Chapter 8 - The Law Fights Back
My hands shook violently as I pressed play on the video message.
Sterling was standing behind a bloody and beaten Marcus inside the clinic.
"You have one hour to bring the woman and the unborn child to the shipping docks, Mateo," Sterling said to the camera.
"If you run, your federal friend dies, and I will hunt you down anyway."
The video ended abruptly, leaving me in absolute despair.
Lucía watched my face closely from the motel bed.
"What do they want?" she asked softly, holding her stomach.
"They want us to surrender," I admitted, my voice breaking.
"But I will not let them win."
I needed the definitive evidence to destroy Sterling and my family once and for all.
Julian thought he had wiped my security cameras, but he didn't know I used a secondary cloud backup.
I connected the burner phone to the motel's terrible Wi-Fi and accessed my secret offshore server.
The files were massive, but they slowly began to download to the device.
I had the footage of Julian confessing to the forgery.
I had the footage of my mother poisoning the tea.
"Mateo, the baby is coming soon," Lucía gasped, gripping the bedsheets in pain.
I grabbed a stack of towels and tried to calm her down.
"I will deliver the baby right here if I have to," I promised her.
Suddenly, the download finished, and I immediately emailed the entire encrypted folder to the FBI director's public tip line.
I included Sterling's name, the clinic address, and the shipping dock location.
Now, I just needed to stall them.
I kissed Lucía deeply and told her to lock the door behind me.
"I am going to the docks to save Marcus," I told her.
"Do not leave this room for anyone except the real police."
I drove the SUV through the torrential rain, arriving at the desolate shipping docks exactly on time.
Sterling, Julian, and my mother were waiting under a large metal canopy.
Marcus was kneeling in the mud, barely conscious.
"Where is she?" my mother demanded as I stepped out of the car with my hands empty.
"She is safe," I declared confidently.
Julian raised his gun and pointed it at my chest.
"Then you are entirely useless to us," Julian laughed.
Before he could pull the trigger, dozens of armored FBI vehicles completely surrounded the docks.
Helicopters swept the area with massive spotlights.
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But my mother refused to surrender.
She grabbed Julian's gun and sprinted directly toward my unprotected SUV, thinking Lucía was inside.
