Chapter 64 - The Ambush at the High Alpine Pass
"The third clinic," I whispered, the puzzle pieces slamming together with devastating speed. "In the Black Forest, Isabella mentioned a second facility near Chamonix. Catherine didn't keep the embryos together. She split them to prevent one raid from destroying both assets."
Grace was the decoy. The girl was the bait.
The boy—the male heir whose bone marrow Anthony needed to survive the horrific burns and cellular failure that was eating his body alive—was currently being transported across the French-Swiss border toward Catherine Vance's fortified private estate in Megève.
A sudden, sharp metallic ping echoed from the Audi parked outside the clinic.
I rushed to the window, pulling the wooden blind back a fraction of an inch.
Two dark shapes were descending the forested ridge behind the vineyard. Snowmobiles—silent, high-end electric military models, their headlights turned off, their operators wearing night-vision goggles.
Anthony’s tracker hadn't lost our scent. They had used the satellite ping from the Audi’s engine diagnostic unit the moment I bypassed the submerged drainage canal.
"They're here," I said, drawing my spare magazine from my pocket and slamming it into my tactical vest. "We have three minutes."
Khloe didn't panic. The weeping mother from the Geneva dock was completely gone, replaced by a woman whose soul had been tempered in kerosene and fire.
She gently unhooked the saline line from Grace’s foot, wrapping the sleeping child in two layers of insulated thermal blankets. She secured the baby against her chest with a tactical nylon sling, strapping Grace tight against her ribcage beneath her heavy down coat.
"We take the Audi?" Khloe asked, picking up the shotgun that hung on the wall of the veterinarian's supply closet.
"The Audi is a beacon," I said. "They have the VIN pinged. We take the snowmobile path on foot through the ravine, circle behind them, and take their transport."
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"Marcus," Khloe said, looking into my eyes as the crunch of boots on frozen gravel sounded outside the clinic's front door. "If it comes down to it... if they corner us... you protect the baby. You don't look back for me."
"Nobody dies tonight except them," I growled, kicking open the back emergency exit into the blinding fury of the alpine blizzard.
