Chapter 6 - The Mother’s Trap
We barely escaped Manhattan. The chase was relentless, but we managed to slip away into the subway tunnels, vanishing like ghosts.
Sitting in a stolen car under a bridge in Brooklyn, I accessed Thorne’s hard drive. The schematics for Site Echo were there, along with a terrifying realization. The rig wasn't just a prison. It was an interrogation center designed to break high-value targets.
And my father had been there for six days.
My burner phone suddenly buzzed. It was a text message. Not from a blocked number, but from my old, abandoned number.
Sarah. I know you're alive. Let’s talk. Pier 17. Midnight. Come alone, or I start killing your Navy colleagues. - Helen.
Vance slammed his hand on the dashboard. "It’s a trap, Sarah. She’s Vanguard’s top cleaner."
"I know it’s a trap," I said, checking my weapon. "But she’s the only one with the biometric clearance codes to bypass Site Echo’s perimeter defenses. If we want to get onto that rig, I need her alive."
Midnight. Pier 17 was desolate, shrouded in a thick, freezing fog. I walked out into the open, my hands empty.
Helen stepped out from the shadows. She looked exactly like the woman who had packed my lunches, braided my hair, and hugged me at the funeral. But her eyes were dead. The warmth was entirely manufactured.
"Sarah," she said, her voice dripping with fake maternal affection. "You look tired. You should have stayed at the estate."
"Drop the act, Helen," I spat. "Or whatever your real name is."
She smiled, drawing a suppressed pistol with terrifying speed. "You're just like Marcus. Too smart for your own good. Hand over the drives, and I'll make your death quick."
"I don't have them," I said calmly.
Helen aimed at my chest. "Then you're of no use to me."
Before she could pull the trigger, the piercing red laser of a sniper rifle painted her forehead.
Vance stepped out from the rooftop of an adjacent warehouse, his rifle dialed in.
"Drop it," Vance commanded over a megaphone.
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Helen didn't panic. She chuckled, dropping her weapon. "You think taking me hostage gets you Marcus? He’s already broken."
I closed the distance, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her against the concrete pylon. "You don't know my father. And you definitely don't know me."
