Chapter 5

The door opened. Cold wind carried snowflakes inside.

Through the gap, I saw Derek standing by the door, sweating bullets.

He gave Cameron—wearing the pink jacket—a hard push, whispering urgently.

"Go! Don't look back! Just run straight ahead!"

Cameron pulled his cap down low, covering most of his face, and stepped through the door.

SWAT snipers locked onto the figure.

"Report! Hostage exiting. Child. Description doesn't match the list."

"Confirmed as first release subject."

The command center's voice came over the radio.

"Clear to proceed. Prepare for receive."

I saw Derek standing in the shadows, a smirk playing on his lips.

But just as Cameron was halfway out of the car—

"Hey! You there!"

A woman's voice cut through the silence over the megaphone.

Vanessa stood in the cold wind, face contorted, eyes wild.

The distance was too far, and with Cameron wearing Lily's clothes, cap pulled low and head down

Vanessa lifted the megaphone.

"Kidnappers! Don't fall for it! Derek Vaughn's tricking you!"

"The first kid they're releasing has a bomb on him!"

"That dirty marshal planted a remote-controlled bomb!"

"He wants to take all of you out!"

Passengers in the car recoiled in terror.

Derek's smile froze. He stood rooted to the spot.

His pupils shrank as he stared in disbelief at Vanessa in the distance.

"No! That's not true! Shut up! Just shut the hell up!"

Derek rushed to the door waving his arms, but his voice was drowned out by the megaphone.

Across from him, the lead kidnapper's face turned feral.

"Son of a bitch! You double-crossing bastard?!"

"Die then, you dirty cop!"

The kidnapper roared, raised his hunting rifle, and aimed at the child who'd just stepped out.

"BANG—!"

A deafening shot rang out.

Cameron's chest exploded in blood. His body was thrown backward, tumbling heavily off the platform.

Blood stained the pink jacket red, and the white snow too.

Vanessa's hand froze mid-air, still gripping the megaphone.

She stared at the body that had rolled to the platform's edge.

That short hair, that face... even in girl's clothes, that was her son!

"Cameron...?"

She whispered, voice shaking.

And in the utility closet, watching all this, I bit my lip until blood filled my mouth.

I felt no fear.

A rush of satisfaction shot from my feet to the top of my head!

Derek Vaughn, Vanessa.

See that? This is exactly the ending you plotted!

This is your—comeuppance!