Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Dawn Breaks
I pulled my phone from my clutch and made a single call.
“Lift the shutters.”
All around the perimeter of the Hawthorne Museum, the massive mechanical gears began to grind. The heavy steel barricades that had trapped us inside for hours slowly began to rise.
The first rays of morning sunlight bled through the soaring glass entrances, painting the marble floors in shades of gold.
Through the glass, the street outside was a sea of flashing lights. Dozens of FBI tactical vehicles, NYPD cruisers, and SWAT vans surrounded the building. Helicopters chopped through the sky overhead.
The main doors swung open.
A wave of federal agents poured into the museum, their weapons drawn.
“FBI! Nobody move! Keep your hands where we can see them!”
The elite guests, the untouchable masters of the universe, immediately complied. Men in ruined tuxedos dropped to their knees. Women in couture gowns raised their hands in the air.
An FBI Special Agent in Charge walked through the crowd, flanked by heavily armed operators. He locked eyes with me.
“Mara Vale?” he asked.
“Yes, Agent.”
“We received your data packet. You initiated this lockdown?”
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“I secured an active crime scene,” I corrected him. “And I apprehended the man who assaulted me.”
I pointed to Grant, who was still kneeling on the floor, staring blankly ahead as agents moved in to cuff him.
