Chapter 5 - Hunted in the Open
Although Katherine—the woman I had called Elena—was behind bars, the danger was far from over. The syndicate didn't care that their inside operative had been caught. They wanted their money, and they knew that the liquid assets were locked in the joint account that required my authorization to release.
"You and your daughter need to go into protective custody immediately," Agent Hayes instructed. "The man in the gray sedan—we’ve identified him as Viktor Kowalski, an enforcer for the Detroit syndicate—knows what your truck looks like. He knows where you live."
They moved Sofia and me to a quiet motel on the outskirts of Dublin, Ohio, guarded by two plainclothes officers. Sofia was remarkably brave, but every sound outside the window made her jump. I held her close in the dim room, reading her stories, trying to preserve whatever innocence she had left after witnessing her mother's betrayal.
"Daddy?" Sofia asked softly as the clock reached 9:00 PM. "Is Mommy ever coming home?"
I pulled the blanket up to her chin, my chest aching. "No, sweetie. Mommy made some very bad choices, and she has to answer for them. But I am never, ever going to leave you. I promise."
"I saved you, right Daddy?" she whispered, her eyes heavy with sleep.
"You saved both of us, Sofia. You're my hero."
At 1:15 AM, the lights in the motel room suddenly flickered and died.
I sat up instantly in the dark. The air conditioner hummed to a halt. Outside, the low rumble of an idling engine vibrated through the thin walls.
I crept to the window and peeled back the curtain an inch.
The gray sedan was parked right in front of Room 114.
The two plainclothes officers who were supposed to be guarding us were nowhere in sight. Through the shadows, I saw one officer slumped over the steering wheel of his unmarked car across the parking lot.
Kowalski had tracked us.
"Sofia," I whispered, rushing to the bed and lifting her into my arms before she was fully awake. "We have to move. Now."
I didn't head for the front door. I knew Kowalski would be standing right outside it. Instead, I rushed into the small bathroom, grabbed a heavy wooden chair from the desk, and smashed the frosted glass window that led out into the narrow alleyway behind the motel.
Glass shattered into the darkness.
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"Hey! He's inside!" a voice yelled from the front porch.
I kicked away the remaining shards of glass, wrapped a blanket around Sofia to protect her, and climbed out into the rain-slicked alley just as the front door of our room was kicked off its hinges.
