# Chapter 11: The Ambulance
We caught the ambulance near an abandoned quarry.
It swerved through a locked gate and disappeared down a gravel service road.
Naomi followed in the federal SUV while I rode beside her.
Two more vehicles closed from behind.
The ambulance stopped near the quarry edge.
Three men jumped out.
One fired toward us.
Naomi’s agents returned fire while I moved along the tree line.
The rear doors of the ambulance were open.
Violet lay strapped to a stretcher.
A masked man stood over her with a pistol.
“Stay back!”
I lowered my weapon.
“Take me instead.”
He laughed.
“You are already coming with us.”
The man stepped closer to Violet.
A second figure rose behind him.
Harper.
She had hidden inside the federal support vehicle and followed us.
She struck the gunman with a metal oxygen cylinder.
The pistol fired into the ambulance ceiling.
I crossed the distance before he recovered.
I pulled him away from Violet and drove him into the gravel.
Federal agents captured the remaining attackers.
Harper climbed into the ambulance.
Violet’s eyes were open.
“Mom?”
“I’m here.”
Violet looked toward me.
Her voice was weak.
“Dad…”
I held her hand.
“We’re taking you back.”
“No.”
Her fingers tightened around mine.
“School.”
“What is at the school?”
“Blue envelope.”
“Locker B-114?”
She nodded.
“Password.”
Naomi climbed into the ambulance.
“What password?”
Violet struggled to stay awake.
“The recording. Everything Daniel said.”
“You made a backup?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes moved toward Harper.
“I thought Mom was meeting him because she loved him.”
Harper began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“I followed her. I heard him threaten Dad.”
Violet closed her eyes.
“I sent Daniel a message. I told him I had the evidence.”
I leaned closer.
“You contacted him?”
“I told him to come to the house. I thought I could record his confession.”
Her breathing became uneven.
“I invited him.”
The words struck me with terrible clarity.
Harper had disabled the alarm.
Daniel had brought the attackers.
But Violet herself had arranged the meeting.
She had tried to protect us.
And now Voss knew she had hidden the only copy capable of destroying him.
A federal agent approached the ambulance.
“Mr. Cole, we have a problem.”
“What?”
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“The school alarm was triggered ten minutes ago.”
Someone was already searching Locker B-114.
