Chapter 3 - The Highway through the Storm
Three black SUVs roared down Interstate 90, their tires spraying blinding sheets of water into the black summer night. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the steel mills and dark industrial silhouettes of northern Indiana.
Inside the lead vehicle, Adrian sat in the front passenger seat, staring at the GPS screen. The red dot indicating Claire’s last known cell phone ping was fading quickly near the edge of the Grand Calumet River.
His hands gripped the leather armrest so hard his knuckles turned white.
Nine weeks.
For nine weeks, he had lived in an empty penthouse, believing he was a grieving, discarded husband who had brought his own ruin upon himself through negligence and betrayal. He had accepted her departure as his cosmic punishment. He had suffered in quiet, dignified isolation, drinking himself to sleep while staring at her empty closet.
How blind he had been.
Claire hadn't been defeated. She had been fighting an invisible war entirely on her own, carrying their high-risk baby through the terrifying labyrinth of a syndicate conspiracy while her husband was playing into the hands of the very people trying to destroy them.
"Ten minutes out, Boss," the driver announced over the roar of the wind.
"Is the local team in position?" Adrian asked, his voice tight.
"Frank and four men are already at the perimeter of the marsh property," Mason reported from the backseat, looking up from his laptop. "They report two unmarked vehicles parked down the lane. Vance’s men managed to track her there before we hit the Blackstone Club."
Adrian’s jaw set into stone. "They're already at the house?"
"Frank says they haven't breached yet," Mason said. "The house is secure, but Claire is locked inside alone. The local power grid just failed due to the storm. She has no power, no lights, and she’s in active labor."
Adrian pulled a spare magazine from his vest, slapped it firmly into his pistol, and chambered a round with a loud CLACK.
"Tell Frank not to wait for us," Adrian said grimly. "Eliminate the perimeter team. Leave no one standing."
The SUV took the off-ramp at eighty miles an hour, sliding slightly on the wet asphalt before tearing down a long, dark dirt road lined with tall, swaying reeds and dead oak trees.
Up ahead, through the heavy rain, the faint outline of a small two-story wooden cottage appeared against the dark sky. Gunfire suddenly erupted near the front gate—bright orange muzzles flashing in the darkness followed by the muffled thuds of silenced rounds.
Adrian didn't wait for the vehicle to stop completely. He threw the passenger door open, hit the mud running, and charged through the gate with his weapon raised.
Two of Vance’s mercenaries lay motionless in the mud near the porch. Frank stepped out from behind an overgrown hedge, signaling that the exterior was clear.
"She’s inside, Boss!" Frank shouted over the wind. "The front door is barricaded from the inside!"
Adrian ran up the wooden steps of the porch. He didn't use a battering ram. He approached the door, leaned his forehead against the cold, wet wood, and raised his voice over the storm.
"Claire!" Adrian yelled, his voice breaking with raw, desperate emotion. "Claire, it’s Adrian! I know about the room! I know about Vance! Open the door, please!"
Silence hung in the air for three agonizing seconds, broken only by the sound of thunder.
Then, the heavy sound of a wooden beam sliding out of place echoed from inside.
The door swung open two inches.
Through the narrow gap, lit only by the flickering orange flame of a single scented candle, Claire stood holding a heavy iron fireplace poker.
Her gray maternity dress was soaked with sweat. Her brown hair hung in damp, tangled strands around her pale, pain-contorted face. She was leaning heavily against the doorframe, her feet bare, her knuckles white as she gripped the iron poker.
She looked at him through the dark rain.
May you like
"You're late," Claire whispered, her voice trembling before a massive contraction seized her body, causing her to drop the poker with a loud clang as she gasped in pain.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
