Chapter 5 - The Police Trap
I did not stop running when I heard the gunshot echo behind me.
I ducked under a low-hanging oak branch and crashed through a wooden side gate into a neighbor's backyard.
Mia was completely silent against my chest, her little fingers digging painfully into my collarbone.
I sprinted past a plastic playhouse and a rusted barbecue grill, my lungs burning with every breath.
I could hear heavy boots pounding against the pavement somewhere behind me, closing the distance.
I reached the wooden fence at the back of the property and frantically searched for a way over.
There was an old, overturned metal garbage can resting near the base of the wooden slats.
I stepped onto the rusted metal, balanced my weight, and threw myself and my daughter over the top of the fence.
We landed hard in the soft dirt of an unpaved alleyway that ran behind the neighborhood houses.
My ankle throbbed with a sharp pain, but adrenaline completely masked the worst of the injury.
I limped quickly down the alley, staying close to the overgrown bushes to hide our silhouette.
I needed to find a place to hide because I could not outrun two trained police officers while carrying a child.
I noticed an open garage door attached to a small, single-story house at the end of the alley.
I slipped inside the dark, cool garage and crouched down behind a stack of dusty cardboard boxes.
I covered Mia's mouth gently with my hand and pressed my finger to my lips, begging her to stay quiet.
She nodded bravely, tears streaming quietly down her dirty cheeks.
A few seconds later, the younger officer jogged past the open garage door, his radio crackling with static.
I held my breath until his footsteps completely faded away down the gravel alley.
I pulled my cell phone from my pocket to call for help, but I remembered that the local police were compromised.
I had no idea who was clean and who was on the syndicate's payroll.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my hand, displaying a text message from Jackson.
The message read, "I am so sorry Emily, they told me they would let my mother go if I helped them find you."
I stared at the glowing screen in sheer disbelief as the reality of his ultimate betrayal washed over me.
My husband was actively helping the corrupt cops hunt down his own wife and child to save his mother.
I heard the crunch of gravel right outside the garage door, and a shadow fell across the concrete floor.
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Jackson’s voice called out softly into the darkness.
"Emily, please come out, it is the only way to keep everyone alive," he pleaded into the shadows.
