Chapter 7 - The Extraction
I cautiously peeked through the bent bedroom blinds and saw four heavily armed men stepping out of the dark unmarked van.
They moved with chilling tactical precision, expertly fanning out to completely surround the entire perimeter of the house.
These were clearly not random amateur thugs hired off the local street for a quick burglary.
These were highly trained professional mercenaries, and they were here to ruthlessly finish the terrible job Evan had started.
"We need to leave this house right now," I whispered urgently to Arthur, firmly grabbing his damp sleeve.
The front door was completely blocked, and the shattered back door was already covered by a massive man holding a tactical rifle.
I suddenly remembered the old hidden storm cellar my paranoid father had built beneath the laundry room floor.
We moved silently through the dark hallway, expertly avoiding the notoriously creaking floorboards near the guest bathroom.
I clearly heard the heavy thud of combat boots entering the shattered kitchen door just feet away.
Arthur and I slipped quickly into the small laundry room just as a bright flashlight beam swept wildly across the hall.
I lifted the heavy iron latch of the hidden cellar door, silently praying the old rusty hinges would not squeak.
We descended rapidly into the damp darkness just as the heavily armed mercenaries violently breached the living room.
I pulled the heavy wooden trapdoor shut and locked it securely from the inside, plunging us into total, suffocating blackness.
Directly above our heads, heavy footsteps stomped angrily across the floorboards like rolling claps of thunder.
"They are looking for the rest of the missing journals," I whispered quietly into Arthur's ear.
My brilliant father had been smart enough to strategically split the classified journals into two completely separate locations.
The true prize was actually buried securely inside the very storm cellar where we were currently hiding.
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I clicked on my phone's flashlight and clearly saw a rusty padlock firmly securing a hidden steel wall safe.
Suddenly, the wooden trapdoor directly above us violently rattled as someone desperately tried to rip it open.
