Chapter 8 - The Ransom
Panic instantly gripped Nathaniel's heart like an icy fist.
He pushed past the agent and ran to the armored transport van.
The back doors were wide open, and the guarding officer lay unconscious on the pavement.
Marcus had slipped his cuffs and taken the most vulnerable child as a hostage.
Grace let out a devastating sob, falling to her knees in the street.
Nathaniel's phone vibrated with an incoming call from an unknown number.
He answered it immediately, his jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.
"If you want the girl back, you will bring me the shipping manifests," Marcus sneered over the line.
"Where?" Nathaniel demanded, his voice cold and lethal.
"The abandoned shipyard on Pier 40."
"Come alone in twenty minutes, or the street rat goes swimming."
The line went dead.
Nathaniel turned to his mother and Grace, his eyes completely devoid of mercy.
"He wants the documents," Nathaniel said.
"Do not call the authorities, they will spook him and get her killed."
"I am going with you," Grace insisted, wiping her tears and standing up.
"No, it is too dangerous," Nathaniel argued.
"She is my responsibility, Nathaniel," Grace fired back with fierce determination.
"I fed her, I protected her, and I will not let that monster hurt her."
Nathaniel saw the unbreakable resolve in her eyes and finally nodded.
They commandeered an unmarked FBI sedan and sped toward the docks.
The shipyard was a desolate wasteland of rusted shipping containers and dark, oily water.
They parked near the entrance and walked slowly toward the edge of the main pier.
Marcus was standing near the deep water, holding a terrified Lucy by the collar of her yellow raincoat.
He pressed the barrel of a stolen police pistol against her small head.
"Toss the papers on the ground and kick them over," Marcus ordered, his eyes twitching with desperate madness.
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Nathaniel reached into his jacket, but he didn't pull out the documents.
Instead, he pulled out the heavy fire extinguisher he had taken from the server room.
