Chapter 7 - The Unwelcome Rescue
“Get in the car, Claire! Now!” Julian’s voice rang out from the passenger seat of the black SUV, his clothes rumpled and his wrists bearing faint red marks from the federal handcuffs that had apparently just been removed.
Claire froze, staring in absolute disbelief at the man who had supposedly been locked inside a secure interrogation room downtown less than thirty minutes ago. How had he managed to bypass federal custody so quickly? Who had authorized his release?
“Don’t do it, Claire! He’s playing you just like he played me!” Elena called out from the glare of the headlights, though she stepped back into the shadows of the brick wall as the SUV’s engine roared menacingly.
“Julian? How are you even here? Where are the federal agents?” Claire demanded, refusing to take a single step toward the vehicle while her mind reeled from the impossible sight.
“I’ll explain everything on the way, but we have less than two minutes before the real federal team arrives to clean up Marcus’s mess. Please, trust me just this once,” Julian pleaded, leaning across the center console with an expression of raw, unfiltered desperation that mirrored their first encounter in the ballroom.
Claire looked back and forth between Elena standing in the shadows and Julian waiting in the idling SUV. Every instinct screamed that getting into that vehicle was a fatal trap, yet staying in the alley with Elena meant accepting immediate ruin or complicity in a massive conspiracy.
“If I get in this car and you lie to me again, Julian, I will make sure you spend the rest of your natural life behind bars,” Claire warned coldly, marching forward and pulling open the back door of the SUV instead of the front.
Julian’s face fell slightly at her refusal to sit beside him, but he nodded frantically, slamming his foot on the gas pedal as Claire pulled the heavy door shut behind her. The SUV lurched forward, tires screaming against the asphalt as it rocketed out of the alleyway and merged into the rainy downtown traffic.
Through the rear window, Claire watched Elena standing motionless in the retreating headlights, tapping furiously on her smartphone screen with a chillingly calm expression.
“Where are we going, Julian? And don’t tell me we’re heading home,” Claire demanded from the backseat, leaning forward to keep her eyes locked on the back of his head.
“We’re going to the old airfield outside the city limits. Marcus has a private jet waiting, and it’s the only place where we can access an offline terminal to clear our names,” Julian replied without turning around, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel.
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Claire’s blood ran cold. She reached slowly into her blazer pocket, her fingers closing around her smartphone, only to find the screen completely shattered and dead from a remote kill-switch command she hadn't noticed until now.
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