Chapter 5 - The Ambush
The dial tone buzzed against my ear like a hornet.
"Megan? Megan!" I shouted into the phone, but the connection was severed.
Marcus turned from the counter, Jennings’s trembling handwritten affidavit already folded in his hand. "What did she say?"
"Derek took her purse and locked her in a motel room," I said, my chest heaving. "She said he has a gun. He threatened to frame her for child trafficking if she tries to leave. Marcus, she sounded terrified. Whatever game she thought she was playing, she isn't in control anymore."
"Derek never leaves control in anyone else’s hands," Marcus said grimly, pushing open the glass door to the street. "Get in the car. We need to go directly to the precinct."
As we accelerated into the morning traffic, my phone buzzed again—this time, it was a call from my home landline. Ava was calling.
"Ava, what’s going on? Is everything okay at the house?"
"Aunt Claire, there are police cars outside," Ava cried, her voice trembling. "Two police officers are knocking on the front door. They’re saying they have an order to remove us! Noah is hiding under the bed, and Lily won't stop crying!"
"Don't open that door!" I ordered, gripping the dashboard. "Ava, listen to me. Put the chain on the door, do not let anyone in, and tell the officers through the window that your attorney is arriving in eight minutes. Do you hear me?"
"Hurry, Aunt Claire! Please!"
Marcus didn't wait for me to explain. He flipped the Mercedes into sport mode, swung through a yellow light, and tore through the suburban streets toward Crestview Drive.
Five minutes later, we skidded to a stop along my front curb.
A county sheriff’s cruiser sat idling in my driveway, its amber and red running lights flashing. A tall deputy stood on my front porch, pounding his fist against the wood. Beside him stood a woman with a clipboard—a different CPS caseworker than Karen Diaz.
"Step away from that door!" Marcus roared as he climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind him with enough force to echo down the cul-de-sac.
The deputy spun around, his hand instinctively dropping toward his duty belt. "Sir, back up! This is official county business."
"I am Marcus Vance, Attorney at Law, Bar Number 44821," Marcus said, striding up the walkway with absolute authority. "This is Claire Montgomery, the registered property owner and temporary legal custodian under emergency placement paperwork executed at 1:15 this morning by Caseworker Karen Diaz. Identify yourself immediately."
The deputy relaxed his posture slightly, but his frown remained. "Deputy Henderson, Franklin County Sheriff's Office. We received an emergency report of custodial kidnapping and an unauthorized detention of four minor dependents."
"Filed by whom?" I demanded, coming up behind Marcus.
The woman with the clipboard spoke. "A direct electronic petition was filed at seven o'clock this morning by an attorney representing the biological mother, Megan Montgomery. The filing states that Miss Claire Montgomery forcefully withheld the children, barred the mother from the home, and threatened physical harm if the children were not surrendered under a fraudulent guardianship instrument."
I laughed out loud—a raw, furious sound. "Megan filed this? She abandoned them in an unfurnished apartment at eight o’clock last night to run off with an ex-convict!"
"Do you have documentation of that, ma'am?" the CPS worker asked coolly.
"I have the sworn confession of the corrupt notary Derek Vance paid five hundred dollars to forge my signature," Marcus bellowed, thrusting Lyle Jennings’s handwritten statement into the deputy's chest. "I have the emergency kinship placement orders signed by Karen Diaz five hours ago. And I have the metadata from the digital file Derek Vance drafted on his personal computer three days ago!"
Deputy Henderson scanned the affidavit, his eyebrows slowly climbing his forehead. He turned to the caseworker. "Did Diaz file the emergency kinship intake into the central registry?"
"I... I haven't checked the midnight filings yet," the caseworker admitted, visibly shrinking under Marcus’s glare.
Marcus pulled his phone from his breast pocket and dialed a direct extension. "Put Detective Briggs on. This is Marcus Vance." He paused for five seconds. "Briggs? I’m at my client Claire Montgomery's residence. Derek has resurfaced. He’s running a parental abduction and extortion play using the mother as a proxy. I have an active affidavit of notary fraud, an unauthorized forty-two-thousand-dollar credit application, and a recorded 911 dispatch from last night. Get over here with an injunction before these deputies make a mistake that costs this county a federal civil rights lawsuit."
Marcus lowered the phone and looked at the deputy. "You have five minutes to verify my credentials and Karen Diaz's intake report before you are personally named in an unlawful entry action."
Deputy Henderson immediately stepped down off the porch, unhooked his radio, and walked toward his vehicle to verify the records.
I unlocked the front door and slipped inside. Ava was standing in the hallway, holding a wooden wooden rolling pin from the kitchen counter, tears streaming down her red cheeks. Noah was peeking out from behind the hall closet door, his eyes wide and haunted.
I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around both of them.
"It’s okay," I whispered into Ava’s hair, my own tears finally spilling over. "Nobody is taking you away. Not today. Not ever."
"Aunt Claire," Noah sniffled, pressing his face into my shoulder. "Why does Mom hate us?"
The question tore through me like broken glass. An eight-year-old boy shouldn't have to wonder why his mother treated him like an unwanted parcel.
"She doesn't know how to love people properly, Noah," I said softly, looking him in the eyes. "She’s sick, and she makes bad choices. But I love you. And love means staying. Love means protecting you. Do you understand?"
Noah nodded against my chest, his small body trembling as he buried his face into my neck.
Outside, the deputy finished his radio call. He walked back to the porch, his head lowered in embarrassment.
"Counselor," Henderson said to Marcus. "Karen Diaz’s office confirmed the emergency kinship placement. The kidnapping petition was flagged as fraudulent by central dispatch. We're standing down."
May you like
"Don't just stand down," Marcus replied coldly. "Find the IP address that submitted that electronic petition. Because Derek Vance is within twenty miles of this city, and he is spiraling."
***
