Chapter 23

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"Madelyn....You came back..." His voice cracked. "And you used the emergency hall. It's really you..." Only the family's handprint worked on the emergency hall. Anyone on staff could exit, but you could only enter it if your handprint was registered. Madelyn's hand had last been scanned a day before she ran away. She had used the hall when she left. And she's thought of that day every day since, wondering if she should go back, and even why she left in the first place.

"I'm never leaving again. I'm so sorry I ran off. I never meant what I said..."

"Shh. Look at you," he said, his hands on her face. "My little girl, all grown up."

Tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. She put her hands over her father's. "I'm never running away again, I was just so stressed, I ran out the emergency hallway and there was a Jewelclaw just sitting outside, cornered by some guys with guns who had chased it all the way there, and they tried to shoot at me, but the Jewelclaw got in their way, and their fur is bulletproof, and Jewel carried me to safety, all the way to the forest, I was so scared to come back....And Koil killed her, he killed Jewel, he trapped her and he hit her range-blank in a diamond cage, and he took her away, and I knew it was time to change things, and I felt so homesick, I couldn't not come..."

"I promise. If that Jewelclaw helped you, and saved you from those people, she'll be honored. And if she wasn't hostile, we can finally fire Koil, and it'll never happen again. I'll never have to lose you again....And all this time I thought the Jewelclaws had...killed you....It's the only reason I ever put up with Koil, because I thought it was the only way to make sure something like that never happened again."

"I think I know why Jewel was out there, why those men had chased her there," Madelyn cried. "I figured it out. They wanted Jewel to hurt someone, someone of importance, or at least spread word that a Jewelclaw made it to the capital building, which was why they lured me out, because then, everyone would want them dead, and would pay someone to get rid of them, like Koil!"

"What about me?" Koil's voice boomed. He had rounded the next corner. He had his gun pointed at her. "Step away, President."

"She's my daughter. She's fine," he dismissed.

"No," he said. "She's a federal criminal for interfering with the capture of a Jewelclaw. He smiled. Now back away, or I'll have to arrest her for assaulting the President and interfering with me."

Rage suddenly exploded in Madelyn. "You burned down my treehouse, killed my best friend, then tried to kill me!" She let go of her father. 

"Just because I exist, and my existence proves your entire career is based off of the lies you've fed to the public for years! And you took advantage of the fact that I left that night! And you even knew it! I saw you when I slipped away! You were one of those men who had cornered Jewel and shot at me! Because if a Jewelclaw was seen outside the capital, and Madelyn Wolfe went missing, you'd have a business! No, an empire! But Jewel saved me, and now I'm just one more thing you have to hold back."

"Come this way. Now," Koil ordered. "Your friends assisted you, didn't they? Well I have the authority to shoot them too. Now surrender, or I will."

She froze. Her anger was still there, but now it was outweighed by fear. She turned pale. She wiped her cheeks. Black mascara came with it. She had ruined the makeup Jackson put on her. Probably the last time, too.

"Get down on your knees or I'll shoot," Koil demanded.

"I demand she be released!" Resident Wolfe exclaimed.

"President, you don't have that authority," Koil said with a nasty smile. "Thanks to the promotion you gave me, she is now to be sent to jail under my trial. And I sentence her guilty, and to a life in prison." He turned to Madelyn. "Resist, and this won't go well for you."

He motioned for his men. Three men in navy blue soldier's uniforms grabbed her. She didn't do anything. She didn't want Koil to hurt Kyle. Or Jackson, for that matter.

Koil grabbed her arm, holding her himself, and practically dragging her down the long hallways. His grip was so tight, Madelyn lost feeling in the rest of her left arm after quite a few yards. By all the yelling, mostly hers, people lined the hallways, watching intently.

"Stop! Let her go, she didn't do anything!" President Wolfe called. He wanted to follow, but he knew it was pointless. But he wanted to push on. He didn't want to lose Madelyn all over again.

Kyle started to run after her, but the backpack scratched him again. "That's it!" he exclaimed angrily, and pulled the bag off to look inside and see what of Madelyn's was so heavy.

I can't believe I didn't see this before. I thought Wolfe's kid was named Megan, Jackson thought. He and the President wanted to do something, and Kyle wanted to chase after her, but he stopped himself. He couldn't get caught. At least, not with the thing he found in the backpack.

"Guys, over here." He said hopefully, as Koil disappeared. "I've got a plan."


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