Chapter 5 - The Trap Springs ShutJulian’s initial shock vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, calculating malice. He realized in a fraction of a second what the police would never believe: if his wife and kids crawled out of this grave, his life insurance payout vanished, his embezzlement scandal at work would come to light, and he would spend the rest of his natural life behind bars for attempted mass murder.
He didn't reach for a hand to pull them out.
Instead, Julian lunged forward, grabbing the heavy shovel he had dropped moments earlier.
"I don't think so, Sarah," Julian snarled, his voice dripping with venom. "You should have stayed dead. You just had to be stubborn to the very end."
He raised the shovel high, aiming a vicious blow directly down toward the opening of the casket where Lucas’s hand was still clawing at the surface.
"No!" Victoria Sterling’s voice pierced the dark like a gunshot.
Before Julian could bring the metal blade down, a dark figure tackled him from behind with blinding speed. Detective Marcus Vance, accompanied by two armed uniformed officers who had converged quietly through the fog, slammed Julian headfirst into the damp earth.
"Federal and State Police! Drop the shovel, Julian, or you're a dead man!" Marcus bellowed, pressing his knee firmly into Julian’s spine while snapping steel handcuffs onto his wrists.
Julian thrashed and screamed, his face pressed into the mud, but he was completely overpowered.
Up on the edge of the pit, Victoria dropped to her knees, peering down into the abyss where her daughter and grandsons stared up at her in shock and tearful relief.
"Mom...?" Sarah sobbed, reaching her hand up toward the surface.
"I've got you, sweetheart. I've got you," Victoria cried, her hands trembling as she grabbed Sarah’s wrist, hauling her upward with the supernatural strength that only a mother pushed to the absolute edge could muster.
With the help of Officer Miller, Victoria hoisted Lucas and Ethan out of the dark mahogany box one by one, wrapping them in heavy wool blankets pulled straight from the back of the police cruiser.
Within minutes, the cemetery was ablaze with the flashing red and blue lights of squad cars and an arriving fleet of emergency ambulances. Paramedics swarmed the gravesite, slapping oxygen masks over the pale faces of the survivors and wrapping thermal blankets around their shivering bodies.
Julian Vance was dragged past them in handcuffs, his face bruised from the tackle, his tailored suit ruined by the cemetery mud. He glared at Sarah with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred as he was shoved into the back of a caged cruiser.
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"You can't prove intent!" Julian yelled over the wail of the sirens. "It was an accident! A medical anomaly!"
"Save it for the judge, you monster," Detective Marcus Vance muttered, slamming the cruiser door shut.
