Chapter 8 - THE AGENT IN DANIEL’S POCKET
Gunfire cracked through the lodge.
Claire shielded Sophie with her body.
James grabbed Kane’s wrist and slammed it against the wall.
The weapon fell.
Two younger agents tackled Kane to the floor.
“Federal officer down!”
“Secure the room!”
“Find Bennett!”
Daniel’s lawyer dropped his folder and raised both hands.
Rachel screamed from beneath the agent restraining her.
“I want protection!”
Claire pushed herself upright.
The wall monitor had shattered, but the tablet still played Martha’s recording.
Her voice continued through static.
“Agent Kane arranged false warrants, destroyed DNA evidence, and threatened anyone who came close to Eli.”
Kane struggled against the handcuffs.
“That video is fabricated!”
One of the agents stared at him.
“Then explain your face.”
Kane said nothing.
Thomas rushed to Eli.
The boy’s heart monitor beeped rapidly.
“Everyone out of this room.”
Claire moved beside him.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s frightened. His rhythm is climbing.”
Eli gripped her hand.
“Don’t leave.”
“I won’t.”
Sophie stood on the other side of the bed.
“You promised.”
Claire nodded.
“I promised.”
James went toward the door.
“Daniel’s heading for the tunnel.”
Edward grabbed a rifle.
“I’ll go with you.”
Claire looked at them.
“No.”
James turned.
“If he escapes—”
“The agents can find him.”
“Kane isn’t the only one he owns.”
The younger federal agent who had helped restrain Kane stepped forward.
“My name is Maya Ortiz. I’m the deputy team leader.”
Claire studied her.
“Are you working for Daniel?”
Ortiz’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“How do I know?”
“You don’t.”
The honesty stopped Claire.
Ortiz continued.
“But Kane brought us here under a sealed child-abduction warrant. None of us knew Bennett was involved until we arrived.”
James looked skeptical.
“Then why was Daniel inside your perimeter?”
“Kane listed him as the reporting parent.”
Claire stared at her.
“Reporting parent?”
“According to the file, Daniel Bennett claimed the missing child was his nephew.”
James laughed bitterly.
“His lies are getting lazy.”
Ortiz looked toward Eli.
“We need independent identification.”
Thomas answered.
“I can draw blood.”
“Not through a Bennett laboratory.”
Edward stepped forward.
“I know one outside his network.”
Ortiz shook her head.
“No private lab.”
“Then where?”
“A federal forensic unit in Vermont.”
James looked at Kane.
“He may own them too.”
Ortiz’s jaw tightened.
“He doesn’t own everyone.”
Claire looked at her.
“Prove it.”
Ortiz took out her phone and called headquarters through a secure line.
She reported Kane’s arrest, Rachel’s statement, the recording, and Daniel’s flight.
Within minutes, the lodge filled with confusion.
Some agents guarded exits.
Others began searching the tunnels.
Kane was taken to a separate room.
Rachel demanded a lawyer.
Daniel’s attorney claimed he had known nothing.
Claire stayed beside Eli.
Thomas adjusted medication through an IV.
His hands were steady now.
“You need to sleep,” he told Eli.
The boy shook his head.
“He’ll come back.”
Claire stroked his hair.
“No.”
“You don’t know.”
He was right again.
She leaned closer.
“Then I’ll stay awake.”
His eyes searched her face.
“Why?”
The question hurt.
“Because you’re my son.”
“You didn’t know me yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You might stop wanting me.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“Is that what Martha told you?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Eli looked toward the doorway.
“Daniel.”
Claire went cold.
“When did he speak to you?”
“Before Grandma died.”
“Where?”
“At the station.”
James turned back from the door.
“He saw Daniel?”
Eli nodded.
“He came with Rachel. Grandma told me to hide under the train platform.”
Claire bent closer.
“What did Daniel say?”
“He said you had a new family.”
Sophie’s face fell.
Eli continued.
“He said you didn’t need me.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“He lied.”
“He said if I found you, you’d send me away.”
“I won’t.”
“He said Sophie was the child you kept because she was better.”
Sophie climbed onto the edge of the bed.
“That’s stupid.”
Everyone looked at her.
She frowned at Eli.
“You’re not replacing me, and I’m not replacing you.”
Eli stared at her.
“We can both stay.”
His eyes filled.
Sophie took his hand.
“And we still need a dog.”
For the first time, Eli smiled.
It was small.
Barely there.
But Claire saw it.
And something inside her broke open.
Thomas looked at the monitor.
“His rhythm is settling.”
Claire kissed Eli’s forehead.
Behind them, Ortiz returned.
“We have a problem.”
James turned.
“Daniel?”
“He escaped the property.”
“How?”
“One of the agents drove him out before Kane was exposed.”
“Which agent?”
Ortiz looked furious.
“Martin Cole. Twenty-two years of service.”
Edward sighed.
“Another one.”
Ortiz ignored him.
“Cole abandoned the vehicle three miles away. We found blood in the passenger seat.”
“Whose?” Claire asked.
“We don’t know.”
James looked toward the snow outside.
“Daniel is wounded.”
“Possibly.”
“Then he’ll go somewhere secure.”
Edward answered.
“He has bunkers, private estates, corporate facilities.”
Claire thought of the court orders.
The financial freeze.
The trust.
“He’ll go where he still has power.”
James looked at her.
“Bennett Tower.”
Claire nodded.
“The board meets tomorrow morning.”
Edward understood.
“He’ll try to stop the files from reaching them.”
Helen stepped forward.
“They already received them.”
“Receiving isn’t the same as believing,” Claire said.
Daniel had spent years shaping himself into the perfect heir.
Respected.
Controlled.
Philanthropic.
One leaked file would not undo that overnight.
Not without someone forcing the truth into the open.
Ortiz crossed her arms.
“You are not going anywhere near Bennett Tower.”
Claire looked at her.
“He kidnapped my son.”
“That makes you a victim, not an investigator.”
“He also froze my accounts and took legal control of my daughter.”
“The orders will be reviewed.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Soon is what people say when they expect someone else to keep suffering.”
Ortiz’s expression softened slightly.
“I understand you’re angry.”
“No. You understand paperwork.”
She turned back to Eli.
Thomas checked the latest reading.
“He needs a procedure.”
“What kind?”
“An electrophysiology study. Possibly an implanted defibrillator.”
Claire looked alarmed.
“Here?”
“No. The equipment isn’t sufficient.”
Ortiz said, “We can transport him to Vermont.”
James shook his head.
“Too far.”
“The nearest independent facility is across state lines.”
Claire looked at Eli.
His eyes were closing.
“How dangerous is the trip?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Less dangerous than doing nothing.”
Claire nodded.
“Then we go.”
Ortiz stepped closer.
“You and the children will be placed under federal protection.”
James laughed.
“After one federal agent tried to kill us?”
Ortiz looked at him.
“You’re free to stay.”
“I’m going with my son.”
Claire turned.
The word had come easily from him.
My son.
Eli heard it too.
He looked toward James, uncertain.
Claire saw the longing on James’s face.
And the fear.
He had spent eight years loving a child from a distance.
Now that child did not know whether to trust him.
Claire understood that pain.
She looked at Ortiz.
“James comes.”
“He is currently wanted for corporate theft, assault, and unlawful flight.”
“All charges created by Daniel.”
“Maybe.”
“They are.”
Ortiz sighed.
“I can’t place him in a federal convoy.”
James reached into the suitcase and removed one of the passports.
“Then I’ll meet you there.”
“No,” Claire said.
He looked at her.
“Daniel will be waiting for you to separate.”
James studied her for a moment.
Then he nodded.
Ortiz spoke into her radio.
“Prepare medical transport. Two minors, mother, physician, and witnesses.”
Helen stepped toward Claire.
“I’m coming.”
Claire looked at her.
“No.”
Helen’s face fell.
“You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know you.”
The words hurt both of them.
Claire continued more quietly.
“Eli needs me. Sophie needs me. I cannot carry another truth right now.”
Helen nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
Edward touched Helen’s shoulder.
Claire turned away before she could see their expressions.
Thirty minutes later, a medical helicopter landed in a clearing near the lodge.
Eli was transferred on a stretcher.
Claire climbed aboard beside him.
Sophie sat strapped into a seat across from her.
Thomas monitored Eli’s heart.
Ortiz joined them.
James did not.
Claire looked through the open door.
He stood in the snow beside Edward.
“You’re not coming?”
“The helicopter can’t carry everyone.”
“You said you’d meet us.”
“I will.”
“Where?”
“The hospital.”
Claire searched his face.
“Don’t disappear again.”
James’s eyes held hers.
“I won’t.”
The door closed.
The helicopter lifted.
Below them, the lodge became a dark shape among white trees.
Eli slept through most of the flight.
Sophie leaned against Claire’s shoulder.
For the first time since the alley, Claire had a moment to think.
Her son was alive.
Her mother was alive.
Her father was alive.
Daniel had built her entire life on manufactured deaths.
Claire wondered how many other people he had erased without killing.
Ortiz’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Her face changed.
“What is it?” Claire asked.
Ortiz hesitated.
“Bennett Industries released a statement.”
“What statement?”
Ortiz handed her the phone.
A video filled the screen.
Daniel stood behind a desk in an unfamiliar room.
A bandage covered his left shoulder.
He looked pale but composed.
“My wife, Claire Bennett, has suffered a severe psychological breakdown.”
Claire’s hands curled.
Daniel continued.
“She has abducted my daughter and joined a dangerous group led by my fugitive brother.”
Sophie stared at the screen.
“He’s lying.”
Daniel displayed photographs.
Claire breaking through the basement wall.
James holding a gun.
Federal agents entering the lodge.
All edited to tell his story.
Then he revealed a final document.
A DNA report stating Eli had no biological connection to Claire.
Thomas leaned closer.
“That’s false.”
Daniel looked into the camera.
“I ask the public to pray for my family and allow the authorities to bring my daughter home safely.”
The video ended.
Claire looked at Ortiz.
“Do people believe him?”
Ortiz checked the live reaction.
“Some do.”
Sophie grabbed the phone.
Comments appeared by the thousands.
That poor father.
The mother is clearly unstable.
Save the little girl.
The homeless boy is part of the scam.
Claire felt sick.
Daniel had moved faster than the truth.
Ortiz’s phone rang.
She answered.
“Yes.”
Her expression changed.
“What do you mean the hospital canceled?”
Claire looked at Thomas.
Ortiz listened, then ended the call.
“The Vermont facility received an emergency court order.”
“From whom?” Claire asked.
“A federal judge.”
“They won’t admit Eli?”
“They’ve been instructed to transfer both children into state custody upon arrival.”
Sophie grabbed Claire’s arm.
“No.”
Claire looked out at the clouds.
They were trapped in the air.
The helicopter pilot turned his head.
“We need a destination.”
Ortiz spoke into her headset.
“Continue toward Vermont.”
Claire stared at her.
“You just said they’ll take my children.”
“I’m working on it.”
“That’s not enough.”
Thomas checked Eli’s monitor.
“We don’t have time to change course repeatedly.”
Claire looked at the map on the cabin screen.
A private airfield lay twenty miles south of the hospital.
She turned to the pilot.
“Land there.”
Ortiz shook her head.
“No.”
“Land there.”
“I cannot authorize that.”
Claire looked at Sophie.
Then at Eli.
“You don’t have to.”
She unfastened her seat belt, moved toward the cockpit, and pressed the emergency intercom.
“My name is Claire Hale Bennett. I own forty-two percent of Bennett Aviation.”
The pilot glanced back.
“Ma’am—”
“That helicopter belongs to a company partly owned by me.”
Ortiz stood.
“Sit down.”
Claire did not.
“Land at the private airfield.”
The pilot hesitated.
Thomas shouted, “Eli’s rhythm is worsening!”
Claire looked at the pilot.
“Choose now.”
The helicopter banked south.
Ortiz stared at Claire.
“You just interfered with a federal transport.”
“No.”
Claire sat beside her son.
“I saved my children from another false order.”
The pilot announced they would land in seven minutes.
Then the cabin lights flickered.
A warning alarm began to sound.
The pilot’s voice changed.
“We’ve lost hydraulic pressure.”
The helicopter dropped suddenly.
Sophie screamed.
Thomas held Eli’s stretcher.
Ortiz grabbed the overhead rail.
Claire looked through the window.
Below them, dark mountains rose through the clouds.
The pilot fought the controls.
“This isn’t mechanical failure.”
Claire stared at him.
“What?”
He looked back once.
“Someone sabotaged the aircraft.”
May you like
The helicopter began falling.
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