Chapter 5 - The Ambush
Evelyn didn't wait for Friday. Desperation is a powerful motivator.
Thursday night, a heavy thunderstorm rolled over Pine Valley, masking the sound of tires on wet asphalt. I was in the kitchen, double-checking the encrypted files to send to Marcus Vance at the DOJ, when the motion sensors on my perimeter cameras pinged.
I pulled up the feed on my tablet. Two men in dark raincoats were standing by the side of my house, holding heavy bolt cutters, eyeing the main power box. Craig Miller was standing a few feet back, holding a baseball bat. They weren't here to serve papers. They were here to scare me out of the house.
I didn't wake Leo. I quietly slid my service pistol from the biometric safe under my desk, chambered a round, and walked to the back door. My shoulder ached, but the adrenaline washed it away, replacing it with the icy calm of a combat zone.
I stepped out into the pouring rain, slipping into the shadows of the eaves.
The first man raised the bolt cutters to my power line.
"I wouldn't do that," I said, my voice cutting through the thunder.
They spun around. Craig Miller gripped the bat, squinting through the rain. "Sterling. We're just here to do some emergency maintenance."
"With a bat?" I asked, stepping into the dim light of the porch, keeping the pistol lowered but visible by my side.
The two hired thugs saw the gun and froze. They were neighborhood bullies, not soldiers. But Craig was stupid. He charged, swinging the bat wildly toward my head.
I didn't use the gun. I stepped inside his swing, ignoring the screaming pain in my bad knee, and drove the palm of my hand upward into his sternum. The air left his lungs in a violent rush. As he folded forward, I swept his legs out from under him. He hit the muddy grass with a wet thud and didn't move.
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The other two dropped the bolt cutters and ran for the street.
I stood over Craig, the rain washing the mud from his face. I pulled out my phone and dialed Thorne. "Elias. You might want to send a squad car to my house. Evelyn’s landscaper just had a slip and fall on my property."
