Chapter 17 - The Rail Yard
Noon.
A flat, colorless sky.
Rust and weeds and silence.
Sarah stood alone at the center of the platform.
The decoy in her hand.
A wire hidden in her collar.
I wasn't supposed to be within a mile.
I was there anyway.
Hidden with Marcus in a rusted boxcar.
Two hundred yards out.
"Coordinates received twenty minutes ago," Coyle murmured through the radio. "Hold position until Sarah confirms visual on the children."
At 12:04, a dark van rolled along the access road.
Stopped.
Engine idling.
Two men climbed out.
One unfamiliar.
The other—Elias Marsh.
Calm.
Composed.
Silver hair catching the light.
"He came himself," Marcus breathed. "That's not what a careful man does unless he's confident."
"Where are my children, Elias?" Sarah called.
"Closer than you think. Show me the drive first."
"Show me my children first."
A long pause.
Elias nodded.
The van door opened.
Lily climbed out first.
Tommy against her hip.
Both wrapped in a blanket.
Pale.
Alive.
Relief nearly buckled my knees.
"Mommy!"
"The drive first," Elias reminded. "Then the children."
Sarah crossed the platform.
Held it out.
Elias turned it over.
Studied it.
Nodded to a man with a laptop on the van's hood.
"Verify it."
Nearly a full minute.
Keys clicking.
Then his expression shifted.
"Sir. This file structure is inconsistent. The historical records check out. The active roster—it's not here."
Elias's calm didn't change.
But his eyes went flat.
"Sarah. I did warn you what would happen if you tried something clever."
"Marcus, now," Coyle's voice snapped.
Everything happened at once.
Agents emerged from three directions.
Weapons raised.
Shouting.
The van's driver shoved Lily and Tommy back inside.
Slammed the door.
Threw it into reverse.
Sarah lunged without hesitation.
I was already moving.
Sprinting across the gravel as gunfire erupted behind me.
The van fishtailed.
Clipped a collapsed platform.
Skidded into a rusted train car.
Steam hissing from the hood.
Two agents pulled the driver out before he could reach his weapon.
Elias ran for the tree line.
Marcus broke off in pursuit.
Shouting for him to stop.
He disappeared into the brush.
"The van!" Sarah screamed.
I reached it as she ripped the rear doors open.
Lily and Tommy huddled in the corner.
Shaking.
Unharmed.
"Mommy!" Lily sobbed, scrambling into Sarah's arms.
Tommy wailed, reaching for her with both hands.
I reached them moments later.
No one spoke.
We just held each other in the wreckage of what nearly became the worst day of our lives.
Coyle's voice crackled through the radio.
May you like
"Marcus lost Elias in the tree line. We have the driver and the technician in custody. But Marsh is gone. This isn't over."
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