Chapter 4 - The Digital Trap
I stared at the glowing screen as Nicholas’s arrogant face filled the monitor.
"You really thought I was stupid enough to leave actual classified data in a wall safe?" he mocked.
The flash drive Abigail had taken was completely fake.
It was a highly sophisticated tracking beacon wrapped in a malicious digital virus.
"My mother and brother might be sitting in federal holding cells, but I am still ten steps ahead of you," Nicholas bragged.
The military laptop in front of me sparked and suddenly went entirely black.
The virus had just fried the motherboard and broadcast our exact GPS coordinates to his private security team.
"They are coming for us," I realized, immediately drawing my standard-issue sidearm.
I rushed back into the bedroom and pulled Abigail out of bed.
"We have to move right now, Abby," I ordered, shifting instantly into full combat mode.
We slipped out the back door of the safe house and ran into the dense, dark woods surrounding the property.
Less than two minutes later, three unmarked black SUVs crashed through the front gates of the compound.
Dozens of heavily armed mercenaries poured out of the vehicles and breached the house.
We hid behind a massive oak tree, our breaths pluming in the crisp night air.
"What do we do now, Mom?" Abigail whispered, terrified by the sounds of the men destroying the safe house.
"We go on the offensive," I promised her.
I pulled a secondary burner phone from my tactical boot and dialed a secure, unlisted number.
A gruff voice answered on the first ring.
"Bravo Team is standing by, Colonel," the voice said.
I gave them the coordinates of the Ferguson family's private country club estate.
"Nicholas thinks he is hunting us, but we are going to burn his empire to the ground," I commanded.
We hiked three miles through the forest until we reached a desolate highway where my extraction team was waiting.
A sleek black van pulled up, and my most trusted off-the-books operatives pulled us inside.
"The target is currently locked inside the main vault at the country club," my lead operative reported.
I racked the slide of my weapon and nodded.
"Then we are going to crack the vault."
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Suddenly, the radio in the van crackled to life with an emergency broadcast from the local news station.
"Breaking news, the FBI has just released Patricia and Gregory Ferguson due to a lack of evidence."
