Chapter 11 - The Road Through the Pines.
The police pursuit began before Noah finished shouting.
Two cruisers tore down the service road after Hale’s van.
Daniel ordered Samuel to follow at a safer distance.
Noah barely heard him.
All he could see was Claire’s hand striking the rear window again and again as the van disappeared between the trees.
Lily was crying now, but silently.
She had waited months to be believed and only received proof as it sped away from her.
The road narrowed through the pines.
Rain began suddenly, turning the dirt shoulders into dark mud.
A police cruiser fishtailed ahead of them and recovered.
Hale took a sharp turn onto an old utility road marked PRIVATE PROPERTY.
Samuel slowed.
"That road ends at the quarry."
Daniel grabbed his phone.
"Tell them."
Before he could finish, the call dropped.
No signal.
Noah noticed something else.
A black SUV had appeared behind them.
It matched one of the Mercer Foundation security vehicles from Hawthorne House.
"Dad."
Daniel looked back.
The SUV accelerated.
Samuel swore and pressed harder on the gas.
The vehicle struck them once from behind.
Lily screamed.
Daniel twisted around and covered her with his arm.
The second impact shattered one taillight.
"They’re trying to push us off the road," Samuel said.
Noah looked ahead and saw the quarry entrance approaching.
The medical van had stopped near a locked gate.
Hale jumped out and ran toward the rear doors.
Police closed in from the opposite side.
The black SUV behind the Mercers suddenly veered away and disappeared down another trail.
Daniel memorized the license number.
Noah was already out of the car before Samuel fully stopped.
An officer shouted at him to stay back.
He ignored the warning.
Hale opened the rear of the van and dragged a woman toward him.
Her red hair hung across her face.
She looked dangerously thin.
Noah’s heart broke before he even saw her eyes.
"Mom!"
Claire lifted her head.
For one second, confusion clouded her face.
Then she recognized him.
"Noah."
Hale held a syringe near her arm.
"Stay back."
Daniel stepped beside Noah.
"Marcus, this is over."
Hale laughed once.
"You have been saying that for fifteen years."
Police ordered him to drop the syringe.
His hand shook.
Claire suddenly drove her heel down on his foot and twisted away.
An officer rushed forward and restrained Hale.
Noah reached Claire as her knees buckled.
She wrapped both arms around him with surprising strength.
Lily ran into them seconds later.
For a moment, the world became nothing but their mother’s breathing and the rain falling through her hair.
Daniel approached slowly.
Claire looked over Noah’s shoulder and saw him.
Her entire body went rigid.
"Do not touch me."
Daniel stopped.
Noah felt the reunion fracture before it had fully begun.
Claire looked at her children.
"We need to leave."
"The police have Hale," Noah said.
Claire shook her head.
"Hale is not who I’m afraid of."
Claire's wrists carried faded marks where identification bands had been repeatedly tightened and removed.
Noah noticed them during the embrace and understood that the woman he had found was his mother, but not the same woman the fire had taken from him.
May you like
She looked directly at Daniel.
"Your father knows who started Lantern."
