Chapter 6 - The Vanishing Ark
The sight of that dark thermal blanket resting over the portable bassinet inside the black utility van drained every ounce of air from my lungs.
They had outmaneuvered us. While Julian and I had been racing blindly across the city to track down a forged address and a terrified cousin, a secondary team had breached our home, bypassing the deadbolts we thought made us safe, and snatched my granddaughter right out from under our roof.
“You sick bastards,” Julian roared, his voice cracking with a primal, terrifying fury that seemed to shake the very foundations of the rotting porch.
He didn't hesitate. Ignoring the enforcer holding my wrist hostage, Julian lunged forward like a freight train, crashing directly into the lead enforcer and sending both of them tumbling off the wooden steps into the mud of the driveway.
The man holding me twisted my arm violently, a sharp spike of agony shooting up my shoulder as he tried to use me as leverage to pull his weapon.
“Let her go, you piece of trash!” I screamed, channeling every ounce of adrenaline left in my battered body. Instead of pulling away, I slammed my heel down as hard as I could onto the bridge of his expensive leather shoe, driving my elbow backward straight into his ribs.
He grunted in shock, his grip loosening just enough for me to wrench my arm free.
Before he could recover, I grabbed the wooden railing of the porch and swung my entire body around, driving my shoulder into his chest and sending him stumbling backward off the edge of the steps. He hit the gravel hard, his head bouncing against the rear bumper of the enforcers' sedan with a dull thud that knocked him instantly unconscious.
I didn't waste a second looking back. I turned my attention to the utility van, where the sliding side door was wide open, exposing the high-tech interior and the glowing medical monitors tracking a tiny heartbeat.
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Inside the van, illuminated by the cold blue light of the equipment, a second man in a suit was scrambling toward the front driver’s seat, his hands reaching for the ignition while the black bassinet sat unsecured on the passenger bench.
“Oh, no you don't,” I muttered, scrambling up into the back of the van just as the engine roared to life.
