Chapter 7 - The Confrontation at the MarinaThe reunion in the rain lasted only seconds. Sarah threw herself into the side door of the van, pulling little Eli into her arms, weeping hysterically as the boy wrapped his tiny arms around her neck, burying his face in her wet hair.
“My baby... my sweet boy...” Sarah sobbed, kissing his forehead over and over. “I’m here... Mommy’s here...”
Daniel secured Officer Peters in the back of his pickup truck, locking the steel bed canopy shut. He then stepped into the driver’s seat of the hospital van beside Claire.
“Where are we going?” Claire asked, her hands shaking on the steering wheel. “If Travis’s brother is a circuit judge, the county police radio channels are compromised!”
“We can't go to the local precinct,” Daniel said, pulling out his encrypted personal satellite phone—a device he kept from his days as a Marine Corps Military Police investigator. “We’re driving straight to the Federal Building in Orlando. We deliver Sarah, Eli, and Peters directly to the FBI Field Office.”
“Orlando is an hour south,” Claire said, shifting the van into drive. “We have to take Route 19 to the turnpike.”
As the van backed out of the muddy clearing and accelerated down the dark forest trail, Daniel dialed the direct line for Special Agent Marcus Vance of the FBI Human Trafficking Division.
“Vance,” a sharp, professional voice answered on the third ring.
“Agent Vance, this is Deputy Daniel Reyes, Marion County,” Daniel said quickly. “I have a 10-33 emergency. I have secured a missing mother and child—Sarah and Elijah Cole—who were declared dead in a fraudulent probate scheme. I have a corrupt deputy in custody, and I’m transporting them to your office now.”
Silence sat on the line for two seconds.
“Reyes,” Vance’s voice dropped into an urgent tone. “Where are you right now?”
“Heading south on Route 19 near the St. Johns River bridge,” Daniel replied.
“Get off the highway immediately!” Vance ordered. “We just monitored a state broadcast! Circuit Judge Arthur Cole just signed an emergency felony warrant for your arrest! They’re claiming you kidnapped a child from a hospital and assaulted a deputy! Every state trooper between Ocala and Orlando is looking for that hospital van!”
Daniel looked out the side window. In the distance behind them, red and blue emergency lights were flashing through the treeline on Highway 19.
“They’re cutting us off,” Daniel said, his jaw tightening.
“There’s a private marina at the end of River Road,” Sarah called out from the back seat, her voice raspy but firm. “Travis keeps his commercial boat there... The Sea Snake. He... he told me if anyone ever found the cabin, he was going to take us out to sea and drop us in the Gulf!”
Daniel looked at Claire. “Turn left on River Road! Now!”
Claire slammed on the brakes, turning the steering wheel hard. The van fishtailed across the wet asphalt, sliding down a narrow, gravel road leading toward the black waters of the St. Johns River.
At the end of the road stood the St. Johns Commercial Marina—a collection of wooden docks, fuel pumps, and rusted tin boat slips surrounded by thick mangroves.
The van skidded to a halt beside the main dock.
The marina was pitch black, save for a single light swaying on the mast of a forty-foot commercial fishing vessel docked at the far end of the pier.
Daniel stepped out of the van, drawing his Glock. “Claire, stay with the kid in the van. Sarah, stay behind me.”
As Daniel stepped onto the slippery wooden planks of the dock, a shadow stepped out from behind a fuel pump.
Standing under the swaying light, holding an iron speargun and a heavy tactical pistol, was Travis Cole.
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Beside him stood a tall man in an expensive tailored suit soaked by the rain—Judge Arthur Cole.
“You’ve been a massive inconvenience, Deputy Reyes,” Judge Arthur Cole said, his voice cold, cultured, and entirely devoid of mercy. “You should have stayed on patrol.”
