Chapter 5 - The Hidden Truth
I stared down at the heavy antique object in my muddy palm.
The glass face was completely cracked, but there was no needle inside.
Instead, it housed a tiny, blinking microchip.
"What is this, Dad?" I demanded as the mercenaries stepped closer to the ditch.
"It's a biometric encrypted hard drive," he choked out, struggling to breathe.
"Priscilla didn't want my house, she wanted the offshore accounts tied to this drive."
I didn't have time to process the massive revelation.
The lead mercenary jumped down into the ditch, raising his suppressed rifle.
I reacted purely on twelve years of intense federal tactical training.
I grabbed a handful of wet mud and threw it directly into his night-vision goggles.
He flinched, firing a wild burst of suppressed rounds into the dirt.
I lunged forward, sweeping his legs out from under him.
I grabbed his rifle by the barrel and slammed the heavy stock into his jaw, knocking him unconscious instantly.
The other two mercenaries began firing aggressively into the trench.
"Run!" I screamed, pulling my father toward the dense tree line.
We sprinted blindly through the thick woods, the sound of bullets splintering the bark all around us.
We finally reached a desolate highway on the other side of the forest.
An old, rusty pickup truck was idling on the shoulder of the road.
I aimed my gun at the terrified driver and forced him out of the vehicle.
It was a terrible thing to do, but survival left me with zero options.
I threw my dad into the passenger seat and sped away toward the city limits.
"Why does Priscilla want offshore accounts?" I asked, keeping my eyes glued to the rearview mirror.
My dad leaned his head against the cold glass of the window.
"Because thirty years ago, I was the chief accountant for the largest human trafficking syndicate on the East Coast," he confessed.
"And Priscilla's father was the boss of the entire operation."
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I slammed on the brakes in sheer shock.
Before I could even speak, a massive explosion rocked the highway just fifty feet ahead of us.
