Chapter 14: The Choice That Changed Everything
The men hesitated for half a second. Then they heard the sirens wailing, loud and getting closer by the second. They bolted out the back door, but officers were already waiting there—they were tackled and cuffed before they made it to the fence.
We cut Norma loose, got her water and a blanket. She sat shaking, staring at the floor.
"I was so scared," she said. "I thought if I stayed quiet, I’d be safe. But all I did was let Sarah get hurt."
"Fear doesn’t make you bad," I said. "But silence does."
That night, we stayed at the FBI safe house—fortified, guarded, no way in or out without clearance. Sarah fell asleep holding my hand, for the first time in months sleeping without the lights on.
Agent Torres called me at 2 a.m.
"We got every last leader of the ring," he said. "And we found something else—they weren’t just after the files. They were planning to take Sarah to use against you."
"Against me?"
"Your company unknowingly contracted with their shell businesses for two years," he said. "They needed Roger dead so no one would connect the dots. And they needed Sarah gone so you’d be too broken to ask questions or push for answers."
---
