Chapter 3 - The Corrupt Badge
I walked out of the infirmary and marched straight toward the main gate.
The blinding headlights of five black SUVs pierced through the dark, freezing fog.
Tessa and eight heavily armed trainees stood perfectly still behind the concrete barriers.
Standing in front of the vehicles was Sheriff Miller, a man I knew possessed zero moral compass.
Arthur Hawthorne stood right beside the sheriff, wearing a tailored cashmere coat and a smug smile.
"Open the gate, Marcus," Sheriff Miller shouted through a megaphone.
"You are currently harboring a known fugitive who stole highly classified corporate property."
I walked up to the chain-link fence, keeping my hands resting casually on my tactical belt.
"Since when does the county sheriff run private errands for real estate developers at three in the morning?" I asked.
Miller's face flushed with anger, and he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.
"I have a signed search warrant from Judge Harmon to enter this property and retrieve the stolen items," Miller stated.
I knew immediately that Judge Harmon was one of the names listed on the silver flash drive.
"This is a federally registered training facility operating under Department of Defense sub-contracts," I replied smoothly.
"Your local county warrant holds absolutely no jurisdiction on this side of the fence."
Arthur Hawthorne stepped forward, gripping the chain-link fence with his expensive leather gloves.
"You always were a stubborn loser, Marcus," Arthur sneered.
"Hand over the girl and the drive, and I will gladly write you a check for a million dollars."
"If you refuse, I will personally ensure this base is burned to the ground by morning."
I stared directly into Arthur's cold, arrogant eyes.
"You made a massive mistake when you let your family touch my daughter," I told him quietly.
"I don't want your money, Arthur."
"I want your entire life."
I turned to Tessa and gave a subtle, pre-arranged hand signal.
Tessa pressed a button on her remote, and high-intensity strobe lights instantly blinded the men outside the gate.
A screeching acoustic deterrent siren began blaring at a deafening pitch.
Sheriff Miller and Arthur covered their ears and stumbled backward in sheer agony.
The corrupt deputies scrambled back into their SUVs to escape the agonizing noise.
Arthur glared at me through the flashing lights, mouthing a violent threat before retreating to his vehicle.
The black SUVs reversed aggressively and sped away down the dark mountain road.
I signaled Tessa to cut the siren and the strobe lights.
The sudden silence of the night felt heavy and suffocating.
"They will be back with federal marshals they have on their payroll," Tessa warned me.
"I know," I replied, pulling the silver flash drive from my pocket.
"Which is exactly why we are going to leak this financial data to the press before the sun comes up."
I walked back to the operations center where Singh was already prepping a secure server.
I handed him the drive and told him to send the files to every major investigative journalist in the country.
Singh plugged the drive into his decrypted terminal and typed in a bypass code.
He stared at the screen for a moment, the color completely draining from his face.
"Sir, this is not a ledger for bribing politicians," Singh stammered in absolute horror.
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"These are manifest logs for illegal weapon shipments to a ruthless cartel in Mexico."
Suddenly, the power grid to the entire training base completely shut off, plunging us into total darkness.
