Chapter 7 - The Escape from Alexandria
“Get down!” I yelled, grabbing Lily and Rose and shoving them under the heavy oak dining table.
Elena was already moving, her service weapon drawn, her body pressed against the kitchen
counter. The house was pitch black, the only light coming from the pale snow outside reflecting through
the windows.
A sharp pop-pop-pop of suppressed gunfire shattered the night. The front door wood splintered,
and the heavy boots of tactical operators rushed into the hallway.
“Federal agents!” Elena shouted, firing twice toward the entryway. A grunt of pain followed, but
the attackers were professional. They didn't return fire blindly; they moved in synchronized, sweeping
patterns, using tactical flashlights with red lenses to preserve their night vision.
I pulled my own weapon from my holster. I didn't have tactical gear, but I had something better: a
complete lack of fear and a desperate, burning need to protect the children.
I crawled to the edge of the table, aiming at the red glow of a tactical light in the hallway. I
squeezed the trigger. The shot was deafening in the small space. The operator holding the light
collapsed, his weapon clattering to the floor.
“Move!” I hissed to Elena. “We need to get to the garage!”
Elena laid down a suppressive fire, her weapon flashing in the dark as she moved toward the
basement door that led to the attached garage. I scooped up both Lily and Rose in my arms, their small
bodies shaking with terror but incredibly silent. They didn't scream; they had learned long ago that noise
brought danger.
We scrambled down the wooden stairs into the cold, concrete garage. My old SUV sat there, its
dark paint blending into the shadows.
“Get in!” I ordered, throwing open the back door and shoving the twins onto the floorboards,
covering them with a heavy moving blanket.
Elena rushed to the garage door control, but with the power cut, the automatic opener was useless.
She grabbed the manual release cord, pulling it down with a sharp tug.
Just as she did, the basement door at the top of the stairs burst open. An operator stood there, his
rifle raised.
I didn't wait. I fired three times through the windshield of my SUV, the safety glass webbed with
cracks but holding. The bullets tore through the door frame, forcing the operator to duck back into the
hallway.
Elena threw the heavy garage door up manually, the metal tracks screeching in the night. She
leaped into the passenger seat just as I slammed the SUV into reverse.
I stomped on the gas. The tires spun on the icy driveway, smoking as they found traction. We
roared backward out of the garage, clipping the side of an unmarked tactical vehicle parked across the
driveway.
Gunfire erupted from the shadows of the yard, bullets sparking off the SUV’s armored panels—a
modification I had insisted on during my days prosecuting drug cartels.
I swung the wheel, the rear of the vehicle slamming into a mailbox before straightening out. I
jammed the shifter into drive and floored it, the heavy V8 engine roaring as we sped down the quiet
residential street, leaving the muzzle flashes and the chaos of the safe house behind.
“Are you guys okay?” I yelled over the rush of wind from the shattered windshield.
“We’re okay,” Lily’s small voice came from beneath the blanket in the back seat. She was holding
Rose, who was quiet but breathing.
Elena was reloading her weapon, her hands steady despite the adrenaline. “They knew exactly
where we were, Daniel. The safe house coordinates were classified at the highest federal level. We have
a leak in the Attorney General’s office.”
“Vance’s reach is longer than we thought,” I said, my eyes locked on the dark road ahead. I
checked my rearview mirror. Two sets of headlights had just turned onto the highway behind us, moving
fast.
“We aren't going to make it to the highway,” I said. “They’ll have roadblocks set up by state
police loyal to Vance within ten miles.”
“Where are we going then?” Elena asked, her voice tight.
“We’re going to the old railway yard,” I said, a dangerous plan forming in my mind. “It’s a
labyrinth of rusting steel and abandoned container ships. If we can lose them there, we can ditch the car
and find another way up the mountain.”
The chase was on. The headlights behind us were gaining, their high beams cutting through the
May you like
falling snow like predatory eyes. But they didn't know these roads like I did. And they didn't know what
I was willing to sacrifice to keep those girls alive.
