”
“Now.”
They abandoned the apartment in less than sixty seconds.
Brooks called Price.
He answered on the second ring.
“Mercer shot Caleb.”
“We’re on our way.”
“No. He traced the safe-house line.”
Silence.
Then Price said, “Get out.”
“Already moving.”
A black SUV turned onto the street behind them.
Sofia looked in the mirror.
“Elena.”
“I see it.”
“Is that—”
“Drive.”
Sofia slammed the gas.
The SUV accelerated.
Two blocks.
Three.
It stayed on them.
Elena’s injuries screamed every time the car turned.
“Left!”
Sofia cut through an alley.
Trash cans exploded beneath the SUV’s bumper behind them.
“Oh my God!”
“Keep going!”
A second SUV appeared ahead.
They were boxed in.
Sofia hit the brakes.
Elena saw a narrow service lane between two buildings.
“There!”
“I can’t fit.”
“You can.”
“I really can’t.”
“Then scratch the car!”
“It’s a rental!”
“Sofia!”
“Fine!”
They squeezed through with inches to spare.
Metal screamed against brick.
The first SUV tried to follow and lost a side mirror.
Sofia laughed hysterically.
“I’m never getting my deposit back.”
Elena almost laughed too.
Then a bullet shattered the rear window.
They ducked.
“Okay!” Sofia yelled. “That is definitely not covered by insurance!”
Price appeared five minutes later in an unmarked vehicle and forced the pursuing SUV into a construction barrier.
The driver escaped on foot.
Inside the abandoned vehicle, Brooks found police equipment.
County issue.
Mercer wasn’t hiding anymore.
They rushed to the address Caleb had given.
An old self-storage facility.
Unit 112.
The door was locked.
Price broke it.
Inside sat one cardboard box.
Nothing else.
Elena opened it.
A hard drive.
A handwritten note.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS, I’M PROBABLY DEAD.
Sofia covered her mouth.
Elena kept reading.
I WAS A COWARD. YOU WEREN’T. I’M SORRY.
She wiped her eyes.
Brooks connected the drive.
The security footage loaded.
Balcony camera.
Timestamp.
Harrison and Elena arguing.
No audio.
Harrison grabbing her phone.
Elena trying to leave.
Harrison blocking her.
Then—
The briefcase.
The strike.
Elena falling backward over the railing.
Perfect.
Clear.
Impossible to explain away.
Price whispered, “We got him.”
“No,” Brooks said.
Everyone looked at her.
“We have a video. We don’t have chain of custody. Defense will attack it as manipulated.”
Elena stared at the screen.
“Then we give them something they can’t attack.”
“What?”
“A confession.”
Sofia looked at her like she’d lost her mind.
“From a federal judge who already tried to kill you twice?”
Elena’s eyes remained on Harrison’s frozen image.
“He thinks I’m scared.”
“You are scared.”
“Exactly.”
She turned toward Brooks.
“So let’s make him believe fear has finally made me stupid.”
That night, Elena called Harrison Vale.
He answered after one ring.
“Elena.”
She forced trembling into her voice.
“I want to make a deal.”
A pause.
May you like
Then Harrison laughed.
“I knew you would.”
