Chapter 10 - THE SHADOW IN THE REARVIEW
The three massive black Escalades pulled out of the Miller driveway in a tight, synchronized convoy, their heavy tires kicking up clouds of gravel as they accelerated onto the main county road heading toward Detroit.
Owen sat in the rear passenger seat of the center vehicle. He had removed the faded flannel shirt and donned a heavy dark wool overcoat provided by Frank. His dark hair was brushed back, his face hard, sharp, and cold as stone.
Frank sat in the front passenger seat, looking back at his leader through the rearview mirror.
"Where to first, Boss?" Frank asked, his hand resting on a encrypted satellite phone. "The city estate? Or Marcus's warehouse on 12th Street?"
Owen didn't answer immediately. He looked out the tinted side window as the isolated Miller farmhouse grew smaller and smaller in the distance, disappearing behind the rolling green hills and dark oak trees.
He saw the small wooden fence he had repaired. He saw the rusted tractor sitting proudly beside the barn, its engine running smoothly in his memory.
A dark, lethal calm settled over Victor Vance—the man who had been Owen for five unforgettable days.
"Call every captain," Owen commanded, his gravelly voice echoing through the silent interior of the SUV like a tolling bell. "Tell them Victor Vance is back from the dead. Tell them to gather at the Meridian docks by midnight."
Frank nodded sharp, his eyes flaring with dark excitement. "And Marcus?"
Owen looked down at his right hand. On his broad palm, a tiny smudge of flour and sugar from Emily's biscuit still remained in the deep lines of his skin.
He closed his fist tight around it.
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"Marcus threatened the children who saved my life," Owen said, his dark eyes burning with an absolute, terrifying light through the tinted glass. "Tonight... I end everything he built. And then I make sure this city never touches that farm again."
The three black SUVs crested the hill and disappeared down the long, dark highway, carrying the monster back to his empire—a monster who had found his soul in the heart of a little girl's broken biscuit.
