Chapter 7 - The Midnight Highway
Forty-eight hours later, the war took a terrifying, international turn.
The asset forfeiture signed by Julian had triggered an automatic global freeze on all Pendelton Trust accounts. The offshore shell companies Victoria had set up in Zurich and Belize were seized within hours by federal forensic accountants.
Victoria was trapped. Without the trust capital, her liquidity was gone. Her private charter flights were grounded, her paid fixers were abandoning her, and her face was plastered across every television screen, billboard, and smartphone in North America.
She had become the most hunted woman on the continent.
I was sitting in the secure family lounge of the Great Lakes Naval Hospital, watching Chloe color a picture of a golden retriever with bright yellow and brown crayons. Her color was returning; the fever had completely broken, and she was laughing softly as an off-duty navy corpsman showed her how to fold an origami frog.
Detective Reed entered the room, his face pale, his trench coat soaked with freezing rain. He motioned for me to step into the hallway.
"What happened?" I asked, my heart instantly leaping into my throat.
"Victoria made a move," Reed said, checking over his shoulder. "She didn't try to cross the Canadian border like we predicted. She doubled back."
"Doubled back? Where?"
"To your old farmhouse in Galena," Reed said, his voice deadly serious. "The one your late husband left you. The one Julian had the spare keys to."
A chill ran down my spine. The Galena property was an isolated, seventy-acre farm nestled in the limestone bluffs of northwestern Illinois, surrounded by dense timber and deep ravines. Julian had used it occasionally for weekend hunting trips, but I hadn't visited the property in over three years.
"Why would she go there?"
"Because three years ago, before his death, Arthur Pendelton shipped four vintage heirloom crates of his private collection to your barn for temporary storage during his estate restructuring," Reed revealed, pulling up an inventory manifest on his tablet. "Julian told Victoria about them. Pendelton didn't collect paintings or antique furniture, Evelyn. He collected uncirculated, bearer-bond certificates, pre-1933 gold bullion, and untraceable Swiss francs. There is an estimated twelve million dollars in physical, untraceable bearer assets hidden inside the floorboards of that barn."
"My God," I breathed.
"Victoria managed to hire a two-man crew of disgraced former private military contractors from Chicago," Reed continued grimly. "They breached the Galena property two hours ago. The local sheriff’s deputy who responded to a tripped perimeter alarm was shot and critically wounded. Victoria has the gold, she has the cash, and she’s waiting for a private extraction helicopter scheduled to land in the north pasture at midnight to fly her to a cargo vessel waiting off the coast of Lake Superior."
I gripped Reed’s arm. "You have to stop her. You have to send the state police!"
"The weather is zero-visibility, Evelyn," Reed said, his jaw tight. "A historic blizzard just swept off Lake Michigan, dumping twenty inches of snow across northern Illinois. All state police aviation is grounded. The county roads to Galena are blocked by downed power lines and snowdrifts. We have a tactical convoy moving out now, but by road in this storm, it will take them three to four hours to reach the ridge."
"By then, she’ll be on that helicopter," I said, cold dread settling in my gut.
"There is one way," Reed said, meeting my gaze with fierce intensity. "The old narrow-gauge railway spur that runs behind the naval depot connects directly to the historical mining freight line above Galena. A diesel service locomotive can cut through the drifts in ninety minutes."
"Take me with you," I demanded instantly.
"Evelyn, absolutely not! It’s a combat zone—"
"I know that farm better than anyone alive!" I snapped, cutting him off with iron authority. "I lived there for thirty-five years! I know every drainage tunnel, every hidden cellar door, every ravine where a helicopter can’t land! Victoria has never set foot on that property in the winter. If you go in there blind against hired mercenaries in a blizzard, you will walk into an ambush! You need me, Detective. And I need to see this finished."
Reed stared at me, seeing the absolute, unshakable resolve in my eyes. He knew I was right.
May you like
Ten minutes later, after ensuring Chloe was guarded by six armed federal marshals under strict orders not to open the door for God Himself, I pulled on a heavy winter parka, stepped out into the howling blizzard, and boarded the roaring diesel locomotive bound for the bluffs of Galena.
***
