Chapter 7: Steps in the Fog
Clara slipped the black hard drive and the ledger papers into her leather shoulder bag, securing the zipper tightly. She took a deep breath, smoothing her hair, forcing her face into an expression of absolute calm so as not to frighten Lily. She knew that stepping out the front entrance of the bank would walk her directly into Marcus Vance’s trap.
“Lily,” Clara said, crouching down to eye level with her daughter. “We’re going to play a special game, okay? We need to be as quiet as mice and move very fast through a secret hallway.”
Lily’s light brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “Like a spy game?”
“Exactly like a spy game,” Clara smiled gently, kissing her forehead.
Clara opened the vault door and thanked the attendant. Instead of heading toward the main lobby stairs, she noticed a lit service corridor marked EMPLOYEE EXIT / DELIVERIES ONLY near the back desk. Acting with complete confidence, Clara walked past the security counter, holding Lily’s hand, and slipped through the heavy fire door into the rear hallway.
The service corridor smelled of cardboard and floor wax, leading down a flight of concrete stairs toward the building’s alleyway loading dock. Clara hurried down the steps, her boots clicking softly against the concrete, while Lily kept pace, giggling quietly at their secret game.
They emerged through the heavy exit door into a narrow, mist-shrouded alley behind the bank. High brick walls rose on both sides, blocking the view from the main street. Clara looked left and right; the alley was clear. Fifty feet away, a city transit bus was idling at a bus stop on the cross street.
Without hesitation, Clara picked up Lily, holding her securely against her hip, and sprinted down the alley. The cold rain was turning into a thick, low-hanging fog, offering natural cover. She reached the street corner just as the bus doors hissed open to board passengers. Clara stepped onto the bus, dropped four dollars into the fare box, and moved swiftly to a seat near the rear exit.
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Through the fogged glass of the bus window, Clara looked back down Third Street. A black SUV pulled into the parking garage across from the bank, its headlights cutting through the gray mist. Two men in dark coats stepped out, searching the sidewalk with hurried, anxious movements. They had lost her.
Clara let out a long, shuddering breath, wrapping her coat tight around Lily, who had rested her head tiredly against Clara’s chest. They were safe for the moment, but Marcus would soon realize she had evaded his watchers at the bank. She clutched her bag against her side, feeling the hard rectangular shape of the drive against her ribs. She had the evidence that could destroy Marcus Vance and clear her family’s name, but she needed to reach the federal courthouse in Hartford before Marcus’s network shut down her escape routes completely. The bus lurched forward into the grey traffic, carrying them further away from the trap.
