Chapter 96

Chapter 96
Chief Renford stepped fully into the doorway, calm as a man walking into a bakery, not a storage unit stacked with proof of his crimes. The metal door behind him rattled as it settled, sealing the sunlight around his frame like some twisted halo. Lila felt her breath shorten. This was the moment Nate always warned her about, the one danger that did not shout or chase or scream. This danger smiled.

Nate moved a little toward her without seeming to move at all. Mia’s hand slid behind her back, maybe reaching for something, maybe just shaking. Ethan stood the way someone does when their body wants to fight but their mind wants to run.

Renford swept the room with his eyes, slow and bored, like the whole scene annoyed him. “Carla should have burned all this,” he said. “But she always did underestimate how messy she could be. Shame, really.”

Lila stepped forward before she registered the decision. Fear pushed her back, but anger pushed harder. “You were working with her.”

Renford tilted his head. “Working with her is a generous phrase. She fed me information. I made sure she stayed out of trouble. She paid me with whatever secrets she collected from desperate people.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “You were her favorite project though. The one she bragged about. The girl with the perfect mask.”

Lila clenched her fists, surprised by how steady her voice came out. “You helped Daniel track us.”

“Of course I did,” he said, as if she had asked whether he liked coffee. “You do not cross a man like Daniel and expect the world to protect you. He pays better than Carla and he keeps his promises. That is rare.”

Nate stepped a little in front of her. “You are going to walk away from that door.”

Renford laughed like Nate had told a joke he had not heard in a long time. “You think this is a negotiation?” His hand drifted closer to his holster. Not touching it. Just reminding them it existed. “No one knows you four are here. No one is coming to save you. And this whole unit can go up in flames in three minutes if I need it to.”

Mia whispered under her breath, “We are trapped.”

Ethan leaned toward her and muttered, “Do not say it out loud.”

Lila’s heart hammered against her ribs, but she forced herself to breathe. Carla had spent years teaching her how to survive dangerous people. Lila never agreed with those lessons, never wanted them. But she remembered them. And she saw what Renford did not see.

He was confident. Overconfident.

And he kept glancing at one particular stack of boxes near the exit, as if he wanted something there. That meant leverage. Something he needed to protect or retrieve. Something they could use.

She took one slow step to the side, pretending to adjust her weight. “So what happens now?” she asked.

Renford gave a careless shrug. “Now? You give me the crate and whatever you took from it. Then I escort you out of here, we pretend this never happened, and I tell Daniel I cleaned up the mess.”

Ethan scoffed. “Yeah. Sure. That sounds honest.”

Renford’s eyes hardened. “Son, I do not need your sarcasm. I need compliance.”

Nate’s voice dropped to a whisper meant only for Lila. “He is waiting for one of us to panic.”

She whispered back, “Then none of us will.”

Renford took one slow step closer. “Which one of you has the evidence? Hand it over. I will not ask again.”

Lila did not move. “If you wanted to kill us, you would have done it already.”

His jaw tensed. “Do not test me.”

“You need something,” she said quietly. “Something in this unit that we have already seen. Something that ties you to Carla or Daniel or both. That is why you are not firing your gun. If you shoot us, someone will come. Someone will hear. And they will open every box here.”

He froze.

Just for a second.

Just long enough to confirm she was right.

Nate saw it too. “You slipped, Chief.”

Renford straightened his shoulders, but the false calm had cracked. He reached for his gun this time, not slow or lazy. Direct. Intentional.

Everything exploded at once.

Ethan lunged toward the nearest stack of boxes and shoved them with all his weight. The whole column toppled, crashing between Renford and the gun in his hand. Dust billowed into the air. Renford cursed and stumbled back.

Nate grabbed Lila’s arm. “Move!”

Mia darted around the other side of the unit and grabbed the wooden crate filled with the envelopes. Renford recovered fast. He stepped over the fallen boxes, fury sharpening every line of his face.

He raised his gun. A shot cracked through the room.

Lila dropped to the floor instinctively, the bullet hitting the wall behind her and sending concrete dust raining down. Nate covered her with his body as another shot echoed, this one hitting metal and ricocheting.

Mia screamed as the bullet tore through the wooden crate, splitting it in half and scattering envelopes across the floor.

Renford shouted, “You are not leaving with any of this!”

Ethan threw a rusty paint can straight at Renford’s head. The man dodged it, but it slowed him down enough for Nate to get Lila back on her feet.

“Run!” Nate ordered.

They sprinted toward the back of the storage unit, weaving between boxes and old furniture. Renford fired again and again, his footsteps heavy and furious behind them.

Ethan kicked open the small emergency door at the rear of the unit. The metal groaned and scraped. The opening was barely wide enough for one person at a time.

Nate pushed Lila through first.

Cold air slammed into her lungs as she stumbled into the alley behind the units. Mia burst through next, nearly tripping. Ethan forced the door wider with his shoulder.

Nate was still inside.

Lila spun around. “Nate, hurry!”

A final gunshot thundered.

Nate dove through the door and yanked it shut behind him as Renford’s hand reached the gap. The bullet hit the metal instead of Nate’s back. Nate slid the lock into place, breathing hard.

Renford pounded against the other side. “You will not get far!”

Lila backed away, heart thudding. “He is going to come around.”

“Yes,” Nate said. “Which is why we are not staying here.”

They ran down the alley, across the lot.

Back toward the edge of town where the morning traffic was beginning to stir. Lila held Mia’s hand, both of them gasping for air. Ethan kept checking behind them. Nate stayed close, his eyes scanning every direction.

When they reached the main road, Nate finally slowed.

Lila almost collapsed from relief. But then she heard it. A single police siren coming from the storage lot. It was coming for them.

Nate’s face tightened. “He is calling this in as if we attacked him.”

Lila felt her blood turn cold.

Renford was not just chasing them anymore. He was turning the whole town against them.