Chapter 5 - The Confrontation
Spencer stumbled backward against the folding table, knocking over a stack of files and a laptop. "Ellison?! How the hell did you find this place?!"
Marcus scrambled to his feet, pulling a heavy steel crowbar from beside a toolbox. "I don't care who he is! He's alone!"
Marcus lunged at me, swinging the crowbar toward my head.
Years of conducting physical rescue operations in collapsed structures kicked in. I ducked beneath the arc of the iron bar, stepped inside his guard, and drove my shoulder directly into his sternum. The impact knocked the wind out of him, sending him crashing heavily into a stack of wooden crates. The crowbar clattered across the concrete floor.
I turned quickly, but Spencer wasn't fighting. He was sprinting toward the secondary fire exit at the back of the room, holding a leather briefcase packed with cashier's checks and records.
"Dad!" Kaden cried out, his eyes wide with tears. "Dad! You came!"
"I've got you, son!" I pulled my pocket utility knife, stepped over to Kaden, and sliced through the plastic zip-ties on his wrists and ankles.
Kaden threw his arms around my neck, sobbing uncontrollably against my heavy coat. "Dad... I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't cheat! Spencer set me up! He told Mom I would go to prison if I didn't stay here!"
"Shh, I know, Kaden. I know," I squeezed him tightly, checking his pulse and examining the bruise on his cheek. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah," he nodded, wiping his eyes.
"Get behind me and stay close," I ordered.
I picked up the heavy steel crowbar Marcus had dropped. Marcus was still groaning on the floor, holding his ribs. Spencer had disappeared into the dark rear hallway leading to the roof access stairs.
"Dad, he has all the files!" Kaden said, pointing toward the open fire exit. "He has the flash drives with all the fake evidence he used to blackmail Mom and three other families from my school!"
"He's not getting away," I said.
I guided Kaden down the main stairwell toward the ground floor, keeping my body between him and any potential danger. When we reached the heavy metal exit doors on the first floor, I pushed Kaden out into the rainy alleyway.
Colette saw us from the truck. She threw her door open and ran across the soaked asphalt, crying out Kaden’s name.
"Kaden! Oh my god, Kaden!" She threw her arms around him, weeping hysterically, pulling his face into her hands. "I'm so sorry, baby! I'm so sorry!"
Kaden pulled back slightly, looking at her with a painful mix of love and deep betrayal. "You let him take me, Mom. You believed him instead of Dad."
Colette flinched as if she had been slapped.
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Before anyone else could speak, a engine roared from the upper level of the adjoining parking ramp behind the warehouse. Spencer’s black Audi burst down the concrete ramp, its tires screeching on the wet pavement as he aimed the car straight for the street exit.
I didn't hesitate. I sprinted to my county truck, climbed into the driver's seat, hit the emergency light bar on the roof, and slammed the accelerator to the floor.