Chapter 8: Confrontation at the Creek**
Clara and Marcus crouched low behind the underbrush, the cold mud soaking through Clara’s mauve gown.
The sound of snapping twigs grew louder as Sheriff Bradley approached their hiding spot, his heavy flashlight beam cutting through the fog like a broadsword. The light danced across the oak tree, inches from Clara’s shoulder.
"Come out, Clara," Bradley’s gravelly voice called out. "Make this easy on yourself. You run now, and it becomes resisting arrest and felony evasion. Nobody needs to get hurt."
Clara looked down at the silver thumb drive in her hand. If Bradley seized her, that drive would vanish at the bottom of the creek, and her baby’s future would die with it.
"Marcus," she whispered quietly. "Take the drive. Run."
"Never," Marcus whispered back fiercely. "I spent my whole life running away from this family's poison. I’m not running tonight."
Before Clara could stop him, Marcus stood up and stepped out from behind the tree, raising his hands. "Over here, Bradley! Call off your dogs!"
Bradley turned his flashlight directly onto Marcus’s face. "Marcus? Step aside. Where is she?"
May you like
While Bradley and Richard focused their attention on Marcus, Clara slipped backward into the deeper shadows of the gully, crawling on her knees through the wet ferns toward the highway bridge.
---
