Chapter 6 - The Corrupt Badge
I skidded to a halt, pulling Tessa firmly behind my back.
Detective Miller had been a regular guest at our backyard barbecues for years.
He had held Miles when he was just a newborn.
Now, his face was a mask of cold, calculating greed.
"I am so sorry it had to end this way, Grant," Miller said, his voice completely devoid of emotion.
"How much did Richard pay you to sell your soul?" I spat, gripping the crowbar tightly in my right hand.
Miller chuckled darkly, shaking his head.
"Richard is a dead man walking, Grant, he just doesn't know it yet," Miller revealed.
He explained that the cartel had grown tired of Richard's sloppy mistakes.
Miller was the cartel's real inside man, tasked with cleaning up the mess Chloe and Richard had created.
He demanded that I hand over the burner phone with the financial ledgers.
"If you give me the phone, I will make sure your death is quick," Miller promised.
I looked down at the glowing phone in my hand, my only remaining piece of leverage.
I knew that the moment I handed it over, Miller would execute all three of us on the side of the road.
I slowly raised my hands, pretending to surrender.
"You win, Miller, just take the phone and let my kids walk into the woods," I pleaded, taking a step forward.
Miller smirked, lowering his weapon slightly as he reached out to take the device.
Instead of handing it to him, I smashed the screen of the phone directly against the steel frame of his cruiser.
The glass shattered, and the device sparked, instantly destroying the internal hard drive.
Miller let out a roar of absolute fury, realizing his multi-million dollar ledger was gone forever.
He raised his gun, aiming directly at my chest, completely abandoning all protocol.
"You just signed your own death warrant!" he screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Before the hammer could drop, the sound of tearing metal echoed from the treeline.
A massive black SUV burst through the brush, traveling at sixty miles an hour.
It T-boned the police cruiser with a deafening crunch, sending Miller flying into the ditch.
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The driver's side door of the wrecked SUV groaned open, and a figure stumbled out into the headlights.
It was Chloe, covered in blood, holding a smoking pistol in her trembling hand.
