Chapter 58 - The Wolf at the Door
Before I could answer, a soft chime sounded from Campbell’s perimeter monitor.
Four yellow dots on the radar screen had just crossed the boundary line at the edge of the lake bluffs. They weren't coming from the road; they were advancing on snowmobiles from the frozen bay, their lights extinguished, their engines muffled by specialized suppressors.
"Arthur’s extraction team," Campbell said, drawing his secondary weapon from his tactical vest and racking the slide. "They didn't wait for your decision. They tracked the activation of the terminal."
"Emma!" Eleanor’s voice screamed through the speaker. "They’re already there, aren't they? He sent the Swiss units! They won't leave witnesses, Emma! They never leave witnesses!"
I slammed my fist onto the console, cutting the audio feed to Greenwich. The room returned to an agonizing silence, punctuated only by the distant, rhythmic hum of engines gliding over the lake ice.
"We have three minutes," Campbell said, throwing me a Kevlar vest from the supply chest in the corner. "Put this on. Go get Lily. There’s an emergency tunnel in the cellar that leads to an old boathouse two hundred yards down the bluff. It exits onto the state park trail."
"What about you?" I asked, strapping the heavy vest over my winter coat.
"I’m a federal agent, Emma. They don't want a firefight with an active marshal unless they have no choice. I’ll buy you time to reach the highway."
"No," I said, reaching for the USB drive on the console and downloading the entire Zurich database onto a portable encrypted drive. "We don't leave anyone behind. That's the difference between us and the Vance family. We don't sacrifice people to save ourselves."
A heavy thud shook the rear door of the cabin.
Lily appeared in the hallway doorway, rubbing her eyes, her small red coat clutched in one hand and her bear in the other. "Mommy? Is the bad storm back?"
May you like
I ran to her, sweeping her into my arms, pressing her face into my shoulder. "Yes, baby, but we’re faster than the storm. We’re going on an adventure."
The glass of the kitchen window shattered inward with explosive force. A tear-gas canister rolled across the hardwood floor, hissing white, acrid smoke that filled the room in seconds.
