Chapter 7 - The Desperate Run
The heavy patrol boat smashed violently into the wooden pilings of the North Pier.
The impact sent a massive shockwave through the vessel, splintering the dock into pieces.
I grabbed Rachel and the children, helping them scramble off the sinking boat and onto the solid concrete.
We sprinted through the deserted industrial shipping yards, desperately hiding behind massive steel containers.
"We cannot keep running like this, Evan, they are going to kill you," Rachel sobbed, clutching the babies.
"I need leverage," I muttered, my mind racing through every piece of information I knew about Noelle's family.
Then, a sudden memory hit me like a lightning bolt.
Noelle's father kept a secure offshore server hidden inside his corporate headquarters downtown.
It held all the illegal blackmail material he used to control politicians and rival business owners.
"If I can get my hands on those digital files, they will have to back off forever," I told Rachel.
I broke into a parked delivery truck, hot-wired the ignition, and drove us straight into the heart of Philadelphia.
We parked two blocks away from the towering glass skyscraper owned by Noelle's family.
I hid Rachel and the kids in an all-night diner, pressing a wad of cash into the waitress's hand to keep them safe.
I snuck into the corporate building through the underground parking garage, using my old executive keycard to bypass security.
I reached the executive suite on the fiftieth floor and kicked open the door to her father's office.
I plugged a flash drive into his master terminal and began downloading the encrypted blackmail files.
The progress bar slowly crawled to ninety percent, agonizingly testing my patience.
Suddenly, the office lights flickered on, completely blinding me.
Noelle was standing in the doorway, holding a silenced pistol pointed directly at my head.
"You really are incredibly predictable, Evan," she smiled maliciously.
May you like
She stepped closer, kicking the flash drive out of the computer port before the download could finish.
"And now, you are going to legally sign away your parental rights, or I am going to pull this trigger."
