Chapter 3 - The Dead Husband
Clare drove the rusty sedan over the curb and blindly merged onto the slick highway.
Gunfire shattered her rear windshield, showering the backseat in tiny glass fragments.
Lily screamed and covered her head with her hands.
Daniel reached over from the passenger seat and shoved Clare’s head down.
He calmly instructed her to take the next exit and turn down the first dirt road she saw.
Clare obeyed, her heart hammering violently against her ribs.
They lost the black vans in a maze of abandoned rural farm roads.
Clare finally slammed on the brakes behind a dilapidated wooden barn.
She turned to Daniel and demanded to know what on earth was going on.
Daniel wiped the blood from his eyes and took a deep breath.
He explained that his own executive board was trying to assassinate him.
They needed him dead to cover up a billion-dollar money laundering operation hidden inside his retail stores.
Clare asked why they were attacking a small-town store manager and her daughter.
Daniel looked directly into her eyes with a terrifying level of sorrow.
He told her that they were not after him right now.
He confessed that he had come to the diner specifically to find her.
Clare shook her head, thoroughly confused.
Daniel revealed that the money laundering operation had been discovered two years ago by a low-level corporate auditor.
That auditor had hidden the master flash drive containing all the proof before he was silenced.
Clare felt all the blood drain from her face.
Her husband, Mark, had been a corporate auditor for Mercer Home and Living.
The police had told her Mark died in a tragic drunk driving accident.
Daniel quietly confirmed that Mark had been murdered by the company.
And worse, the killers believed Clare still had the missing flash drive.
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Before Clare could process the grief, Lily spoke from the backseat in a trembling voice.
She asked why the red light on Daniel’s collar was blinking so fast.
