Chapter 6 - Trial by Fire
The strong, suffocating scent of gasoline seeped through the cracks in the cabin's front door.
Amelia watched in absolute horror as one of the mercenaries pulled out a silver lighter.
She screamed for Lucas, who was in the back room setting up a secure server.
Lucas sprinted into the living room, instantly assessing the deadly situation.
He grabbed a fire extinguisher from the kitchen wall and handed Amelia a heavy iron fireplace poker.
The men outside did not immediately ignite the fuel.
Instead, the burner phone on the table buzzed with a new text message from the unknown number.
The message demanded that Amelia throw the folder containing the forged contract out the window within sixty seconds.
If she complied, they would let her and the babies walk away into the woods.
Amelia knew that surrendering the evidence meant giving Vanessa permanent control over her entire life.
She looked at her peacefully sleeping babies and made a terrifying decision.
She grabbed a thick stack of useless blank printer paper and quickly shoved it into a spare manila envelope.
Amelia cracked the window open just enough to slide the decoy envelope out into the mud.
One of the armed men stepped forward, keeping his rifle aimed at the window, and picked up the package.
While he was distracted checking the contents, Lucas kicked the back door open.
Lucas fired three warning shots into the dirt, causing the mercenaries to scatter toward the tree line.
Amelia grabbed the transport pods and rushed out the back, pushing through the thick, wet brush.
They blindly navigated the dark forest, guided only by the faint moonlight cutting through the canopy.
After an hour of agonizing walking, they reached a paved road where Lucas had hidden a backup vehicle.
Amelia strapped the babies into the backseat, her hands shaking violently from the adrenaline crash.
Lucas started the engine and told Amelia they were heading straight to the FBI field office in the city.
Amelia agreed, feeling a surge of hope that the nightmare was finally ending.
But as Lucas turned onto the main highway, a massive semi-truck suddenly swerved across the median.
May you like
The truck slammed its brakes, completely blocking all lanes of traffic and forcing Lucas to stop.
The driver side door of the truck opened, and Vanessa climbed down, holding a military-grade assault rifle.
