Chapter 1575

[ 639 words ]

Dragging a rat out of the shadows was never going to be easy.

But the military tactical units had their methods, and Stephen trusted them completely.

His team continued their relentless pursuit of Claire, intentionally hanging back to make Graves think they had lost the scent.

The most impressive player on the board was Jace, who seamlessly swapped vehicles mid-pursuit to remain entirely undetected.

There was no denying it-Jace was lethal.

Stephen couldn’t help but be deeply impressed by the young man’s flawless execution.

When Stephen was making a name for himself in the family’s elite training camps, Rory and Jace were just kids.

The instructors still whispered legends about Stephen’s tenure there.

While Rory and Jace might have vague memories of their older cousin, Stephen had never formally met them.

But after today, Jace had certainly earned his respect.

If the young operative hadn’t already pledged his life as the Clan Successor’s personal shadow, Stephen would have recruited him into the precinct in a heartbeat.

Yet, knowing Jace was standing between Claire and the rest of the world brought Stephen an immense sense of relief.

He would never dream of poaching his little cousin’s most loyal protector.

She was young, fiercely independent, and needed all the heavily armed guardianship she could get.

“We’ve been spotted!”

Dane’s sharp warning shattered the silence in the cruiser.

Before Stephen could even ask what was wrong, a massive semi-truck violently swerved across the median, barreling straight toward them.

“Joe!”

Stephen roared the name of his driver, bracing for impact.

The truck’s sudden, explosive maneuver left Joe with less than a second to react.

To his immediate right, a young child was frozen in the crosswalk.

If Joe cranked the wheel and gunned the engine to avoid the multi-ton behemoth, he would plow straight into the kid!

Faced with a choice between dodging the truck or killing an innocent child, Joe made the only decision a good cop could make.

With nowhere left to swerve, he held the line.

In the agonizing millisecond before the collision, Joe prayed he would be the only casualty.

But fate was rarely that merciful.

The massive grill of the truck

slammed into them. Joe had

managed to angle the cruiser so the

driver’s side took the brunt of the

horrific impact, but Stephen, riding shotgun, was still caught in the devastating shockwave.

In the back seat, Dane, Brooks, and River fared slightly better.

Driven by their elite combat reflexes, they braced themselves against the crushing force, miraculously avoiding the worst of the carnage.

The brutal impact left all three men battered, but Dane walked away with the lightest injuries.

A sickening wave of vertigo washed over him, his head ringing from the violence of the crash.

“Those Sundara bastards!”

Stephen spat a vicious curse, ignoring the searing pain radiating through his torso.

His immediate instinct was to reach for the blood-spattered radio to call for ambulances.

Through the static, the precinct dispatch frantically called out. “Captain! Are you okay?”

“What’s your status over there?”

“Our cruiser was intentionally rammed by a semi. It triggered a massive pile-up!” Stephen rasped, fighting through the agony.

The Daybreak Syndicate was completely unhinged; they viewed innocent civilian

lives as nothing more than acceptable collateral damage.

The catastrophic collision had caused a chain reaction, leaving over a dozen vehicles mangled in the intersection. The civilian casualty count was skyrocketing

Even with ambulances mobilized, navigating the ensuing gridlock would take agonizing minutes.

“Dispatch Officer Darcey to my location. She’s meticulous and keeps her head under pressure.”

“Have her stabilize Joe. I have to keep moving.”

“Claire is still in that car, and I refuse to let them take her!”

The kidnappers were acting with terrifying impunity, but the Solenian police force was not about to roll over.

Stephen kept his familial ties to Claire a tightly guarded secret.

He was a lone wolf detective who had dismantled countless high-profile syndicates.

The criminal underworld hated him

with a burning passion; if they

discovered his connection to Claire, they would rain hellfire down upon her.

As it stood, she was just a target to be rescued.

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