Chapter 6 - THE EXTRACTION JACK SWORE HE WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN
Jack did not shout.
That scared Claire more than shouting would have.
“Margaret, basement.”
His mother grabbed Noah immediately.
Claire took Ellie.
Daniel moved toward the front.
Jack stopped him.
“Back door. Second SUV will cover it.”
Daniel nodded.
No argument.
Old training reappearing.
Marcus, still on video, said, “Police are nine minutes out.”
Jack looked through the curtains.
“We have two.”
Claire’s heart pounded.
“What do they want?”
“Children first,” Daniel said.
“Leverage.”
Jack shook his head.
“Maybe not.”
He studied the vehicles.
Men exited.
No visible guns.
Work jackets.
Utility logo.
“Could be trying to extract quietly.”
Claire looked at him.
“Extract?”
“Take them without gunfire.”
“That is supposed to reassure me?”
“No.”
Jack opened the basement door.
“Go.”
Ellie grabbed his hand.
“Are you coming?”
Jack crouched.
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
He looked at her.
“I’m coming with you now.”
Precise.
True.
Enough.
They descended.
Margaret’s basement had an old coal door opening to a narrow side yard.
Jack knew it.
Of course he did.
He moved everyone toward it.
A knock sounded upstairs.
“Evanston Gas!”
Margaret whispered, “I don’t even have gas.”
Jack almost smiled.
“Helpful.”
A second knock.
Harder.
Then glass broke.
Noah began crying.
Jack put one hand on his head.
“Look at me.”
Noah did.
“You know the fort game?”
The boy sniffed.
“Yes.”
“Same rules. Stay with Grandma. Quiet feet.”
Noah nodded.
Jack looked at Ellie.
“You too.”
She took Noah’s hand.
Claire’s throat tightened.
Jack opened the coal door.
Snowy yard.
Fence.
Alley beyond.
Daniel climbed out first.
Clear.
Children next.
Claire.
Margaret.
Jack last.
They made the alley just as men entered the basement behind them.
“Move.”
Jack led them through three yards.
Over a low fence.
Claire’s coat tore.
She did not care.
Daniel ran beside Ellie.
A black SUV turned into the alley.
Jack shoved everyone behind a garage.
The vehicle stopped.
A man stepped out.
“Daniel!”
Daniel froze.
He knew him.
“Reese.”
Jack’s face changed.
“Ethan Reese?”
The man raised both hands.
“No weapon.”
Jack did not relax.
Reese had gray hair, expensive boots, and the posture of someone who had spent years carrying a weapon even when he wasn’t.
Daniel whispered, “He was federal liaison on Meridian.”
Reese looked at Jack.
“Mercer.”
“You’re with Morrow?”
“No.”
“Bad opening.”
“Sterling’s people intercepted the FBI call.”
Daniel frowned.
“Sterling?”
“Sterling Risk. Not the Bureau.”
Claire’s blood ran cold.
“Someone spoofed our federal contact?”
Reese nodded.
“Alice Venn owns the attorney route you used.”
Claire felt sick.
The call had gone through an attorney connected to her board.
Again, her own infrastructure used against her.
“Real FBI?” Jack asked.
“On the way. I contacted Chicago field office directly.”
“Proof?”
Reese tossed him a phone.
Jack checked.
Then looked at Daniel.
“Agent Cole.”
Daniel recognized the name.
“He’s real.”
Reese said, “You have maybe four minutes.”
The men behind them entered the alley.
Jack made a decision.
“Children in the SUV.”
Claire objected.
“With him?”
Jack looked at Reese.
“If he wanted them, he’d already have driven.”
Reese nodded.
Daniel opened the back.
Margaret climbed in with Noah and Ellie.
Claire followed.
Jack did not.
“Get in.”
He shook his head.
“Daniel too.”
Daniel stared.
“No.”
Jack grabbed his coat.
“You came back to protect your daughter. Do it.”
“And you?”
“I slow them down.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“No.”
Jack looked at her.
“Claire.”
“I am not letting Noah watch his father disappear into an alley.”
That stopped him.
He looked toward the SUV.
Noah was staring through the glass.
Same old fear.
Jack closed his eyes.
Then climbed in.
Reese accelerated.
The pursuing SUVs followed.
“Where?” Claire asked.
“Northwestern parking structure. FBI staging.”
Jack looked behind.
“They’ll cut us off.”
Reese nodded.
“Suggestions?”
Jack scanned the street.
“Lakefront maintenance road.”
“Closed.”
“To civilians.”
Reese smiled grimly.
“Still irritating.”
They turned.
One pursuer gained.
Daniel looked at Jack.
“Same as Kotor?”
“Except fewer explosives.”
Claire stared.
“That sentence is not reassuring.”
Jack leaned forward.
“Next gate. Don’t brake.”
Reese did not.
The SUV smashed through a temporary barricade and entered the maintenance road.
The children screamed.
Jack turned immediately.
“You okay?”
Ellie nodded.
Noah’s eyes were huge.
Jack held his hand.
The pursuing vehicle followed.
Second hesitated.
Good.
Reese drove toward an underpass.
Jack studied the concrete supports.
“Stop after the second pillar.”
“What?”
“Trust me.”
Reese stopped hard.
Jack jumped out.
Daniel followed despite orders.
Together they dragged a maintenance barrier across the lane.
Reese accelerated again.
The pursuing SUV rounded the blind curve.
Hit the barrier.
Swerved.
Struck the wall.
Airbags exploded.
No fatalities.
Vehicle stopped.
Claire realized Jack had calculated that.
He had not tried to kill them.
He had tried to end pursuit.
They reached the FBI staging point eight minutes later.
Real agents surrounded them.
Agent Miriam Cole approached Daniel.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“Popular opinion.”
She looked at Jack.
“Mercer.”
He nodded.
“You still owe me a debrief from eight years ago.”
“I resigned.”
“Convenient.”
Claire stood beside Ellie.
Everything felt unreal.
Then Agent Cole showed them a tablet.
“We arrested two men from the vehicles.”
“Who do they work for?” Claire asked.
“Morrow domestic cell.”
“Alice?”
“Missing.”
Daniel swore.
Cole continued.
“We raided her condo.”
“What did you find?”
“Whitmore route schedules.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Anything else?”
Cole looked at Ellie.
Then back at Claire.
“A custody file.”
Claire went cold.
“What custody file?”
“Draft petitions alleging you are an unfit parent due to work travel and that Daniel Cross abandoned the family.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
Cole continued.
“Because Morrow’s plan wasn’t simply kidnapping.”
Jack understood first.
“They wanted legal access.”
Cole nodded.
“Alice intended to manufacture a crisis, position a court-approved guardian connected to a family-services contractor, and move Ellie under protective custody.”
Claire nearly stopped breathing.
“They were going to steal my daughter with paperwork.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Cole looked at Daniel.
“Because Daniel’s old cooperation agreement placed something valuable in trust.”
Daniel went pale.
“What?”
“Meridian evidence.”
He stared.
“I gave everything up eight years ago.”
“Not everything.”
Cole held up another file.
“Your original encrypted archive was never recovered.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed.
“Then Morrow thinks Daniel hid it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I did.”
Everyone turned.
Claire stared.
“You what?”
Daniel’s face filled with dread.
“I kept one copy.”
“Where?”
He looked at Ellie.
Claire’s blood turned cold before he answered.
“Inside something I left with her before I disappeared.”
Ellie frowned.
“What?”
Daniel whispered.
“The music box.”
Claire remembered.
A small wooden music box Daniel had given Ellie on her fourth birthday.
The last gift before he left.
It sat on her bedroom shelf.
For six years.
Claire looked at Jack.
“They don’t need Ellie.”
“No,” he said.
“They need something in your house.”
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
“And Alice knows exactly where it is.”
