CHAPTER 9
A fleet of five black federal SUVs with flashing red and blue strobe lights roared across the Lake Washington floating bridge at breakneck speeds.
I sat in the front passenger seat of Agent Reed's lead vehicle, my knuckles white as I gripped the dashboard while rain lashed against the windshield.
"Keep SWAT on standby!" Reed ordered into his radio console. "Suspect Daniel Mendoza is armed and considered extremely dangerous!"
When we turned onto the secluded, heavily wooded cul-de-sac in Bellevue, the grand iron gates of the Whitaker estate were hanging wide open.
A security guard lay unconscious near the guard shack, and tire tracks were torn deeply into the manicured front lawn.
"Move in! Go, go, go!" Agent Reed yelled, pulling his sidearm as federal tactical officers surged out of the vehicles and breached the front doors.
Inside the grand marble foyer, screaming and glass shattering echoed from the upper balcony level.
I bypassed the agents, running up the grand spiral staircase on pure instinct, driven by an unshakeable need to protect my daughter.
In the master study, Daniel stood holding a gun, pointing it directly at Richard and Eleanor Whitaker, who were huddled on the floor in front of a open wall safe.
Sophie stood behind her adoptive parents, her face pale with terror as she clutched a heavy brass lamp like a weapon.
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"Give me the original adoption contract, Richard!" Daniel bellowed, his face wild and unhinged. "Give it to me, or I swear to God I'll end this right now!"
"Daniel! Stop!" I screamed, stepping into the doorway of the study with Agent Reed right behind me.
