Chapter 16 - Under Siege
"You paid off Higgins," Mac snarled, taking a menacing step toward Vance. Vance’s two private bodyguards immediately shifted their jackets, displaying holstered sidearms.
"Careful, old man," Vance warned, his tone freezing. "Assaulting an officer of the court is a quick way to spend your twilight years in a concrete cell. Captain Morse, you have until sunset. After that, heavy machinery rolls onto that ridge. Every tree, every shed, and that drafty old cabin will be bulldozed to the bedrock."
We walked out of the courthouse into the bright morning glare. My hands were shaking, not from fear, but from the white-hot rage burning in my guts. The law had failed. The legal institutions my father had believed in, the very constitution I had sworn an oath to defend, were being wielded like a butcher’s cleaver by a billionaire with a vendetta.
"What do we do now, Linda?" David asked, his face tight. "We can't outshoot the county marshals. Once that eviction order is executed, any defense of the house is classified as armed rebellion."
"He didn't win," I said, staring at the distant mountain peaks. "He’s rushing this because he knows the lien won't survive real federal scrutiny. He needs that house demolished today to destroy whatever evidence Dad left behind."
"What evidence?" Mac asked.
"Damian said Dad found something twenty years ago when he put in the firebreaks," I realized, the pieces finally slotting together in my mind. "Vance’s dad didn't just dump toxic waste. He hid the geological surveys. Dad didn't just report the dumping—he locked away the proof that the mineral rights were permanently deeded to the state public trust, not private hands!"
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"The root cellar," Mac whispered, his eyes widening. "Under the south foundation wall. When William poured that concrete back in '98, he told me he was building a safe room that could survive an artillery shell."
"We have seven hours," I said, checking my watch. "We go back to the house, we find that lockbox, and we expose Vance before his bulldozers reach the clearing."
