Chapter 2 - The Arrest
Amelia kept the suppressed pistol aimed perfectly at the center of my chest.
Her stance was not that of a panicked, untrained civilian.
It was a flawless, tactical weaver stance used exclusively by professionals.
"Put your hands where I can see them," she ordered smoothly.
I slowly raised my hands, feeling a deep, hollow betrayal settling into my bones.
"You were a sleeper agent this entire time," I realized aloud.
Amelia did not answer, but the heavy sound of boots stomping onto our front porch answered for her.
The front door crashed open, violently splintering the wooden frame.
Four of Sheriff Vance's deputies stormed into the hallway with their tactical rifles drawn.
Amelia immediately dropped her pistol to the floor and burst into fake, hysterical tears.
"Help me!" she screamed, cowering pathetically against the bedroom wall.
"He went crazy and tried to attack me!"
The lead deputy stepped forward and slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of my knees.
I allowed my legs to buckle, dropping to the carpet without putting up a fight.
They roughly wrenched my arms behind my back and locked cold steel handcuffs tightly around my wrists.
"You are under arrest for domestic assault, trash," the deputy spat.
They dragged me out to a waiting patrol cruiser and threw me aggressively into the back seat.
The metal mesh divider dug into my shoulder as the car sped away from my home.
I fully expected them to drive toward the county jail in the center of town.
But the cruiser bypassed the main highway entirely.
We turned onto a desolate, unpaved logging road heading deep into the unforgiving mountains.
The deputies in the front seat turned off their police radios and deactivated their dashboard cameras.
"The boss said we do not need to bring this one in for booking," the driver laughed cruelly.
"We are just going to bury him out back."
I looked out the window at the passing trees, my expression completely unchanged.
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They thought they were driving a helpless, broken mechanic to his own execution.
They did not know I had silently picked the lock on my handcuffs three miles ago.
