Chapter 8 - The Standoff
Chloe screamed in absolute agony as Titan’s massive jaws crushed the bones in her wrist.
The pistol clattered to the wet pavement, sliding harmlessly into the grass.
She thrashed wildly, trying to kick the dog away, but Titan held his ground with terrifying discipline.
I did not waste a single second.
I kicked the gun further into the darkness and stood over my treacherous wife.
"Call him off, Grant! Please, call him off!" she shrieked, her face pale with shock.
I stared down at her, feeling absolutely no pity for the woman who had sold our family to a cartel.
"He is only doing what he was trained to do, Chloe," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
"He protects this family from predators."
I commanded Titan to hold, ensuring he kept her pinned to the ground without causing fatal damage.
Tessa ran to my side, burying her face into my jacket, crying softly.
I wrapped my arm around her and checked on Miles, who was miraculously still asleep in his carrier.
We had survived the immediate threats, but we were completely stranded on a dark highway with a dead ledger.
The cartel still wanted their money, and they would not stop hunting us.
I walked over to the ditch where Detective Miller had been thrown during the crash.
He was groaning, his leg bent at a sickening, unnatural angle.
I grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and dragged him back onto the asphalt.
"You are going to use your police radio, Miller," I commanded, pulling his radio from his belt.
I forced the radio into his trembling hand.
"You are going to call in a massive cartel drug bust at this exact location, and you are going to call the FBI, not your local buddies," I ordered.
Miller spat a mouthful of blood onto the pavement and laughed weakly.
"They will kill me in prison, Grant," he wheezed.
"If you don't make the call, I will let Titan finish what he started with my wife," I threatened.
Miller looked at the massive dog, then slowly pressed the transmission button on his radio.
He frantically called in an officer-down code, requesting federal backup for a major narcotics incident.
I knew the FBI would swarm the highway within minutes.
We just had to wait and survive until they arrived.
Suddenly, the blinding headlights of an armored tactical truck illuminated the highway from the north.
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But the vehicle did not have police sirens or government markings.
The cartel’s main cleanup crew had intercepted the radio transmission, and they had arrived before the FBI.
