Chapter 5 - THE THIRTEEN STEPS
SCREECH.
The brass latch groaned as Kael leveraged the steel screwdriver deeper into the door frame, using the door jamb as a fulcrum. Wood splinters popped softly inside the casing.
"They're forcing the door," Elowen gasped into the phone, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "He's using a tool!"
"Elowen, listen to me very carefully," the dispatcher said, her voice dropping into an intense, urgent focus. "Is there a window in that bathroom?"
"Yes, but it's small—it leads to the narrow side yard," Elowen whispered, glancing up at the frosted glass window set high above the bathtub.
"I need you to climb into the tub," the dispatcher ordered. "Do not try to negotiate with them. Officers are turning onto your street right now."
As if on cue, the faint, rising wail of a siren cut through the distance outside the house.
On the other side of the bathroom door, the prying stopped instantly.
"Kael," Mara whispered through the wood, her voice finally losing its icy composure. "The street..."
"She didn't have a SIM card!" Kael snarled, his voice tinged with frantic confusion. "How did she call them?!"
"Get the bag," Mara commanded sharply, her heels pivoting on the hardwood. "Get the bag from the nursery now!"
The nursery bag.
The words chilled Elowen to her core. For weeks, she had noticed Mara dropping off sealed medical supplies and strange document folders in Leo's room—folders she kept locked in a fireproof pouch. Elowen had assumed it was just Mara’s overbearing nature, but the urgency in Mara's voice wasn't about escaping a domestic assault charge.
It was about something inside that room.
WOOD SPLINTERS CRACKED.
With one final, desperate shove, Kael drove his boot into the door frame. The wicker hamper buckled, the brass latch snapped from the wood, and the bathroom door swung open.
Kael stood in the doorway, the screwdriver clutched in his fist, his face pale and twisted. Behind him, Mara stood near the linen closet, holding a thick leather envelope retrieved from the nursery.
Kael took one step into the room, his eyes locking onto Elowen and the baby cradled against her chest.
May you like
"You should have kept your mouth shut, Elowen," Kael breathed, stepping over the broken laundry hamper.
Outside, tires screeched on the driveway, and heavy boots slammed onto the front porch.
