Chapter 6 - SEVENTEEN MINUTES
Sarah moved toward Leo.
Caleb pressed the weapon closer.
“Stop.”
She froze.
Leo’s face was pale, but he did not release the watch.
Conrad loosened his grip on Diane.
“Bring the boy here.”
Caleb guided Leo across the parking level.
Julian remained injured near the concrete pillar while a federal medic waited for a clear path.
Victor had disappeared into the lower tunnels.
Conrad looked at the watch.
“Your father stole something from me.”
Leo shook his head.
“He said you steal from kids.”
Conrad’s expression hardened.
“Children repeat whatever frightened adults teach them.”
“My dad was not scared of you.”
“He died.”
The cruelty in the answer made Sarah step forward again.
Caleb raised the weapon.
Leo looked toward her.
“Mom said the watch protects the trust.”
“It contains evidence,” Sarah said. “You are more important.”
“If I give it to him, does he win?”
“No evidence is worth your life.”
Conrad smiled.
“Listen to your guardian.”
Leo slowly removed the watch.
Before handing it over, he pressed the side button three times.
The screen lit.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
Conrad grabbed it.
“What did you do?”
“My dad taught me.”
The watch had transmitted Andrew’s files to the secured hospital server the moment Leo entered the building.
The evidence no longer existed in one place.
Marcus’s voice entered through Sarah’s transmitter.
“We have the complete archive.”
Conrad threw the watch against the concrete.
11:48 p.m.
Twelve minutes remained.
Federal agents advanced.
Caleb pulled Leo backward.
“Everyone stays where they are.”
Julian forced himself upright.
“Caleb, your father already ran.”
“He told me to finish this.”
“Victor used you as an escape route.”
“He trusts me.”
“No. He gave you the weapon while he saved himself.”
Caleb’s eyes moved toward the tunnel where Victor disappeared.
The doubt lasted only a second.
Leo used it.
He stepped hard on Caleb’s foot and dropped beneath his arm.
Sarah ran toward him.
Caleb grabbed the back of Leo’s shirt.
The fabric tore.
The wine stained section remained inside his hand.
Leo fell forward.
Sarah reached him and pulled him against her.
Federal agents surrounded Caleb.
He dropped the weapon.
Conrad dragged Diane toward the open edge.
“Move and she falls.”
Diane looked at Sarah.
“For once, do not protect me from my own choices.”
She drove her heel backward into Conrad’s knee.
His grip shifted.
Diane dropped to the floor.
Agents moved.
Conrad ran toward the construction elevator.
The doors closed before officers reached him.
11:52 p.m.
Marcus tracked the elevator descending to the underground foundation level.
Julian had begun losing blood.
Sarah looked between him and the clock.
“Go,” he whispered.
“I am not leaving you.”
“I am not asking you to chase him. Stay with Leo until midnight.”
The trust required Leo to remain voluntarily in Sarah’s care.
Conrad could still attempt a remote guardianship filing.
Detective Cole received an alert.
A new emergency petition had entered the court system.
The filing declared Sarah responsible for Julian’s shooting and Leo’s abduction.
Judge Alden’s account had been used again.
The application requested immediate transfer to Eleanor.
A night court judge was reviewing it.
“Can they take him?” Sarah asked.
“Not without physical enforcement,” Cole said. “But if the order is approved before midnight, Conrad will claim the trust condition failed.”
“Then send the evidence.”
“We are.”
The judge requested live confirmation from Leo.
A secure video connection opened.
Leo stood beside Sarah while police and medics moved through the parking level.
The judge asked:
“Leo Bennett, are you currently with Sarah Quinn Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Do you wish to remain with her?”
“Yes.”
“Has anyone told you what to say?”
Leo looked toward Julian.
Then toward Diane.
Then at the torn, wine stained shirt in Caleb’s hand.
“Lots of people told me what to say tonight.”
The judge waited.
Leo continued.
“But Sarah told me I could choose.”
“Who do you choose?”
“Her.”
The clock changed.
11:59.
The judge suspended every competing order pending a full hearing.
One minute remained.
Conrad’s elevator stopped beneath the waterfront foundation.
Marcus discovered what lay below.
A private document vault connected to the original Mercer Crown banking servers.
Conrad planned to erase the complete guardianship network before midnight.
Julian looked toward Marcus.
“Can he destroy the upload?”
“Not the federal copy. But the vault contains names we do not have.”
Twenty three children.
Their stolen trusts.
The judges and attorneys involved.
Julian pushed away the medic.
“I know the foundation access.”
Sarah caught his hand.
“You have been shot.”
“If the vault burns, families lose the only path to their money.”
“You cannot go alone.”
“I will not.”
Marcus and federal agents moved with him.
Sarah remained beside Leo.
The ballroom wedding clock appeared on Marcus’s phone as midnight arrived.
The Bennett trust activated.
Sarah became Leo’s permanent guardian.
At the same second, an explosion shook the underground level.
The concrete beneath their feet moved.
Smoke rose through the elevator shaft.
May you like
Julian and Marcus had already gone below.
Continue to the next part: Sarah enters the burning foundation level to find Julian and recover the records of every child Conrad’s network robbed.
