Chapter 10 - Infiltration at the Gates
The roaring engines of multiple heavy vehicles echoed through the quiet valley.
Bright searchlights cut through the thick forest fog surrounding the sawmill.
Mark rushed into the small back room and scooped up Lily into his arms.
"Daddy, what's happening?" she whimpered, clinging to his neck.
"We have to move again, baby," Mark said gently, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Is the bad lady here?"
"No, but we aren't going to hide anymore," Mark replied, looking her in the eyes.
"We are going to make them pay."
Marcus kicked open a trapdoor beneath a heavy workbench in the main room.
"This tunnel leads to an old mining shaft under the ridge," Marcus called out.
"It will bring you out half a mile down the road."
"What about you?" Sarah asked, staring at her brother with deep alarm.
Marcus pulled a heavy tactical chest rig over his shoulders and racked his shotgun.
"I’m going to stay behind and buy you time."
"If they catch all of us here, the evidence dies with us."
"Marcus, no!" Sarah shouted.
"Take the flash drive with the footage, Sarah!" Marcus roared, shoving a heavy black memory stick into her hands.
"Go to the estate while Arthur’s main security force is out here hunting us!"
"His house is practically empty right now!"
"Expose him on his own ground!"
Mark grabbed Sarah’s arm, forcing her toward the narrow underground passage.
"He’s right, Sarah!" Mark urged sharply.
"This is our only window!"
"If we don't hit the estate tonight, Arthur will destroy the physical server before sunrise!"
Sarah stared at her brother for one last agonizing second, tears welling in her eyes.
"Don't die, Marcus," she whispered.
Marcus offered a cold, ruthless smile.
"I died ten years ago, sis."
"Tonight, I'm just taking out the garbage."
Mark, Sarah, and Lily scrambled down into the dark, damp earth of the tunnel just as heavy gunfire shattered the sawmill windows above.
Twenty minutes later, they emerged near a dark highway turnout.
Sarah’s old sedan was hidden under a camouflage netting in the brush.
They loaded inside without saying a word.
The sky in the distance was glowing red from the burning sawmill.
Mark sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead with absolute, terrifying focus.
"Where to now?" Sarah asked, her hands trembling violently on the steering wheel.
Mark looked down at the encrypted drive in Sarah’s hands, then back at his daughter sleeping soundly in the rear seat.
"Drive straight to the Arthur estate," Mark ordered, his voice as cold as ice.
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"We're crashing his private gala tonight."
"And the whole world is going to watch him fall."
