Chapter 4 - The Storage Unit
The hand covering my mouth smelled strongly of cheap cigarettes and stale coffee.
I tried to scream, but the large man dragged me backward into the dark shadows between two parked vans.
"Stop fighting me, Sarah, it is me!" a familiar voice hissed urgently into my ear.
The man released his grip, and I spun around to see my brother David standing there with a bruised cheek.
I gasped loudly and hugged him, incredibly confused about the terrifying phone call I had just received.
"Who just called me from your phone, David?" I demanded, pushing him back to inspect his injuries.
David looked around the dark parking lot nervously and pulled a small, black USB flash drive from his pocket.
He explained that he had purposefully slipped his phone into Lauren's purse during the chaos at the house.
He knew she was working with someone dangerous and wanted to track her exact location using the GPS app.
"Lauren drove straight to the old shipping docks right after the police left the house," David explained breathlessly.
I asked him where the tablet was and how he had avoided being arrested for shoving the police officer.
David smiled proudly and revealed that he had slipped the tablet into his jacket before Lauren even started crying.
He had run out the back door, smashed the patio glass to create a diversion, and escaped over the neighbor's fence.
He transferred the entire video file onto the USB drive before the remote wipe command could destroy the local copy.
"We have the proof, David, we can take this to the police and clear my name!" I cried out in pure relief.
David shook his head violently and told me that the local police were entirely compromised.
He revealed that the man who called my phone was actually the lead detective assigned to our case.
The detective was secretly engaged to Lauren, and they had planned this entire insurance scam together.
If Harper died and I went to prison, Mark would inherit a massive life insurance payout.
Brenda and Lauren planned to manipulate Mark's grief and slowly drain his entire fortune over the next few years.
I felt physically sick to my stomach as the sheer magnitude of their evil plot washed over me.
"We need to take this flash drive directly to the FBI field office in the city," David instructed firmly.
We jumped into my car and I sped out of the hospital parking lot, constantly checking my rearview mirror.
As we merged onto the desolate midnight highway, a massive black SUV suddenly pulled up directly behind us.
The SUV did not have its headlights on, making it look like a terrifying mechanical ghost in the darkness.
The heavy vehicle suddenly accelerated and slammed violently into the back bumper of my small sedan.
I screamed as my car swerved wildly across the wet asphalt, barely avoiding the concrete median.
David braced himself against the dashboard as the black SUV prepared to ram us a second time.
"They are trying to run us off the bridge, Sarah!" David yelled over the screeching tires.
I slammed the gas pedal to the floor, praying the engine would give me enough speed to outrun the massive truck.
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The SUV pulled up parallel to my driver's side window, and the tinted glass slowly rolled down.
Staring back at me from the driver's seat with a twisted, manic smile was my mother-in-law, Brenda.
