Chapter 5 - The Siege of Napa
"Stay down, Alana!" Ana hissed, dropping to the floor beneath the heavy oak dining table.
My heart leapt into my throat. The throbbing in my broken arm intensified with the sudden spike of adrenaline. Outside, the low rumble of a vehicle engine idling in the distance warned us we were no longer safe.
A sharp pop-pop shattered the quiet—the unmistakable sound of silenced firearms. Our police guard outside didn't even have time to shout before they were neutralized.
"They found us," I whispered, my teeth chattering from fear. "How did they find us?"
"The police department has a leak," Ana whispered back, her voice tight with panic. "Victor Vance has people everywhere."
Footsteps crunched on the gravel outside the front door. I scrambled backward with my good arm, dragging my heavy cast across the floor, hiding behind a stone fireplace structure. The front door lock shattered with a heavy thud, and two men dressed in dark tactical gear stepped into the cabin, their flashlights cutting through the darkness.
"Find the girl," one of them ordered in a gruff, low voice. "Boss wants the deeds, and he wants her silenced permanently."
I looked around frantically for a weapon. My left hand brushed against a heavy iron poker resting by the fireplace. I gripped it tightly, my knuckles turning white.
As one of the intruders turned the corner toward the kitchen, Ana deliberately threw her heavy laptop across the room. It smashed against the counter with a loud crash. The intruder whipped his flashlight toward the noise, his gun raised.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I swung the iron poker with all the strength in my left arm, striking the second intruder square across the knees. He groaned, collapsing to the floor. Before he could recover, I brought the iron rod down onto his wrist, knocking the gun from his grip.
"Hey!" the first intruder yelled, spinning around.
But before he could aim his weapon at me, the front windows shattered completely. Flashbang grenades exploded inside the cabin, filling the room with a blinding white light and a deafening roar.
"FBI! Drop your weapons!"
A new tactical team, far larger and more aggressive than our local police escort, swarmed through the broken windows and doors. The intruders were tackled to the ground and disarmed within seconds.
A tall woman in an FBI tactical vest walked into the room, lowering her weapon. She looked at me, then at the iron poker still gripped tightly in my left hand.
"Alana Darcy?" she asked. "I'm Special Agent Sarah Lin. Ana Brennan sent us the digital ledger encrypt encryption file three hours ago. We realized your local escort was compromised, so we tracked your location via the digital backup. Are you alright?"
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I dropped the iron poker, my body shaking as the adrenaline began to fade. "I'm fine," I breathed, looking over at Ana, who was shaking but unhurt under the table. "But you need to arrest Victor Vance before he realizes his men failed."
Agent Lin smiled grimly. "Don't worry. A federal warrant was signed twenty minutes ago. As we speak, Apex Holdings is being raided by fifty federal agents."
