Chapter 2 - Sarah Jenkins
Mina did not run immediately.
Running from Alfred Costello required something more difficult than courage.
It required preparation.
For weeks, she behaved normally.
She worked.
She smiled when coworkers spoke to her.
She answered Alfred's late-night messages.
And every day, she quietly dismantled her old life.
Small amounts of money disappeared from accounts Alfred never monitored.
She bought a burner phone.
She obtained identification under another name.
Sarah Jenkins.
It was such an ordinary name that Mina loved it immediately.
Sarah Jenkins had no connection to organized crime.
Sarah Jenkins had never watched blood swirl down a bathroom sink.
Sarah Jenkins could live somewhere people complained about property taxes and lawn sprinklers instead of federal investigations and warehouse shootings.
Mina planned a route west.
She would fly first, then rent a car under the new identity and continue until she reached a small town where nobody had ever heard the name Costello.
Her flight was Friday.
There was only one problem.
She needed somewhere to hide the documents, cash, and phone until she left.
Then she remembered Alfred's forgotten floor safe.
Years earlier, Mina had processed paperwork for the penthouse property. The safe had been listed in an old inventory—an obsolete mechanical box beneath the study floor.
Alfred hated it.
He once joked that even he could not remember the combination.
Mina did.
One evening while Alfred was away, she entered his penthouse.
Her hands shook as she opened the safe.
Inside were old documents, photographs, and several objects that apparently had not been touched in years.
She placed ten thousand dollars inside.
Then Sarah Jenkins's identification.
The burner phone.
Her itinerary.
Finally, she removed the ultrasound photographs from her purse.
She stared at the tiny shape.
Leaving Alfred felt impossible.
Staying felt worse.
Mina kissed the corner of the ultrasound.
“I'm getting you out.”
She put it inside.
Then she locked the safe.
Three days remained.
By Thursday afternoon, Mina could almost imagine freedom.
Then Alfred entered her office.
“We have a leak.”
Her fingers stopped above her keyboard.
“What?”
“Federal agents hit another warehouse.”
His voice was calm, which meant he was furious.
“Someone inside the organization is talking.”
Mina forced herself to breathe.
“What do you need?”
“Search the accounts. Anything unusual, bring it directly to me.”
She nodded.
Alfred turned toward the door.
Then he stopped.
“I have to go to the penthouse first.”
Mina's pulse stumbled.
“Why?”
“My father kept an old physical ledger.”
He frowned.
“I think I left it in the floor safe.”
The room suddenly seemed too small.
“You said you didn't know the combination.”
“I don't.”
For one second, Alfred almost smiled.
“Lev does.”
Then he walked away.
Mina remained motionless.
Inside that safe were ten thousand dollars, false identification, a burner phone, travel plans—
and their baby's ultrasound.
Her flight was less than twenty-four hours away.
May you like
But Alfred was already heading toward the penthouse.
Mina grabbed her purse and ran. nd55 nd55
