Chapter 14
Officer Miller stepped out from the shadows of the lower tunnel, her service weapon raised and leveled with absolute, unhesitating precision directly at Thomas’s chest. The red and blue lights from a single cruiser parked outside the drainage exit cast an eerie, flashing glow across her determined face.
"It's over, Thomas," Miller said, her voice completely devoid of emotion. "You can't outrun a paper trail that took twenty years to cement."
Thomas slowly lowered his hand from the iron hatch wheel, turning his head just enough to look back at the veteran officer who had hunted him for two decades. A bitter, tired smile touched his lips.
"You always were too thorough for your own good, Miller," Thomas murmured, shifting his weight slightly. "Willing to ruin your entire life just to protect a corrupt pension fund."
"I protected this county from economic collapse," Miller replied sharply, taking a slow step up the concrete stairs. "Your brother's idealism would have bankrupted thousands of families when the development deals fell through. I did what had to be done."
Chloe stepped forward past Mark, her voice cutting through the damp air of the tunnel with sudden, terrifying clarity. "And my father? Was his murder just another item on your administrative checklist?"
Miller’s eyes flicked toward Chloe for a fraction of a second—a micro-expression of genuine hesitation that she quickly crushed beneath a wall of professional ice.
"Your father was a casualty of progress, Chloe," Miller said flatly. "Just like you and Mr. Parker are about to become if you don't step back down into that tunnel."
Mark didn't hesitate. With a sudden, explosive movement, he lunged forward, grabbing a rusted iron pipe from the tunnel wall and swinging it hard against the concrete railing near Miller’s feet, sending a shower of sparks flying directly into her line of sight.
Miller instinctively flinched, her grip on the service weapon shifting by a fraction of an inch. That single, split-second distraction was all Thomas needed. He lunged upward, throwing his weight against the iron hatch and shoving it open with a deafening crash just as the wail of approaching state police sirens shattered the night air from the street above.
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"Now, Chloe! Run!" Thomas roared, diving through the open hatch toward the county archives building.
Chloe scrambled up the concrete stairs behind him, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped animal as the sharp crack of a warning shot echoed through the damp tunnel below.
