Chapter 6 - The Uninvited Ally
Elena’s hand instantly went to the heavy steel tire iron resting by the workbench. She signaled Ethan to stay silent, extinguished the yellow work lamp, and edged toward the dust-caked window overlooking the dockyard.
Parked forty yards away in the pouring rain sat an unmarked black sedan. Its headlights were off, but the interior dome light clicked on, illuminating the solitary figure in the driver's seat.
It was Thomas, the Sterling estate’s chief valet.
Elena crept to the side door, slipping outside with the tire iron concealed behind her back. She crossed the wet gravel silently, stopping three paces from the car window as Thomas rolled it down. The old man looked battered; a dark purple bruise marred his temple where Evelyn’s guards had struck him, but his eyes were resolute.
""Put the iron away, Miss Elena,"" Thomas said, his voice raspy. ""I'm the one who bought your burner phone three weeks ago, remember?""
Elena lowered the weapon, her guard still up. ""How did you track us here?""
""Your car’s registration was hidden under your alias, but Julian gave me the keys to this dockyard twenty years ago,"" Thomas explained, stepping out into the rain with an umbrella. ""I knew this was the only safe house Ethan's father kept off the public land registry. We don't have much time.""
""Evelyn?""
""She has officially declared Ethan missing, kidnapped by an armed and unstable medical caregiver,"" Thomas said grimly. ""The local sheriff is in her pocket. There is a state-wide bulletin out for your arrest. If they find you, they have orders to shoot on sight under the guise of protecting Ethan.""
Elena led Thomas inside the dry warmth of the workshop. Ethan looked up, shock washing across his features. ""Thomas... you shouldn't have risked coming here. She'll destroy you.""
""Your father saved my son from a debtor's prison thirty years ago, Master Ethan,"" Thomas replied softly, bowing his head slightly. ""My loyalty to this family doesn't end because an imposter wears your mother's diamond rings.""
Thomas placed a heavy aluminum case onto the workbench and popped the latches. Inside lay two satellite phones, three sets of clean identification documents, and several vials of pharmaceutical-grade physical therapy stimulants.
""Julian prepared this extraction protocol before his death,"" Thomas said. ""He knew this day might come. There is a federal magistrate arriving in Boston tomorrow afternoon for an maritime regulatory hearing. If we can place that ledger and Julian's recorded confession into his hands, Evelyn and her entire syndicate fall.""
Ethan looked at the crutches resting against his cot, then down at his legs. ""Boston is three hundred miles away. The highway checkpoints will be crawling with state troopers and Vance mercenaries. How do we move an invalid three hundred miles unseen?""
Elena stepped forward, pulling a syringe and one of the new vials from the case. ""We don't take the highways. And you won't be an invalid for much longer.""
Ethan stared at the clear fluid in the vial. ""What is that?""
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""The counter-agent to the neurotoxin Evelyn’s doctors have been micro-dosing you with for six months,"" Elena said, her eyes blazing with determination. ""Your spinal cord was bruised in that crash, Ethan, not severed. They’ve been chemically paralyzing you to keep you harmless.""
Ethan's breath caught in his throat as Elena brought the needle toward his arm.
