Chapter 10 - The Forest Road
The cold autumn wind hit my face like a physical blow as I dropped silently from the edge of the porch roof onto the soft mulch of the garden beds below, my knees absorbing the impact without a sound.
Behind me, shouting echoed from Evan’s bedroom window.
“He went out the back! Cut off the tree line! Don't let him reach the woods!”
I didn't head for the woods. Instead, I scrambled along the drainage ditch hidden beneath the thick overgrown blackberry bushes that ran parallel to the side of the house, moving in a low crawl toward the root cellar hatch behind the old woodshed.
Evan was waiting inside, his face pale and tear-streaked, holding the satellite phone I had given him.
“Dad,” he whispered, his voice cracking as I pulled open the heavy wooden hatch and dropped down into the dark, earthy space beside him. “They’re looking everywhere. I heard them talking about burning the house down if they don't find the files.”
“They won't burn anything, Cale,” I said, closing the root cellar hatch and sliding the heavy iron bolt home from the inside, plunging us into total, suffocating darkness save for the tiny green blinking light of the emergency radio.
I pulled my burner phone from my pocket and dialed a single, memorized eleven-digit number—the direct private line to Thomas Miller’s secure home terminal, bypassing the precinct switchboard entirely.
The phone rang three times before a gruff, exhausted voice answered on the other end.
“Vance? If you’re calling from a landline, you’re already dead. The entire strike team has gone rogue under Dubois’s payroll.”
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“I know,” I said softly, staring into the dark eyes of my terrified son in the underground vault. “They just tore my house apart, Tom. Which means they know about the safety deposit box in Portland.”
A heavy sigh echoed through the phone speaker. “El... they aren't just looking for files anymore. Arthur Dubois just authorized a full municipal asset freeze. As of midnight, you, me, and everyone who ever looked at the Westside zoning maps are officially being hunted as domestic terrorists.”
