Chapter 7 - The Arrest at the Border
At six-forty-five on Wednesday morning, the sun broke through heavy gray winter clouds along the Ohio-Indiana border.
Marcus Vance pulled his silver SUV into the service plaza off Route 35, just two miles east of the state line.
His face was pale in the rearview mirror. Stiff red eyes, stubble on his jaw, his tie pulled loose at the neck. He hadn't slept a minute. On the passenger seat beside him lay a black leather duffel bag containing twenty thousand dollars in cash—all the physical currency he had managed to retrieve from his office safe before fleeing.
He opened his mobile banking application on his phone.
He typed in his security credentials to initiate a rapid wire transfer from the Mercy Horizon holding account to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands.
The screen flashed red.
ERROR: ACCOUNT STATUS SUSPENDED. CONTACT SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR.
Marcus slammed his hand against the steering wheel. "Damn it!" he yelled into the empty car.
He quickly opened his personal banking portal.
ERROR: ACCOUNT FROZEN BY COURT ORDER.
A sudden cold sweat broke out across his forehead. How could the accounts be frozen? The audit wasn't scheduled until Thursday. Clara was locked in the storage room with no phone and no signal. The farm house fire should have taken hours to investigate.
Before he could put the SUV in reverse, the sound of heavy diesel engines echoed across the concrete parking lot.
Two unmarked black SUVs pulled in directly behind his vehicle, blocking his retreat. A marked Ohio State Highway Patrol cruiser cut across the front lane, stopping nose-to-nose with his bumper.
Marcus froze, his hand trembling on the gear shift.
Doors flew open. Four state troopers and Detective Angela Brooks stepped out with sidearms raised, taking tactical positions behind their open car doors.
"Marcus Vance!" Detective Brooks’ voice boomed through a loudspeaker. "Turn off the engine! Place your hands on the steering wheel where we can see them!"
Marcus looked frantically to his left and right. The service station perimeter was completely sealed.
Slowly, his hands trembling violently, he reached up, clicked off the ignition, and placed both palms flat against the windshield.
Detective Brooks stepped forward, unholstering her handcuffs. She yanked the driver’s side door open, pulled Marcus out onto the cold asphalt, and forced his arms behind his back.
"Marcus Vance, you are under arrest for attempted murder, child endangerment, kidnapping, and grand larceny," Brooks declared, snapping the steel cuffs onto his wrists.
Marcus strained his neck, looking up at her with frantic eyes. "You don't understand! This is a misunderstanding! Clara is insane—she’s been embezzling from the foundation!"
Detective Brooks leaned down close to his ear, her voice sharp as glass.
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"Clara is at Dayton Children’s Hospital with her daughters," Brooks said. "And Daniel Whitmore is currently sitting in the county prosecutor’s office handing over four years of your fraudulent ledgers. It’s over, Marcus."
Marcus’s jaw dropped. The color drained entirely from his face as the state troopers pulled him to his feet and forced him into the back of the patrol vehicle.
