Chapter 37 - The Standoff
I didn't run. I didn't cower. I raised the heavy red fire extinguisher and swung it with every ounce of furious strength I possessed.
The heavy metal cylinder slammed brutally against Silas’s forearm, knocking the hunting knife from his grasp. The blade clattered harmlessly to the hardwood floor.
Silas let out a roar of pain and staggered backward, clutching his broken arm.
"You think a fire is going to erase what you did?!" I yelled, stepping forward, the smoke burning my eyes. "You think destroying wood and glass destroys my children's memory? This retreat is a symbol! You can't burn down the truth!"
Silas, coughing heavily in the thickening smoke, glared at me with absolute hatred. "Daniel is going to make sure you never find peace! He will hunt you from inside that cell!"
"Daniel is a ghost!" I shot back, lifting the extinguisher again. "He is nothing. And you are just a pathetic coward who burned his own life down for a man who would gladly let you die in a ditch."
Before Silas could attempt another desperate attack, the heavy wooden doors of the office were kicked entirely off their hinges.
Elias stormed into the room, flanked by two heavily armed contractors. Elias didn't hesitate. He crossed the room in two massive strides and tackled Silas with the sheer, unbridled force of a freight train. They crashed violently into the burning wall, and Elias effortlessly pinned the struggling fixer to the floor, driving his knee aggressively into Silas’s spine.
"Do not move," Elias growled, clicking heavy steel handcuffs onto Silas’s wrists.
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The shrill wail of approaching fire engines echoed through the broken windows. I stepped back, dropping the heavy extinguisher, gasping for clean air.
I looked at the flames licking the walls, knowing the fire department would arrive in time to save the main structure. Silas had failed. The sanctuary had survived.
