Chapter 14 - The Final Hunt
The school entered lockdown before Drake reached the property.
Federal agents moved Ethan and twenty-three other children into a reinforced interior room while police sealed surrounding streets.
Drake did not enter the school.
He wanted us to believe he had.
His real target was Mercer Development’s annual employee gathering, scheduled that evening in my father’s restored manufacturing hall.
Two thousand employees and family members were expected to attend.
The event had been announced publicly for weeks.
Drake knew I would cancel it.
He also knew evacuation procedures would concentrate staff in designated parking areas.
Lucas discovered the pattern.
“He doesn’t want one victim,” he said. “He wants a final statement.”
We canceled the gathering without ordering an immediate evacuation. Security teams quietly searched the building.
In a maintenance corridor beneath the main hall, they found three explosive devices connected to the natural-gas system.
The bombs were sophisticated.
The timer was not active.
Remote detonation required a signal from within a two-mile radius.
Drake was nearby.
Police searched rooftops, parking structures, and abandoned offices.
No trace.
Then my phone rang.
Arthur’s prison identification number appeared.
I answered.
Drake’s voice greeted me.
“Your husband was easier to imitate than expected.”
“What do you want?”
“To finish our conversation.”
“You lost.”
“So did you.”
“My son is alive.”
“For now.”
My blood chilled.
“He is surrounded by federal agents.”
“Those agents are protecting a school.”
I looked at Lucas.
Drake continued.
“Ethan left twelve minutes ago.”
I called the lead agent.
He confirmed that a transport vehicle had departed with Ethan, my mother, and two officers.
The vehicle never reached the secure location.
Traffic cameras showed it turning into a tunnel before all communications stopped.
One of the assigned officers had worked for Drake.
Drake sent coordinates.
An unfinished rail station beneath land formerly owned by my father.
The same land Drake had attempted to obtain through Ethan’s trust.
“Come alone,” Drake said.
“You know I won’t.”
“Then bring Lucas. I owe his family a debt.”
Lucas heard every word.
“We go,” he said.
Federal agents equipped us with transmitters, but the underground construction blocked reliable signals.
The station had been abandoned after Mercer Development suspended the project. Concrete platforms stretched beneath the city, unfinished tracks disappearing into darkness.
We entered through a maintenance shaft.
Lights activated one by one.
My mother sat tied to a steel column.
Ethan was beside her.
Drake stood on the platform holding a detonator.
The traitorous federal officer lay dead near the tracks.
Drake had eliminated the final person who served him.
“Release them,” I said.
“You sound like William.”
“You feared him.”
“I respected him.”
“You killed him.”
“Arthur killed him.”
“And you killed everyone around you until no one remained.”
Drake smiled faintly.
“Loyalty is temporary.”
“No. Fear is temporary. That is why your empire collapsed.”
His finger tightened around the detonator.
“The devices beneath your company remain active.”
Lucas moved slightly to the left.
Drake pointed a pistol at him.
“Your brother was brave,” he said. “Brave men are predictable.”
“You ordered his death,” Lucas replied.
“I ordered a problem solved.”
Lucas’s face remained calm.
But I saw the rage in his hands.
Drake wanted him emotional.
Wanted him careless.
I stepped forward.
“You did all of this for land?”
“For permanence. Governments change. Politicians age. Land remains.”
“My father made sure you would never own it.”
“Your son can transfer it.”
“He is eight.”
“Children grow.”
“Not in your world.”
Drake glanced toward Ethan.
That glance was enough.
My mother kicked the dead officer’s weapon across the floor.
Lucas dove for it.
Drake fired.
The bullet struck Lucas in the side.
I ran toward Ethan as Drake pressed the detonator.
Nothing happened.
His expression changed.
Hours earlier, security engineers had disconnected the gas system and disabled the remote receivers.
Drake pressed the button again.
Still nothing.
“You have no power,” I said.
He pointed the pistol at me.
Ethan moved before anyone could stop him.
He threw his stuffed bear directly into Drake’s face.
The toy struck his arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Concrete fragments rained down.
Lucas shot Drake in the leg.
Drake fell near the platform edge but retained the pistol.
He aimed at Lucas.
Arthur’s voice suddenly echoed through the station speakers.
“Put it down, Drake.”
Drake froze.
Arthur was not physically present.
Federal agents had connected him through the construction communication system after he provided emergency access codes from prison.
“You were always weak,” Drake shouted.
Arthur replied, “Yes.”
The admission seemed to confuse him.
Arthur continued.
“But my son isn’t.”
Agents entered through both tunnels.
Drake grabbed Ethan and pulled him toward the edge.
A deep excavation pit lay beyond the unfinished tracks.
“Come closer and he falls.”
I stopped.
Lucas pressed a hand against his bleeding side.
My mother remained tied to the column.
Drake held Ethan against him.
My son’s face was terrified.
“Look at me,” I said.
Ethan found my eyes.
“Remember baseball?”
He blinked.
“Mr. Grant said keep watching the ball.”
“That’s right.”
Drake tightened his grip.
“Enough.”
I reached into my coat and removed my father’s brass key.
Drake stared at it.
“The account key,” I said.
He still believed the key itself held value.
I threw it past him toward the tracks.
His eyes followed it instinctively.
Ethan dropped his weight and twisted away, exactly as Lucas had taught him during basic safety practice.
I lunged forward and pulled him toward me.
Drake reached for us.
The damaged platform edge collapsed beneath his feet.
He caught the concrete ledge with both hands.
For a moment, he hung above the excavation.
I could have stepped forward.
I could have offered my hand.
He looked up at me.
“Help me.”
This man had destroyed my father, my marriage, Lucas’s brother, and countless lives.
I did not move.
But Lucas did.
Despite his wound, he reached down.
Drake grabbed his wrist.
Lucas attempted to pull him up.
Drake used his free hand to reach for the pistol inside his coat.
Ethan saw it.
“Lucas!”
Lucas released him.
Harrison Drake fell into the darkness.
The sound ended seconds later.
I covered Ethan’s face against my shoulder.
Federal agents surrounded us.
Medics rushed toward Lucas.
He remained conscious but pale.
“Is this a bad time to mention I accepted the Washington job?” he whispered.
I stared at him.
He managed a weak smile.
“With remote placement.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“You are impossible.”
“So I’ve been told.”
As medics lifted him onto a stretcher, Ethan took his hand.
“Are we still practicing Saturday?”
Lucas looked at the wound in his side.
“Maybe light practice.”
The station filled with agents, lights, and voices.
But the man who had haunted our family for twelve years was gone.
For the first time since I opened the tracking application and watched Arthur drive toward the jewelry store, no one was hunting us.
May you like
The war had ended.
Now we had to learn how to live.
