Chapter 15: The Wolf at the Door
Panic, cold and sharp, flooded Claire’s veins. She grabbed Agent Reyes’s arm with bruising force.
“Eleanor broke out,” Claire gasped, the pain in her ribs completely forgotten. “She’s not in custody. She’s going after Sophie.”
Reyes’s eyes widened. She jammed her finger against her earpiece. “Command, this is Reyes. Status check on the safe house. Status check now!”
Static. Then, a voice laced with panic replied. “Agent Reyes, we have a breach. Two black SUVs just rammed the perimeter gates at the bunker. We are taking heavy fire!”
“Get me a chopper!” Reyes roared, sprinting toward the edge of the cemetery, pulling Claire along with her. “Right now!”
The helicopter ride took agonizing minutes. Claire sat in the back, her hands trembling so violently she had to clasp them together between her knees. Eleanor hadn't just used the graveyard as a hit; she had used it as a diversion to pull the FBI’s heavy hitters away from the safe house.
The chopper touched down on a grassy field half a mile from the bunker. The sound of distant gunfire echoed through the trees.
Claire didn't wait for the rotors to slow down. She unbuckled her harness and sprinted toward the treeline, Reyes and a dozen tactical agents close on her heels.
They burst through the foliage to see the reinforced doors of the safe house blown wide open. Smoke billowed into the afternoon sky. Two cartel mercenaries lay dead on the driveway, surrounded by injured FBI agents.
“Sophie!” Claire screamed, rushing into the smoke-filled building.
The bunker was a disaster zone of shattered glass and bullet-pocked walls. Claire moved frantically through the rooms, her heart hammering in her throat.
She reached the back office. The door was locked from the inside.
“Marcus!” Claire pounded on the steel. “Marcus, it’s me! Open the door!”
The heavy deadbolt clicked, and the door swung open. Marcus stood there, a bleeding gash across his forehead, holding a high-caliber revolver with shaking hands. Behind him, huddled under a heavy oak desk, was Sophie.
“Mommy!” Sophie cried, scrambling out and launching herself into Claire’s arms.
Claire collapsed to her knees, burying her face in her daughter’s curls, sobbing in pure relief.
“They tried to breach the room,” Marcus coughed, leaning against the doorframe. “I held them off. When they heard the choppers, they bailed.”
Agent Reyes entered the room, her gun still drawn. She looked around, her jaw set tight. “They’re gone. The perimeter is secure. But Eleanor wasn't with them.”
Claire stood up, holding Sophie tightly. “She wasn't trying to kidnap her.”
“Then what was the point of the attack?” Reyes asked.
Claire walked over to the desk Marcus had been hiding behind. Sitting squarely in the center of the mahogany surface was a single object.
It was a small, velvet jewelry box.
Claire reached out with a trembling hand and popped the lid open. Inside rested a diamond-studded Cartier bracelet. But there was a small, handwritten note tucked beneath the gold band.
Claire pulled the note out. It was written in Eleanor’s elegant, cursive script.
I always collect my debts, Claire. See you soon.
Claire stared at the note, the chilling realization washing over her. The cartel wanted blood, but Eleanor wanted something worse. She wanted psychological torture. She wanted Claire to spend the rest of her life jumping at shadows, knowing the monster was still out there, waiting in the dark.
Claire closed the jewelry box with a sharp snap.
May you like
She turned to Agent Reyes, her hazel eyes hardening into something unbreakable and lethal.
“Agent Reyes,” Claire said, her voice dripping with ice. “I don't want protective custody anymore. I want a gun. And I want clearance to hunt her down.”
