Chapter 7 - The Midnight Escape-7
The shock on Doreen Carver’s face was absolute. For the first time since Leah had met her, the matriarch’s icy composure completely shattered. She stumbled backward, her umbrella slipping from her gloved hand as she stared down the barrel of Simone’s tactical shotgun.
"Shoot the tires! Stop them!" Doreen shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at the sports car while diving behind the open door of her luxury SUV for cover.
The two private security guards scrambled for their sidearms, but Simone didn't hesitate. She fired a deafening warning shot into the pavement inches from their boots, sending a shower of concrete sparks flying into the air and dropping the guards to their knees in sheer terror.
"Move, Leah! Toss the baby and jump!" Simone shouted, holding the passenger door wide open.
Leah didn't hesitate for a second. She carefully tossed her diaper bag into the footwell, then bundled her newborn son tightly against her chest and threw herself into the passenger seat, pulling the heavy armored door shut just as Nathan lunged forward out of the shadows.
"Leah! Wait! Don't do this!" Nathan screamed, slamming his fists desperately against the armored window glass as the sports car's tires spun furiously in the wet gravel, gaining traction with a cloud of white smoke.
With a roar of twin exhaust pipes, Simone slammed her foot down on the accelerator, tearing out of the alley and leaving Doreen, Nathan, and their security detail coughing in the exhaust fumes of the retreating vehicle.
Inside the speeding car, the heater blasted hot air against Leah’s shivering, soaked frame. She pulled her son back against her chest, peeling open the pale blue blanket to check his face. The baby let out a tiny, contented yawn and drifted right back to sleep, completely unaware of the cinematic war zone he had just survived.
Leah let out a ragged, shuddering breath, her hands shaking so violently she could barely hold the infant. She looked over at the driver. Simone was gripping the steering wheel with intense, white-knuckled focus, her dark hair flying wildly around her face as she wove the high-performance car skillfully through the deserted city streets of Columbus.
"Are you... are you okay?" Leah managed to choke out, wiping the rain from her eyes.
"I've been better," Simone muttered grimly, glancing sideways with a tight, fierce smile. "Though crashing Doreen’s little kidnapping party was easily the most fun I’ve had all trimester."
Leah stared at her, a swirling vortex of gratitude, confusion, and lingering terror washing over her. "How did you get out of Room 402? The hospital was on complete lockdown."
"Honey, I didn't spend six months undercover in Doreen’s private clinics by being an amateur," Simone replied, taking a sharp turn onto the interstate heading north toward Lake Erie. "I picked the electronic door lock using a modified transponder hidden in my skin-care kit, hijacked a doctor’s keycard from the nurses' station, and commandeered this little beauty from the hospital’s executive parking deck."
Leah let out a breathless, half-hysterical laugh, resting her head back against the leather headrest. But the relief was short-lived. She knew Doreen Carver didn't lose. A woman like Doreen with millions in disposable wealth, political connections, and deep ties to corrupt medical institutions wouldn't just let them vanish into the night.
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"She’s going to hunt us down," Leah whispered, staring out the rain-streaked window at the blurring highway lights. "Where are we even going, Simone? Nathan knows my face. The police are probably already looking for us on Doreen's payroll."
"The police won't help us, because half the precinct is funded by the Carver Foundation," Simone said grimly, her knuckles tightening on the wheel. "Which is why we aren't going to a motel or a safehouse. We’re going to blow their entire empire wide open."
