Chapter 22
The drive to the Berkshires took two tense, silent hours. The storm had intensified, turning the winding mountain roads into treacherous ribbons of slick black asphalt. Hannah sat in the back seat of Cole’s unmarked vehicle, her laptop glowing faintly as she continuously monitored the local cellular towers for encrypted radio traffic.
"I'm picking up a localized signal jammer," Hannah announced as we approached a densely wooded ridge. "About two miles dead ahead. Someone is blanketing the area to prevent outgoing calls."
"That's our target," Cole said, shifting the SUV into a lower gear and turning off the headlights. He navigated the remaining distance using night-vision goggles he pulled from a tactical case in the center console.
"I’m sending a secure ping to Miguel," Hannah whispered, her fingers moving quickly. "I told him to lock the safe room at the Georgian house. If things go bad here, Evelyn and Rosa need to be untouchable."
I checked the heavy flashlight and the sidearm Cole had handed me before we left the city. I had spent years fighting corrupt politicians and corporate executives in boardrooms and Senate hearings. I was entirely out of my element in a tactical assault, but my father’s legacy demanded I finish what he started.
Cole eased the vehicle onto an overgrown logging trail, parking behind a thick grove of pine trees. Through the heavy rain, we could see the faint, harsh glare of halogen work lights piercing the darkness.
"There it is," Cole whispered, pointing through the windshield.
Nestled into the side of the mountain was a massive steel blast door, rusted with age but undeniably secure. Four men in black tactical gear stood outside, holding suppressed automatic rifles. Two black SUVs were parked haphazardly on the muddy access road.
"They're already inside," I said, my chest tightening. "They forced Celeste to open the door."
"We can't take four heavily armed men in a frontal assault," Cole analyzed, his eyes scanning the perimeter. "We need a distraction. Something to draw them away from the entrance."
Hannah reached into her backpack and pulled out a small, metallic cylinder.
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"I brought a localized EMP charge," she said, a nervous but determined look on her face. "It will fry their vehicles and their radios, but it only has a blast radius of fifty feet."
"I'll plant it," Cole said, taking the device. "When their comms go down, they'll scatter to check the perimeter. That’s when we move."
