er of Brooklyn. The corrugated metal door rumbled shut behind it, plunging the spa

ended a rickety iron staircase, her expression grim. She didn't say a wor

er nails digging into her own palms. She gasped for

small faces pale. They stood silently, watching

bench and poured a generous amount o

one gulp. The burn in her throat was a welcome distr

her voice firm, the decision made in a

airports will be the first place he

knelt down, her hands cupping Aiden's face, forcing him to meet

Now. Use the encrypted line. Tell him we ne

his laptop, propped it on the hood of the car, and his fingers began t

coat. "Mommy, why are we running?" she aske

hand patting Kennedy's arm. "I

fierce hug, burying her face in her soft hair. "It's a game, sweetie,

rstand. "Is... is the bad man who

her eyes, a painful, childish

physical blow. Her body went rigid. She closed her eyes, t

ay. She opened a hidden safe in the wall and pulled

"The license plate is burned. You c

top. "Uncle Silas has a jet waiting. It takes

solve. She zipped up her children's jackets,

Anjelica took the wheel, her driving aggressive and sure as she weaved

ic thumping of Kennedy's own heart. She held her children's hands, her

K. The airport glowed in the distance

exit when Anjelica suddenly swore und

e lights of police cars. But these weren't police. Several black SUVs, the same kind

armored vehicles of the Cle

ere tr

aid, her voice eerily cal

iden's face, Ava's hands.

her knuckles white o

ze fixed on the roadblock. "I can't be with t

open the

carefully constructed composure finally shatte

small fingers from her coat, and pressed a hard,

more than anythin

darkness of the highway shoulder, a lone