Chapter 12 - The Night of the Glass Bridge.
Lucas drove straight at the group as the garage gate sealed behind him.
Quinn pushed Willow behind a concrete pillar and drew her weapon.
The van swerved past them and struck an evidence cabinet.
Lena threw herself against the passenger door.
Marisol shattered the window with a fire extinguisher.
Celeste reached through the broken glass and pulled the lock.
Lucas accelerated before Lena could escape.
Willow grabbed Lena's bound hands and ran beside the van.
The vehicle dragged them toward the lower ramp.
Quinn fired into the rear tire.
The van spun against the wall and stopped.
Willow cut Lena's restraints with a piece of broken mirror.
Lucas crawled through the driver's window and disappeared into a service stairwell.
The door led directly into the courthouse and its elevated glass bridge to the municipal tower.
Quinn called for backup through the building's landline.
Willow followed before anyone could stop her.
Lucas had the red metal case handcuffed to his wrist.
He reached the bridge twelve floors above the street.
Rain hammered its glass roof, and lightning flashed over the city.
Below them, police vehicles formed a blue ring around the building.
News helicopters circled beyond the storm clouds.
The bridge cameras streamed to the courthouse archive, but Lucas did not know Marisol had restored them.
Willow's torn gown brushed the glass where her reflection moved beside his.
They looked like the elegant couple printed on years of foundation invitations.
The image made her understand how easily a photograph could become an alibi.
"There are witnesses now," she said.
Lucas glanced at the dark camera above him.
Its red light suddenly appeared.
His confidence faltered.
The city was finally watching him without his permission.
"Lucas, stop running," Willow called.
He turned halfway across the bridge.
"You still think this began with a slap."
"It ended our marriage."
"Your mother ended it before we met."
Willow moved closer.
Lucas held up the red case.
"Caroline recorded every secret your father buried."
"Then give it to me."
"I want the Ashcroft shares."
"They were never yours."
He opened his bandaged hand, revealing a small remote.
Red lights blinked beneath the bridge supports.
"My mother taught me that ownership is only a story people agree to believe."
Willow saw Quinn and Celeste enter the bridge behind him.
Lucas pressed the remote.
Nothing happened.
Marisol's voice sounded over the courthouse intercom.
"The detonator battery was in your tuxedo pocket."
During the garage struggle, she had replaced it with a dead one.
Lucas threw the remote and ran.
Quinn blocked the far exit.
He struck the bridge wall with the red case until a glass panel fractured.
Wind and rain burst through the opening.
Lucas climbed onto the outer maintenance ledge.
The case dragged at his wrist as he moved above the traffic.
Willow approached the broken panel.
"Take my hand."
Lucas laughed with rain streaming down his face.
"You want me alive so I can confess."
"I want you alive because I am not you."
For a moment, he reached toward her.
Then a suppressed gunshot struck the handcuff chain.
The red case fell onto a lower roof.
Lucas nearly followed.
Adrian stood in the municipal tower with a gun aimed through the glass.
May you like
He fired again.
The second shot shattered the panel beside Willow.
