Chapter 4 - The Desperate Escape
The heavy mahogany doors of the office swung open, and three armed mercenaries stepped into the room.
Vance calmly adjusted his ruined collar and ordered the men to eliminate me without leaving a single trace.
I didn't hesitate for a second.
I grabbed a heavy bronze statue from the desk and hurled it directly into the massive plate glass window overlooking the street.
The glass shattered outward, creating a deafening explosion of noise that caused the mercenaries to flinch.
I dove behind a leather sofa just as a hail of suppressed bullets tore through the room, shredding the expensive furniture.
Crawling on my stomach, I reached the open floor safe where Vance kept his most sensitive physical files.
I blindly grabbed a thick manila folder labeled with my late wife's name and shoved it deep into my jacket.
One of the mercenaries approached the sofa, his heavy combat boots crunching on the broken glass.
I swept my leg out, knocking his feet out from under him, and scrambled toward the shattered window.
I leaped through the jagged opening, landing painfully on the metal fire escape one floor below.
Bullets pinged against the iron grating as I scrambled down the rusty stairs into the chaotic morning traffic.
I sprinted three blocks before ducking into a crowded subway station to completely lose my heavily armed pursuers.
Catching my breath against a tiled wall, I pulled out my phone and dialed Detective Miller's direct line.
Miller answered on the first ring, his voice strained and completely out of breath.
He told me Brian had just walked into the hospital lobby with a crooked judge and a fully armed private security team.
The judge had presented a signed federal order demanding the immediate release of the children to their father.
Miller said the local hospital security was forcing him to stand down under threat of federal arrest.
I screamed into the phone, begging him not to let Brian take Lily and Mason out of the building.
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Miller went totally silent for a moment before letting out a sharp groan of immense physical pain.
The line disconnected, leaving me listening to a dead dial tone as my worst nightmare became reality.
