Chapter 7 - THE WITNESS IN THE RAINRachel called Mia before Naomi finished examining the photograph.
No answer.
She called Victor.
His phone rang until the call disconnected.
Naomi ordered the troopers at the farmhouse to report.
Static came through the radio.
Then a single voice answered.
“Officer down.”
Naomi drove through heavy rain with Rachel beside her. Two state police vehicles followed.
“You should be in the rear convoy,” Naomi said.
“I’m not hiding while someone attacks my friends.”
“You cannot keep running toward every weapon.”
“I’m not running toward it. I’m running toward the people standing in front of it for me.”
The farmhouse appeared beyond a line of wet oak trees.
One trooper lay near the front porch, wounded but conscious. He pointed toward the barn.
“Two suspects. They took the witnesses.”
Naomi instructed Rachel to remain inside the armored vehicle.
This time Rachel obeyed.
For almost three minutes.
Then she saw movement behind the barn.
Mia stumbled into the open with her hands tied. Curtis Dane pulled her backward by the collar.
Another man dragged Victor toward a black sedan.
Naomi and the troopers approached from the opposite side, unaware that the hostages were being moved.
Rachel grabbed the vehicle’s radio.
“Naomi, they’re behind the barn.”
The message produced static. The jammer was active again.
Dane opened the sedan’s rear door.
Rachel looked at the old farm truck parked nearby. The keys hung beneath the dashboard, exactly where Mia always left them.
She climbed from the armored vehicle, entered the truck, and started the engine.
The headlights came on.
Dane turned.
Rachel accelerated across the muddy yard.
She did not aim for the men. She aimed for the sedan.
The farm truck struck the sedan’s open door and tore it from its hinges.
Dane released Mia and jumped aside.
Victor dropped to the ground.
Rachel braked between the hostages and their attackers.
“Get in!”
Mia climbed into the passenger side. Victor reached the truck bed as the second attacker fired at the tires.
The rear tire exploded.
The truck lurched sideways.
Dane jumped onto the running board and reached through Rachel’s window. He seized the steering wheel.
Rachel drove forward, dragging him through the mud.
“Stop the truck!”
He struck at her face.
Rachel ducked and steered toward the wooden fence.
At the last second, she turned away.
Dane hit the fence post and fell from the running board.
Naomi emerged around the barn and tackled him before he could rise.
The second attacker fled into the orchard. Troopers surrounded him near the creek.
Mia cut Victor’s restraints with a pocketknife from the truck.
Rachel remained behind the wheel, breathing hard.
A tightening sensation moved across her abdomen.
She froze.
Another followed thirty seconds later.
Mia saw her expression.
“Is it the baby?”
“I don’t know.”
Paramedics examined Rachel and determined that stress had triggered contractions, but labor had not fully begun. She was ordered to rest.
At the farmhouse, Naomi questioned Dane.
“Who helped you escape?”
Dane stared through the rain.
“Mercer’s people are inside every department.”
“Names.”
“He never gave me names. He used Lorraine.”
“Why return for Victor?”
“Victor saw the crash twelve years ago. Mercer can survive the financial charges. He can’t survive murder.”
Victor stepped forward.
“I’ll testify.”
Dane laughed.
“You think you’re reaching the courtroom?”
Naomi struck the table with her palm.
“Mercer abandoned you. Help us stop him.”
“He didn’t abandon me.”
A shot cracked outside.
The kitchen window shattered.
Naomi threw Rachel to the floor.
The bullet struck the wall above Dane.
He stared at the hole in horror.
A second shot hit the table.
Troopers returned fire toward the tree line.
Dane crawled away from the window.
“He’s cleaning everyone,” he whispered.
Naomi moved him into the cellar while officers searched the woods.
The shooter escaped, leaving behind a rifle fitted with a remote trigger. A camera had allowed Mercer to fire it from another location.
Dane finally agreed to reveal Mercer’s next move.
The Blackwater auction would take place during a charity banquet at the Grand Clayton Hotel. Wealthy bidders would attend privately while the public auction proceeded online. Mercer controlled three shell companies registered to separate buyers.
“If Rachel activates the trust before the sale, the properties are removed from auction,” Dane said.
“How does she activate it?” Naomi asked.
“She must present the original document and submit a biological record proving the heir exists.”
Rachel touched her belly.
“He wants proof connected to my baby.”
“Bloodwork, prenatal records or a birth certificate.”
Naomi’s expression hardened.
“The hospital attacker wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“He was trying to steal my medical records,” Rachel said.
Dane nodded.
“Mercer planned to create a false claim that the baby wasn’t Ethan’s. If Ethan isn’t the father, Lorraine can challenge the family trust.”
Rachel felt disgust rather than surprise.
“Ethan knew?”
“I don’t know.”
At the county jail, Ethan agreed to provide a DNA sample and testify that Mercer had ordered the forged records.
The prosecution arranged a protected hearing during the hotel auction. Rachel would submit the original trust before the properties could be sold.
Naomi opposed Rachel’s attendance, but the county required the beneficiary to appear in person.
The banquet began at seven the following evening.
Rachel wore a dark blue maternity dress beneath a long coat. Mia remained at her side. Naomi and plainclothes officers surrounded the ballroom.
Grant Mercer had not been seen publicly since the law office fire.
Lorraine remained in custody under increased security.
Shortly before the auction began, Ethan was brought through the service entrance.
Rachel met him in a private conference room.
“I’m going to testify,” he said.
“Because it helps your sentence?”
“Because our child deserves one parent who eventually did the right thing.”
Rachel looked at him.
“That parent will be me.”
Ethan lowered his eyes.
Naomi entered.
“We’re ready.”
As they crossed the hotel corridor, the lights suddenly dimmed.
The elevator doors opened.
Lorraine stepped out wearing a hotel employee’s uniform.
A guard lay unconscious inside the elevator.
Before Naomi could draw her weapon, Lorraine pulled the fire alarm.
Sprinklers erupted.
Guests poured from the ballroom in panic.
Lorraine seized Ethan and pressed a knife against his throat.
“Give me the trust,” she told Rachel, “or your husband dies before he can testify.”
Ethan looked at Rachel across the chaos.
For the first time, he did not ask her to save him.
“Don’t give it to her,” he said.
May you like
Lorraine tightened the knife.
Then the ballroom doors burst open and hundreds of terrified guests rushed directly toward them.
