Chapter 15 - Siege at the Blue House
The first window shattered before anyone reached the hallway.
Glass scattered across the living room.
Everyone dropped.
Mason pulled Olivia behind the sofa.
Derek dragged Thomas toward the kitchen.
Adrian grabbed Daniel.
Daniel shoved him away.
“Don’t touch me.”
Adrian stared at him.
“This is not the time.”
Nora moved toward the window.
Grace grabbed her coat.
“Are you insane?”
“I need to see positions.”
“You need to keep your head.”
Another window broke.
No one fired into the house.
That was worse.
They wanted fear.
They wanted surrender.
A loudspeaker outside activated.
“Daniel Hale.”
Daniel looked toward the window.
“You are requested to exit the residence.”
Mason whispered, “Very polite.”
Derek ignored him.
The voice continued.
“Everyone else will be permitted to leave.”
Adrian laughed.
“No they won’t.”
Olivia looked at him.
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Because that’s what you would do?”
Adrian looked annoyed.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood.
Olivia grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
“If they want me—”
“They want your claim dead.”
He looked at her.
She continued.
“If you walk out there, the transfer happens.”
Daniel sat back down.
“Good point.”
Grace opened the basement door.
“The hidden room has another exit?”
Thomas nodded.
“Tunnel.”
Everyone stared.
Olivia said, “Of course there’s a tunnel.”
Thomas almost smiled.
“Your mother insisted.”
They moved downstairs.
The archive had to come too.
Grace packed the most important documents into plastic storage bins.
Mason grabbed two.
Derek grabbed another.
Adrian carried one.
Daniel looked at him.
Adrian said, “Don’t make this symbolic.”
“It already is.”
Thomas opened a panel behind the shelves.
A narrow tunnel appeared.
Rebecca shook her head.
“I visited this house twenty times.”
Thomas replied, “You were terrible at snooping.”
She almost slapped him.
The loudspeaker continued upstairs.
“Daniel Hale.”
Then another voice.
Samuel Price.
Everyone froze.
Rebecca stared upward.
“That’s Samuel.”
The loudspeaker played a recording.
“Daniel, do not exit.”
Rebecca laughed.
“They hacked the wrong lawyer.”
Grace checked her phone.
A message from Samuel.
COURT ACCEPTED EMERGENCY CLAIM.
HEARING 8 A.M.
Daniel exhaled.
“Three hours.”
Derek looked at the time.
“Then all we need to do is keep him alive until eight.”
Mason said, “You make that sound easy.”
They entered the tunnel.
The passage ran beneath the backyard toward the lake.
Olivia stayed beside Daniel.
“Did you know about any of this?”
“No.”
“Not the trust?”
“No.”
“Caleb?”
“I knew he was researching my birth family.”
Caleb nodded.
“I told him about Evelyn six weeks ago.”
Olivia looked at him.
“Why not contact me?”
Daniel answered.
“I wanted to know whether you were part of Vaughn Strategic.”
She stared.
“You thought I worked for them?”
“You lived with Derek.”
Olivia looked ahead.
Fair.
Daniel continued.
“I’m sorry.”
“You had reasons.”
“That doesn’t make suspicion feel better.”
She looked at him.
“You really are my brother.”
He smiled faintly.
They reached the boathouse.
Thomas opened the floor hatch.
Cold lake air filled the tunnel.
A small motorboat waited.
Derek stared.
“You kept a boat fueled for twelve years?”
Thomas shrugged.
“I fish.”
Olivia laughed despite everything.
They loaded the archive.
Mason started the engine.
Headlights appeared on the shoreline.
“They found the exit.”
Everyone climbed aboard.
The boat pulled away.
Voices shouted behind them.
The lake was black.
Moonlight shimmered across the water.
Grace checked her laptop.
“We need somewhere secure until morning.”
Nora said, “Federal courthouse.”
Grace looked at her.
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
“Your agency is compromised.”
“The courthouse marshals aren’t my agency.”
Derek nodded.
“She’s right.”
Mason drove.
“How do we reach it from a lake?”
Thomas pointed.
“Marina on the east shore.”
They crossed.
A vehicle waited at the marina.
Grace tensed.
Then Samuel Price stepped out.
Rebecca stared.
Her ex-husband was tall, gray-haired, and wearing a tuxedo beneath an overcoat.
Mason whispered, “Where did he come from?”
Rebecca replied, “Probably ruining someone’s fundraiser.”
Samuel looked at her.
“You look terrible.”
Rebecca said, “You look divorced.”
He smiled.
“Still love you too.”
They loaded into two vehicles.
Samuel looked at Daniel.
“You’re the heir?”
Daniel nodded.
Samuel shook his hand.
“Worst inheritance I’ve ever seen.”
Daniel almost laughed.
They drove toward the city.
The courthouse sat ninety minutes away.
Halfway there, Grace noticed headlights following.
“Three cars.”
Derek looked back.
“They’re closing.”
Samuel accelerated.
Mason’s vehicle followed.
Olivia sat beside Daniel in Samuel’s SUV.
Rebecca was in front.
Grace watched the road behind them.
The pursuing vehicles gained.
Samuel said, “There’s a state police barracks ten miles ahead.”
Nora, in the second vehicle, called.
“Don’t go there.”
Grace put her on speaker.
“Why?”
“Board contact works that district.”
Samuel cursed.
“What about hospital security?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Olivia.
“What would Mom do?”
She stared at him.
Then remembered the journal.
Start with home.
Always start with home.
A memory surfaced.
Her mother driving these roads.
A church.
White steeple.
Basement shelter used during storms.
She looked at Thomas.
“St. Matthew’s.”
His eyes widened.
“Yes.”
Samuel turned.
They exited.
The pursuing vehicles followed.
The church appeared ahead.
Lights were off.
Samuel drove behind it.
Thomas unlocked the basement using a key hidden beneath a stone.
Olivia stared.
“You have keys everywhere.”
Thomas replied, “Your mother was cautious.”
They entered.
The vehicles arrived outside.
Footsteps surrounded the building.
Daniel checked the time.
6:21 a.m.
One hour and thirty-nine minutes until court.
Samuel opened his laptop.
“The judge may hear emergency testimony remotely.”
Grace looked at him.
“From a church basement?”
“Judges have seen worse.”
They connected.
The signal was weak.
Then a secure video window appeared.
A clerk.
Samuel began explaining.
Outside, someone tried the door.
The clerk said, “The judge can hear you at seven.”
Daniel looked at the clock.
Thirty-nine minutes.
Another impact hit the door.
Grace whispered, “We don’t have thirty-nine minutes.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“I can buy them.”
Olivia looked at him.
“How?”
He took out his phone.
“I give them what they think they want.”
Daniel frowned.
“Me?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Control.”
He dialed.
Someone answered.
Adrian said, “This is Adrian Vaughn.”
Silence.
Then he smiled coldly.
“I’m ready to kill my son’s claim.”
Daniel stared.
Olivia understood.
May you like
Adrian was lying.
But the question was whether the people outside would believe him.
