Chapter 45 THE ESCAPE
“Marcus wants both of you alive. And he’s already on his way.”
Billy’s words hung in the air like a noose tightening around the room. Lea felt the floor tilt beneath her feet. George didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. His entire body went still, the kind of stillness that came right before a storm tore everything apart.
“Explain,” George said, voice low and sharp enough to cut through steel.
Billy staggered toward the wall, bracing himself with his uninjured arm. “He followed the convoy you took out two days ago. He traced the pattern of movement. He’s always been good at predicting you, you know that.”
Lea’s pulse hammered. “How much time do we have?”
Billy didn’t blink. “Minutes.”
George reacted instantly. “We’re leaving. Now.”
He grabbed Lea’s wrist, not roughly, but firmly, the way someone holds onto the only thing that keeps them alive. She followed without hesitation. The safe house suddenly felt like a coffin with the lid closing.
Billy shoved away from the wall. “I’m coming with you.”
George shot him a glare. “The hell you are.”
“It’s not a request,” Billy snapped. “I risked my neck to get here before he did. And whether you like it or not, I’m the only reason you’re not dead already.”
Lea stepped between them, palms up, breath tight. “Stop. We don’t have time for this.”
Outside, something cracked, a twig, a footstep, maybe the shifting of gravel. Soft, but not natural.
George heard it too. His head turned sharply. “Move.”
They rushed down the hall. George flicked on the emergency backup light, a dim strip of red running along the baseboards. It barely illuminated the hallway, but it was enough to see their way. Enough to see the shadows moving behind them.
A silhouette passed by the front window.
Lea’s breath died in her throat.
Billy froze. “He brought a team.”
George clenched his jaw. “Of course he did.”
He pushed open the hidden panel near the kitchen, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Lea frowned. “Basement?”
“Tunnel,” George corrected. “Come on.”
They descended quickly. The air grew colder, heavy with dust and old stone. The tunnel’s ceiling brushed Billy’s shoulders; George kept one arm around Lea while the other held his gun ready.
Behind them, a door upstairs crashed open.
The men had entered the house.
Lea’s knees went weak, but George tightened his arm around her waist. “Keep moving.”
They hurried deeper. The tunnel twisted, branching into two paths.
George didn’t slow. “Left.”
Billy hissed. “Right is shorter.”
“And monitored,” George said. “Marcus used to use this place too. I know which paths he has eyes on.”
Billy muttered something under his breath but followed.
Lea’s chest burned with every breath. “Where does this tunnel lead?”
“Old service road,” George said. “Half a mile north.”
“Half a mile?” she whispered. “They’ll reach the exit before we do.”
“Not if we run.”
They did.
The tunnel echoed with the sound of their footsteps, the scrape of Billy’s boots, Lea’s uneven breaths, George’s steady pace.
Then, a voice.
Distant, muffled, but unmistakable.
“Find them.”
Marcus.
Lea’s blood turned to ice.
George tightened his grip on his gun. “He’s closer than I thought.”
Billy swore softly. “He shouldn’t have found the entrance. How the hell!”
“Because he knows me,” George said through clenched teeth. “He knows every move I’d make.”
Lea’s voice trembled. “How? You keep saying he knows you. What does that mean, George? What aren’t you saying?”
George didn’t answer. Not yet.
The tunnel narrowed again. The ceiling dripped with condensation, cold droplets hitting Lea’s skin like needles.
Behind them, footsteps. Fast. Gaining.
Billy spun, gun raised. “They’re coming.”
“Don’t shoot,” George ordered. “Not here. The sound will echo and they’ll track the exact path.”
Billy cursed but lowered his weapon. “Then we run faster.”
They did.
The tunnel widened at the end, revealing a metal grate covering the exit. George reached it first and began to unbolt the rusted locks.
Lea looked behind them.
Shadows were approaching, multiple. Too many.
“George!” she cried. “Hurry!”
“I’m trying.”
His voice was strained, rare for him. His hands worked quickly, muscles tensing as he forced the old metal free.
Billy positioned himself between Lea and the incoming threat, breathing hard through clenched teeth. “If they see us here, we’re done.”
Lea stepped closer to George, her heartbeat a wild drumbeat. “George”
“It’s almost open,” he said.
Almost wasn’t enough.
The shadows in the hallway grew sharper. Louder.
And then, BANG.
A flashlight beam sliced into the tunnel behind them.
Billy fired before the beam fully settled, the bullet striking the wall inches from Marcus’ advancing men.
“George!” Billy barked.
The last bolt snapped free.
George shoved the grate open with both hands. Cold night air flooded in, sharp and fresh. “Go!”
Billy pushed Lea through. She stumbled into weeds, catching herself against a fallen tree. Billy followed, landing rough, barely standing on his injured leg.
George was last.
The moment he jumped out, he grabbed the grate and yanked it shut. Metal clanged as bullets struck the other side a second later.
“They’re almost through,” Billy said.
George didn’t answer. He grabbed Lea’s hand. “Run. Into the trees.”
They sprinted into the darkness, deeper and deeper until the tunnel entrance disappeared behind wild brush.
Lea’s lungs burned. Each breath felt thinner than the last. Billy staggered, his wound bleeding through the bandage, but pushed on.
Branches whipped at them as they reached a narrow path. The forest around them was thick, moonlight slicing through in pale strands.
Finally, when the sounds of pursuit faded slightly, George slowed.
Lea collapsed against a tree, chest heaving. “George… how… how did he find us so fast?”
George’s face was dark with something more than fear. More than anger.
Something she hadn’t seen before.
“He wasn’t tracking us,” George said quietly.
Billy’s eyes narrowed. “Then who?”
George lifted his gaze to Lea.
Her stomach dropped. “Me?”
“No,” George said, stepping closer. “Not you.”
His voice was rough. Pained.
“They tracked me.”
Lea blinked. “But… how? You checked everything. You said...”
“I checked my phone,” he said. “My clothes. The car. But I didn’t check the one thing I always keep with me.”
Lea’s breath hitched. “What?”
George reached into his pocket.
And pulled out the silver necklace
Her necklace.
Her heart froze.
“That night at the villa,” he said, voice quiet and stricken. “They broke this before they took you. I thought it fell. I didn’t realize what they slipped inside the clasp.”
Billy swore violently. “A tracker. Clever bastards.”
Lea stared at the necklace in George’s hand, her chest twisting painfully.
“So all this time…” she whispered. “They were following you using something that belonged to me.”
George swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
Lea reached out, touching the broken charm, her fingers trembling. The metal was cold. Too cold.
“Throw it,” Billy said. “Now.”
George hesitated, briefly, then hurled the necklace as far into the trees as he could. It vanished into the darkness.
But the damage was done.
Lea lifted her eyes to George.
“Now what?”
George stepped close, his expression fierce, determined, unshakeable.
“Now,” he said, “we stop running.”
Billy stared. “What, you want to turn and fight an armed convoy in the dark?”
“No,” George said. “We’re going somewhere Marcus can’t follow. Somewhere he won’t expect.”
Lea’s pulse steadied. A spark of hope, fragile but real, flickered in her chest.
“Where?” she whispered.
George took her hand.
“To the place where this all began,” he said. “The only place he thinks I burned to the ground.”
Billy stiffened. “You don’t mean”
“Yes,” George said. “The old Roberts estate.”
Lea’s eyes widened. “Your father’s property? That hasn’t been used in years.”
George nodded. “Exactly. Which is why Marcus will never look for us there.”
Billy shook his head. “This is insane.”
“It’s the only move we have,” George said.
He looked at Lea then, truly looked, and something in his expression softened.
“This ends soon,” he said quietly. “One way or another.”
Lea squeezed his hand back.
“Then let’s finish it.”
And together, the three of them disappeared into the forest, running toward the one place Marcus never expected George to return.
The one place where every secret waited to be unearthed.