Chapter 29 - The Trap at the Blackwood Cabin
The high-frequency scream of the whistle shattered the standoff on the dock.
Julian’s head jerked toward the van. "What was that?!"
"Daniel!" Victoria shrieked, instantly recognizing the trick. "He’s here!"
Daniel didn't wait. He erupted from the shadow of the rusted container like an enraged bull, charging Julian from behind. The impact sent both men crashing against the side of the white cargo van with a sickening crunch. The heavy tire wrench in Daniel’s hand swung down, catching Julian across the shoulder, sending the mercenary sprawling into the mud.
"Grace! Get Lily!" Daniel roared, turning to face Victoria.
Victoria spun around, raising the revolver. Her manicured hands were shaking, hair plastered across her pale, aristocratic face by the rain. "Stay back, Daniel! Stay back or I swear I’ll blow your head off!"
"Shoot me, Victoria!" Daniel took a step toward her, his eyes blazing with a feral, terrifying intensity. "Do it! Because if you don't kill me right now, you won't survive this night!"
At the rear of the van, Grace smashed the small side window with a heavy rock, reached her arm inside through the jagged glass, and popped the internal latch. She threw the double doors open.
"Lily!"
"Grace!" Lily cried out, throwing her small, bound arms around Grace’s neck as the former maid pulled her into the freezing rain. Grace quickly snapped the zip-ties with her medical shears, pulling the trembling child behind her coat.
"Run, Grace! Take her to the car!" Daniel yelled without breaking eye contact with Victoria’s trembling barrel.
Julian groaned in the mud, reaching for a hunting knife tucked into his combat boot. But before he could rise, the blinding high-beams of three tactical police cruisers tore through the sea fog at the entrance of the pier, their massive V8 engines roaring as they barricaded the only exit road.
"Drop your weapons! This is the State Police! Drop your weapons immediately!" the amplified megaphone voice of Detective Miller boomed across the water.
Victoria’s eyes darted frantically between the approaching wall of law enforcement, Daniel, and the dark, surging waves of the bay behind her. Panic, pure and primal, stripped away the last veneer of her high-society elegance.
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"No..." she whimpered, backing away toward the slick, rotting wooden planks of Slip 44. "No! I will not go back to prison! I will not let you win!"
***
