Chapter 45 - The Deposition of Fire
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"Sarah Jenkins," a cold, accented voice called out from the foyer below. "Step down the stairs with your hands visible."
I locked my mother inside the panic room, slammed the heavy steel door, and turned the digital lock code before stepping out to the top of the staircase landing.
"Who sent you?!" I yelled down into the darkness, shining my high-powered tactical flashlight directly into their eyes. "Arthur is in police custody!"
The lead operative didn't flinch. He adjusted his night-vision goggles, keeping his silenced weapon raised.
"Arthur Vance was a low-level manager who failed his obligations," the operative stated in a flat, emotionless tone. "The Crown Syndicate is reclaiming its assets. Hand over the encrypted hard drive Arthur gave your father in 1998, and you walk out of this house alive."
My mind spun rapidly. An encrypted hard drive? My father?
"My father died twenty years ago!" I shouted back. "He didn't have any hard drive!"
"Your father was the chief archivist for Crown Holdings before he staged his own death," the operative countered smoothly. "He hid the ledger inside your mother's trust records. Where is it?"
Suddenly, a loud siren blared outside the driveway.
WAI-WAI-WAI!
High-powered searchlights burst through the living room windows as Chief Higgins's armored police vehicle rammed straight through the front gates, accompanied by three state trooper cruisers.
"POLICE! DROPPING WEAPONS! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" Higgins’s voice boomed through the storm via a loudspeaker.
The operatives didn't panic. The leader made a quick hand signal to his men.
"Retreat to the secondary extraction point," he ordered quietly.
May you like
Before the officers could breach the front door, the operatives threw smoke canisters onto the foyer floor, filling the house with dense gray fog, and vanished out the rear doors into the stormy night.
I collapsed against the stair railing, gasping for air, as Higgins broke through the front entrance with his team.
