Chapter 10 - The Harvest of Justice
The heavy, aggressive footsteps of the deeply corrupt deputies echoed terrifyingly loudly through the thick, swirling dust of the old mine.
Mateo gripped his nearly empty rifle incredibly tightly, firmly preparing to completely sacrifice his own life to buy his family a few extra seconds.
He looked deeply into Elena's highly terrified eyes and completely silently asked for her ultimate forgiveness.
Lucas absolutely refused to completely give up, bravely raising his own revolver to prepare for a totally final, deadly stand.
Suddenly, completely deafening, massive sirens began blaring incredibly loudly from the main highway leading directly into the canyon.
Dozens of highly armored, completely black tactical vehicles violently crashed entirely through the still-burning, destroyed wooden gates of the old mine.
They were absolutely not more corrupt local deputies entirely coming to completely finish the brutal job.
They were highly trained, entirely heavily armed state police officers and federal agents completely swarming the desolate area.
Lucas had completely secretly and brilliantly contacted the state bureau of investigation entirely days ago when he first completely discovered the horrific ledger.
His absolute, entirely dangerous earlier actions were all a highly calculated, incredibly desperate stall tactic to wait for the federal cavalry.
The heavily armed federal agents aggressively ordered absolutely everyone to completely drop their lethal weapons entirely to the dirt ground.
The entirely confused, completely terrified local deputies entirely immediately surrendered, violently throwing their heavy rifles entirely away.
Mateo quickly rushed completely out from entirely behind the heavy barricade, entirely hugging his highly brilliant son entirely with overwhelming pride.
Lucas proudly handed the highly incriminating, completely ancient leather ledger safely and entirely directly into the reliable hands of the lead federal agent.
The serious agent completely assured them that the massive, entirely detailed evidence inside was perfectly enough to permanently dismantle the entire corrupt town.
Paramedics rushed entirely rapidly onto the highly chaotic scene, quickly securing the badly injured priest and safely placing him entirely into a waiting ambulance.
Sheriff Davies was violently handcuffed and entirely aggressively dragged away completely in absolute, entirely pathetic disgrace.
The long, incredibly brutal, totally terrifying nightmare that had completely suffocated their entirely small family for twenty long years was absolutely, permanently over.
In the totally peaceful, incredibly productive months that happily followed, Mateo entirely successfully rebuilt their beautiful family ranch entirely from the ground up.
Elena and Mateo completely legally married in a beautifully small, highly joyful ceremony entirely officiated completely by the fully recovered, happy priest.
Lucas completely officially and totally proudly took the Aranda family name, happily working side-by-side entirely with his true father every single day.
The absolutely deeply rooted, totally core conflict of their highly fractured, totally secret past was finally, completely, and entirely beautifully resolved forever.
They were absolutely finally a genuinely real, entirely loving family, completely completely free from all totally dark, entirely heavy burdens.
On a totally completely peaceful, entirely beautiful Sunday afternoon, Mateo walked highly happily entirely out to the new mailbox entirely at the very end of the long driveway.
He totally smiled entirely warmly at the entirely beautiful, absolutely clear blue sky before safely completely opening the small metal door.
Inside the empty box sat a single, entirely pristine, completely unstamped highly expensive white envelope entirely devoid of any return address.
May you like
He curiously and completely cautiously opened it to safely find a perfectly solid, highly mysterious black card entirely embossed with incredibly elegant silver text.
The highly chilling, entirely unexpected message simply read that he had only successfully destroyed the local branch, and the truly global harvest would begin exactly tonight.
