*Emergency hearing moved up. Judge signed the order an hour ago. Officers are en route to serve you.*

My breath caught in my throat.

They weren’t waiting for morning.

The trap was already springing.

I heard the sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway out front.

The bright headlights of a local police cruiser swept across the stone wall of the estate.

The vehicle stopped directly in front of the main gates.

I pressed deeper into the shadows of the blue spruce trees.

The gravel continued to crunch under the heavy tires of the patrol car.

My heart hammered against my ribs, but my hands remained steady.

I slipped backward, keeping my head low beneath the line of the boxwood hedge.

If they caught me here, the corrupt system Grant had bought would lock me away before I could ever reach my daughter.

I slid through the gap in the wooden fence at the edge of the property.

The dry pine needles on the forest floor dampened the sound of my boots.

I didn’t stop running until I reached the unmarked black SUV parked half a mile down the dirt ridge.