Chapter 8 - The Setup and the Escape
With the audio recording, the FBI was brought in immediately. Warrants were issued for Richard Vance, Teresa Davis, Beatrice, and the hitman, whom the feds identified from the audio as a cartel enforcer named Silas.
But Vance was always one step ahead. By the time the SWAT team raided his logistics headquarters, he was gone. He had drained his offshore accounts and vanished.
That night, I was placed in a safe house with Lily and my father. The federal marshals assured me we were protected. But I knew Vance. He wouldn't leave loose ends, and I was the biggest loose end of all.
Around 2:00 AM, the lights in the safe house flickered and died.
I instantly woke up. I grabbed the gun I had taken from Vance’s desk earlier that day. I crept out of the bedroom and looked down the hallway. The two federal marshals assigned to guard us were lying motionless on the floor, darts protruding from their necks.
Shadows moved in the living room. Three men, heavily armed, wearing tactical gear.
I rushed back into the room. I hoisted my father out of his wheelchair and hid him inside the deep walk-in closet, covering him with blankets. I grabbed a terrified Lily and pressed her into his good arm. "Keep her quiet, Dad. Do not make a sound."
My father nodded, tears streaming down his face.
I stepped out of the bedroom just as the first hitman rounded the corner. I didn't hesitate. I raised Vance’s gun and fired twice into the man's chest. He dropped instantly.
The other two opened fire, their suppressed weapons spitting bullets into the drywall around me. I dove behind a solid oak bookcase, returning fire. My military logistics background wasn't just about moving boxes; it was about surviving ambushes in hostile territories.
I flanked them through the adjoining kitchen, moving silently in the dark. I caught the second man off guard and knocked him out with the butt of my pistol. The third man, the leader—Silas, the man who had killed Clara—turned toward me.
We tackled each other to the floor, the gun flying from my hand. Silas was massive, his hands wrapping around my throat, choking the life out of me.
"Should have taken the money, Alex," he grunted.
As my vision blurred, I reached blindly into my pocket. My fingers closed around the jagged metal edge of the bloody key I had found under my father's cushion. With the last ounce of my strength, I jammed the key directly into Silas’s eye.
May you like
He screamed, rolling off me. I scrambled to the gun, picked it up, and pointed it at his head.
"This is for Clara," I panted, and pulled the trigger.
