Chapter 12 - The Shattered Window
Leaving Bianca pinned beneath Marcus’s zip-ties, Sarah didn't wait for the elevator. She bolted down the spiral stairs, flying past the rusted landings two steps at a time, her injured ribs screaming in protest.
She burst through the basement door into the rainy alleyway.
The federal SUV sat under the broken streetlamp fifty yards away. The driver-side window was completely shattered, glittering shards of tempered glass littering the wet pavement.
The back door hung open.
Lily was gone.
Lying on the wet asphalt beside the rear tire was Lily’s small plush teddy bear, its cotton arm torn open, soaked in rainwater.
Sarah fell to her knees, clutching the bear against her chest, a primal scream tearing from her throat into the howling wind. But the despair lasted only a heartbeat. She stood up, her breath coming in ragged, steaming gasps, her eyes burning with pure vengeance.
Marcus ran out behind her, his face pale as he surveyed the empty vehicle. “His burner phone just pinged the cellular tower at the abandoned municipal reservoir. It’s less than two miles north.”
“Give me a weapon,” Sarah demanded, turning to him with an expression so cold it made the hardened federal agent pause.
“Sarah, I can’t—”
“He took my daughter, Marcus,” she said, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. “Give me a weapon, or I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands.”
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Marcus reached behind his duty belt, pulling a compact backup revolver and handing it to her alongside a high-powered tactical flashlight. “He has nothing left to lose now. He will kill her if he realizes the operation has completely collapsed.”
“Then we don’t let him realize it,” Sarah said, climbing back into the SUV.
