Chapter 3 - The Diner Escape
David violently flipped our heavy wooden table backward to create a sudden barricade.
The deafening pop of a suppressed gunshot shattered the ceramic coffee mug I had been holding just a second earlier.
I scrambled on my hands and knees across the sticky linoleum floor toward the swinging kitchen doors.
A terrified cook screamed and dropped a tray of dishes as I sprinted past him toward the emergency exit.
I shoved the heavy metal door open and burst out into the freezing, snow-covered alleyway.
I ran blindly through the maze of dumpsters, my lungs burning with every desperate breath.
I finally managed to lose them in the chaotic crowd of a nearby subway station.
I boarded a random train, shaking uncontrollably as I huddled in the corner of the subway car.
My burner phone suddenly began to vibrate in the pocket of my heavy winter coat.
I answered it cautiously, fully expecting to hear Kieran's threatening voice.
Instead, the chilling, aristocratic voice of Constance Abernathy echoed through the speaker.
She dropped her sweet, elderly mother-in-law act and spoke with absolute, ruthless venom.
She told me that the men at the diner were just a polite warning.
She demanded that I bring the encrypted drive to her estate by midnight, or my family would suffer the consequences.
I angrily told her that I was going straight to the federal authorities with everything I had.
Constance let out a soft, wicked laugh that made my blood run entirely cold.
She casually mentioned exactly what my younger sister, Sarah, was wearing to her college classes today.
May you like
She then listed Sarah's exact home address, apartment number, and the names of her roommates.
Constance softly whispered that her men were currently standing right outside my sister's front door.
