THE REJECTED SON-IN-LAW

Chapter Nine: The Highway Run

The sedan tore through the city streets, Lex pushing the engine harder than it was meant to go. In the rearview mirror, headlights appeared and disappeared. Following. Always following.

“We have a tail,” Mei said from the back seat. The window Maya, as Lex was now thinking of her.

“I know.” Lex took a sharp right, tyres squealing. The headlights followed.

“Two cars,” Maya corrected, the doorway twin. “Black SUVs. Marcus’s standard convoy formation.”

Sophia clutched the USB drive like a lifeline. “How did they find us so fast?”

“Tracker,” both twins said simultaneously.

Lex cursed. “Where?”

“Check under the seats,” Mei instructed. “Could be magnetic. Could be sewn into the upholstery.”

Maya was already feeling along the floor. “Not here. Try the wheel wells from inside.”

“We are driving seventy miles an hour through city streets,” Lex snapped. “I cannot exactly pull over and search.”

“Then we need to ditch the car,” Sophia said. “Now.”

Ahead, the highway entrance loomed. Lex made a decision and floored it, merging onto the interstate heading north. Traffic was light at this hour. An empty road stretched ahead.

The SUVs followed, closing the distance.

“They are not even trying to be subtle,” Lex muttered.

“Because they do not need to be,” Mei replied. “Highway means no witnesses. No cameras at every intersection. Just open road where accidents happen.”

As if on cue, one of the SUVs accelerated, pulling alongside them.

The passenger window rolled down. A man with an assault rifle leaned out.

“Down!” Lex shouted.

Gunfire erupted. The rear window exploded. Glass sprayed through the interior.

Lex swerved hard left, clipping the SUV’s front bumper. It fishtailed but recovered.

“There!” Maya pointed ahead. “Exit in half a mile. Industrial park. We can lose them in the warehouse district.”

Lex pushed the sedan harder. Ninety miles per hour. A hundred.

The second SUV pulled alongside on the right. More gunfire. Bullets punched through the door. Sophia screamed as one passed inches from her head.

“Lex, the exit!” Mei yelled.

He waited until the last possible second, then yanked the wheel right. The sedan skidded across three lanes, barely making the exit ramp. Behind them, the SUVs tried to follow. One made it. The other missed and crashed through the guardrail, tumbling down an embankment.

“One down,” Maya said grimly.

The remaining SUV was right behind them, its front bumper nearly touching their rear.

They flew into the industrial park. Empty lots. Abandoned buildings. No lights except their headlights cut through the darkness.

Lex took a hard left between two warehouses. The sedan’s tyres screamed in protest.

The SUV followed, relentless.

“There.” Sophia pointed to a parking structure ahead. “Multi-level. We can lose them inside.”

Lex aimed for it, crashing through the entrance barrier. They spiralled up the ramps, tyres shrieking. First level. Second. Third.

On the fourth level, Lex killed the lights and spun the wheel, sliding the sedan behind a concrete pillar.

Silence.

They waited, breathing hard.

The SUV’s engine echoed through the structure. Searching. Prowling.

Lex’s hand found his gun. Both twins already had theirs drawn.

The SUV appeared on their level, moving slowly now. Hunting.

It passed their position.

Continued to the next level.

“We need to move,” Mei whispered. “On foot. Now.”

They exited the car as quietly as possible. Lex grabbed a backpack from the trunk. Maya had packed it with essentials. Smart woman.

They moved toward the stairwell, staying low, staying silent.

Behind them, the SUV returned to their level. Stopped beside the abandoned sedan.

Doors opened. Four operatives stepped out.

Lex recognised the lead man. Victor Torres. One of Marcus’s most loyal soldiers. Former special forces. Ruthless.

“They are close,” Victor said into his radio. “Fan out. Find them.”

The group slipped into the stairwell and descended quickly. Ground level. Out the side exit.

A semi truck sat idling at a loading dock across the street. Driver inside, smoking a cigarette.

“That is our ride,” Maya said.

“What? We are just going to carjack a truck?” Sophia asked.

“No.” Mei smiled. “We are going to ask nicely and pay well.”

She approached the driver’s window and knocked. The driver, a heavy-set man in his fifties, looked down skeptically.

“Help you?”

Mei pulled out a roll of cash. “Five thousand dollars if you give us a ride to the next truck stop. No questions asked.”

The driver’s eyes widened. “What kind of trouble are you in?”

“The kind where five thousand dollars is cheap.” She added another thousand. “Six. Final offer. And you never saw us.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Get in the back. Quick.”

They climbed into the trailer. Empty except for a few stacked pallets. The driver closed the door, sealing them in darkness.

The engine rumbled. The truck moved.

For ten minutes, no one spoke. They sat in darkness, listening to the road beneath them.

Finally, Sophia broke the silence. “Lex, tell me about your mother.”

He leaned back against the cold metal wall. “I was ten when she left. I woke up one morning and she was gone. My father told me she died in a car accident. Closed casket funeral. I believed him.”

“When did you learn the truth?”

“Three years ago. After the fire. After everything fell apart. I was going through my father’s office, looking for anything that might help us. I found a box of letters. All addressed to me. All from her. Dated over the years. Birthdays. Holidays. Every one of them marked ‘Return to sender’ in my father’s handwriting.”

Sophia’s hand found his in the darkness. “What did they say?”

“That she loved me. That leaving me was the hardest thing she ever did. That was when I was ready to know who Marcus Kane really was, I should find her. The last letter had her address in Seattle. I never went. I did not want to believe my father could be that cruel.”

“And now?” Maya’s voice came from somewhere to his left.

“Now I know he is capable of anything.”

The truck slowed. Stopped.

They tensed, hands on weapons.

The back door opened. The driver stood there, backlit by fluorescent lights. “Truck stop. End of the line. But you have got company.”

Behind him, three black SUVs sat in the parking lot.

“How?” Lex breathed.

The driver pulled out a phone. “Sorry, kid. But they offered me fifty thousand. Math is simple.”

Victor Torres appeared beside him, gun drawn. “Step out slowly. Hands where I can see them.”

They had no choice. They climbed out of the trailer into the harsh lights.

Six operatives surrounded them. Weapons trained. No escape.

Victor smiled. “Mr Kane wants to see you. All of you. He says it is time for a family reunion.”

“We are not going anywhere with you,” Lex said.

“That was not a request.” Victor gestured. Two operatives moved forward.

Mei exploded into motion. Her elbow caught one operative’s throat. Her foot swept the other’s legs.

Gunfire erupted.

Mei dropped, blood blooming across her shoulder.

“No!” Maya screamed, raising her weapon.

“Stand down!” Victor’s gun pressed against Sophia’s head. “Or the wife dies.”

Everyone froze.

Victor smiled. “Much better. Now, into the vehicles. We have a long drive ahead.”

They were separated. Lex in one SUV. Sophia in another. The twins are in the third.

As Lex’s SUV pulled away, Victor sat beside him. “Your father sends his regards. He is very disappointed in you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“You really thought you could run? Your father has resources you cannot imagine. Eyes everywhere. People in every organisation. You cannot hide from Marcus Kane.”

“Where are you taking us?”

“Somewhere quiet. Somewhere private. Somewhere you can all have an honest conversation about loyalty and consequences.”

Lex stared out the window as the highway stretched ahead. They were heading east now. Away from Seattle. Away from his mother.

Away from any chance of exposing the truth.

His phone was gone. His weapons were gone. His allies were captured.

He had nothing left.

Except for the one thing no one had taken yet.

The USB drive.

Because it was not in Sophia’s hand anymore.

It was in his sock, transferred during that moment of darkness in the truck when her hand found his.

She had slipped it to him without a word.

And no one knew.

Victor’s phone rang. He answered. “Yes, sir. We have them. Yes. All four. ETA three hours.”

A pause.

Victor’s expression changed. “Sir? Sir, I do not think that is— Yes. Understood.”

He hung up and looked at Lex with something that might have been pity.

“Change of plans,” Victor said quietly. “Mr Kane wants you to know something before we arrive.”

“What?”

“Your mother. Catherine Cross. The journalist in Seattle you were trying to reach.”

Lex’s blood went cold. “What about her?”

“We picked her up two hours ago. She is waiting at the facility. Your father thought you would want to see her again.” Victor’s voice dropped. “One last time. Before she tells you what she did. Before she explains why Marcus Kane became what he is.”

“What did she do?”

Victor looked away. “She is the one who started all of this, Lex. Twenty-five years ago. Everything your father has done. Every life he has destroyed. Every person he has manipulated. It all traces back to one decision your mother made.”

“What decision?”

“She tried to kill him.“