Chapter 5 - RUNEthan grabbed Lena’s wrist.
“We’re leaving.”
“Who took that?”
“I don’t know.”
He lifted Noah against his chest and scanned the terminal.
Commuters.
Tourists.
Police.
A man in a Yankees cap.
A woman dragging a suitcase.
A teenager filming himself.
Anyone could be watching.
Ethan called his head of security.
“Marcus.”
“Yeah?”
“Grand Central. Lower concourse. Now.”
“Problem?”
“Someone’s following us.”
Marcus didn’t ask another question.
“Three minutes.”
Ethan shoved the backpack under his coat.
“Stay beside me.”
Lena followed.
They made it twenty yards.
Then a man in a gray jacket stepped directly into their path.
“Mr. Cole.”
Ethan stopped.
The man smiled.
Mid-forties.
Short hair.
Nothing memorable.
Which made him memorable.
“Move.”
“I need the backpack.”
Lena whispered, “Ethan.”
The man showed his empty hands.
“No one wants to hurt the baby.”
“That’s exactly what someone says before they hurt the baby.”
The man’s smile vanished.
“Mrs. Bennett wants her property returned.”
Lena stared.
“Margaret?”
The man’s eyes shifted toward her.
That was enough.
Ethan drove his shoulder into him.
The man slammed against a locker.
“Go!”
Lena ran.
Ethan followed with Noah against his chest.
People shouted.
The man recovered fast.
Too fast.
He grabbed Ethan’s jacket.
Ethan spun.
Noah screamed.
Lena snatched a metal caution sign and swung it.
It cracked across the man’s forearm.
He cursed.
“That was for following me,” she snapped.
They ran again.
Two security officers appeared.
The gray-jacketed man disappeared into the crowd.
Marcus reached them outside.
Six-foot-three.
Former Marine.
He took one look at Ethan.
“What happened?”
“Margaret Bennett knows about the locker.”
Marcus’s expression darkened.
“Get in.”
Inside the SUV, Ethan locked the doors.
Lena was breathing hard.
“I hit someone with a sign.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never done that.”
“You were pretty good.”
“That doesn’t comfort me.”
Noah had stopped crying.
He stared at Lena.
Then smiled.
Lena stared back.
“This kid has terrible timing.”
For the first time all night, Ethan laughed.
It lasted two seconds.
Then Marcus spoke from the front.
“Someone’s following us.”
Ethan turned.
A black sedan changed lanes behind them.
Marcus accelerated.
The sedan followed.
“Seat belts.”
Lena buckled in.
“What now?”
“Now we find out how badly Margaret wants that backpack.”
The sedan moved closer.
Marcus turned onto Park Avenue.
Then east.
Then south.
It stayed with them.
Ethan opened Claire’s notebook.
Pages of names.
Bank transfers.
Dates.
At the center of several pages were two initials.
M.B.
Margaret Bennett.
Lena leaned closer.
“What are those numbers?”
“Payments.”
“To who?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Ethan reached the final page.
One sentence was written across it.
If they learn Noah isn’t who they think he is, they’ll come for him too.
Ethan’s hands went numb.
Lena read it.
“What does that mean?”
Before Ethan could answer, the SUV lurched.
A violent crash exploded behind them.
The black sedan had rammed their bumper.
Noah screamed.
Marcus fought the wheel.
May you like
Then the sedan came again.
And this time it pushed them straight toward oncoming traffic.
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