Chapter 5 - The Barn Trap
I did not waste a single second panicking in the dark.
I grabbed my rifle, completely ignored my treacherous sister, and slipped quietly out the side door of the house.
I knew every single inch of this ranch, every blind spot, and every squeaky floorboard.
The intruders were relying on night-vision goggles, but they did not know the layout of the property.
I crept silently through the tall grass toward the massive, historic barn that sat fifty yards from the main house.
I left the heavy wooden barn doors slightly cracked, making it look like the perfect place to hide.
I climbed up the rusted iron ladder to the hayloft and waited in the pitch-black shadows.
Less than five minutes later, two men in tactical gear kicked the barn doors wide open.
They swept their flashlights across the empty stalls, moving cautiously into the center of the wooden structure.
I reached out and pulled the heavy emergency release lever I had installed for the automated livestock gates.
Thick steel panels slammed down from the ceiling, completely sealing all the exits and trapping the men inside the center pen.
They cursed and started shooting wildly at the reinforced steel bars, but the heavy metal easily deflected their bullets.
I stayed hidden in the loft and yelled down to them, demanding to know exactly what they were looking for.
One of the men laughed a cruel, mocking laugh in the dark.
He yelled back that they were not hired to steal the land for the subdivision.
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He revealed that my parents had sold the deep-earth mineral rights to a massive, corrupt oil conglomerate.
To bypass my ownership entirely, my parents had officially filed a fake death certificate in my name yesterday morning.
