Chapter 2 - The Extraction
By 2:00 a.m., Clara had finally cried herself to sleep in my guest room, her arms wrapped fiercely around Lily. I stood in the doorway, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of my granddaughter's chest.
Then, I went to the kitchen and picked up Clara’s keyring.
Julian thought I was just a retired middle-school librarian who baked cookies and knitted sweaters. He didn't know about the thirty years I spent in military intelligence, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer with a clearance level that didn't officially exist.
I slipped into my black tactical jacket, grabbed a specialized USB drive from my hidden basement safe, and drove back to Georgetown.
Julian’s BMW was in the driveway. The house was dark. I let myself in through the garage using Clara's code. I moved silently through the hallways, a ghost in my own daughter's home, until I reached Julian's home office.
He was passed out on the leather sofa, an empty bottle of bourbon on the rug.
I bypassed him entirely, booting up his high-end desktop. It was password-protected, but my USB drive carried military-grade brute-force software. Within three minutes, I was in. I didn't have time to browse. I mirrored the entire hard drive, every single file, email, and hidden directory, straight to my encrypted drive.
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Right as the progress bar hit 99%, Julian shifted on the couch and groaned.
I froze, my hand hovering over my tactical flashlight, ready to blind him and neutralize the threat. But he merely rolled over, snoring heavily. The download finished. I pulled the drive, wiped my digital footprints, and vanished into the night.
