Chapter 31: The Choice in Savannah
Chapter 31: The Choice in Savannah
The silence inside the bakery was thick enough to choke on.
Arthur’s hand remained steady under his canvas jacket. The two men in gray suits took one synchronized step forward. The taller one had a subtle earpiece flickering beneath his collar.
"Colonel Hale," the taller suit said, his voice clipped and hollow. "Step away from the asset. We are here on authorization from the primary shareholder."
The asset. They weren't even calling Hope a child.
Sarah looked at the broken Vance ring on the counter, then at Arthur. Her three months of peace had been an illusion. She didn't know if she could trust Arthur—James’s letter had warned her not to. But looking at the cold, predatory eyes of the two men at the door, she knew one thing: they were wolves, and Arthur was the hound that had kept her alive this long.
"Arthur," Sarah whispered, her voice tightening as she shifted Hope into her left arm. "The flour bins. Behind you."
Arthur didn't ask questions. In one explosive motion, he spun backward, kicking a massive fifty-pound metal bin of baking flour straight into the path of the two men. A white cloud erupted, blinding the room.
Pop! Pop!
Two suppressed gunshots coughed through the white haze, punching clean holes through the bakery’s wooden menu board.
Arthur didn't draw his gun to shoot back; he grabbed the heavy commercial espresso machine’s steam wand, twisting the valve wide open. Scalding steam roared into the air, mixing with the flour to create a suffocating, blinding screen.
He lunged through the cloud, his fist striking the taller suit in the jaw with a sickening crack. The man dropped instantly. The second suit fired blindly into the steam, but Arthur was already behind him, executing a flawless military chokehold until the man went limp.
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Arthur broke through the haze, his face covered in white powder and sweat. He grabbed the silver Vance ring from the counter and looked at Sarah.
"The back door," Arthur barked. "Now."
