Chapter 7 - The Crossing at Midnight
The rain grew heavier as they approached the Peace Arch border crossing into Canada at two in the morning.
The Maybach had been abandoned in a commercial parking lot three miles back, replaced by a non-descript Ford SUV Declan had pulled from a secondary safehouse garage in Bellingham.
Inside the vehicle, the air was thick with tension.
Dr. Aris was tied to the rear passenger seat, his mouth sealed with heavy duct tape. Camille sat in the driver's seat, wearing a dark rain jacket, her eyes fixed on the illuminated border booths ahead. Declan sat beside her, his hand resting on the hidden pistol beneath his coat.
"If the border patrol checks the plates, we're finished," Camille whispered, her voice tight. "The FBI will have issued an emergency alert for Mercer Island by now."
"They won't check the plates," Declan said, sliding a set of forged diplomatic credentials into the dashboard slot. "This vehicle is registered to a shell company owned by Canadian Maritime Intelligence. It clears the automated lanes without manual inspection."
"You really prepared for everything, didn't you?" Camille asked, looking at him sideways as she nudged the SUV into the automated lane. "Even my betrayal?"
"I prepared for the world to turn against me, Camille," Declan corrected softly. "I just never thought you would be leading the charge."
The automated barrier scanned the license plate. A green light flashed, and the heavy steel gate lifted smoothly, allowing them to pass into British Columbia without a single guard stepping out into the rain.
As they merged onto Highway 99 heading north toward Vancouver, the distant skyline of the city appeared through the darkness like a cluster of glowing glass needles.
"Where is the Vanguard server located?" Declan asked, turning to the backseat and ripping the tape off Dr. Aris’s mouth.
Dr. Aris gasped for air, coughing violently before choking out the answer. "The... the Coal Harbour Financial Tower! Floor 34! It's disguised as an international hedge fund management office!"
"Who runs the local division?" Declan demanded.
"A man named Harrison," Aris squeaked. "Former British Special Boat Service. He handles Vanguard’s North American covert operations. He’s the one who authorized the hit on your estate once Camille’s transfer cleared!"
Declan looked at Camille. "You gave Harrison the master encryption keys."
"I had to!" Camille argued, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "He demanded total verification before he would release the fifty million into the Swiss accounts! I thought once the money moved, we would both be invisible!"
"In our world, Camille, no one with fifty million dollars is ever invisible," Declan said. "You didn't buy freedom. You bought a target and painted it on both our backs."
He pulled a tactical tablet from his coat, booting up a secure satellite mapping program. The floor plans of the Coal Harbour Financial Tower loaded quickly, displaying security camera locations, elevator shafts, and emergency power grids.
"Harrison will have the server room locked down," Declan noted, analyzing the layout. "He knows the Mercer Island hit went messy. He knows I'm not dead."
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"So what's the plan?" Camille asked, her tone shifting from defensive to pragmatic. Despite her betrayal, she was still the sharp, brilliant woman Declan had married—a survivor who knew when to fight and when to calculate. "We can't storm a thirty-four-story skyscraper with two handguns."
"We're not going to storm it," Declan said, a dark, dangerous smile appearing on his face. "We're going to turn off their air, lock their doors, and let them freeze in the dark."
