Chapter 7 - The Raid at the Farmhouse
The basement of the old farmhouse was dark, smelling of damp earth and rotted wood. Callie guided Geneva down the wooden steps, her arms wrapped tightly around her grandmother’s waist to support her weight. Leo followed closely behind, carrying the precious backpack containing the ledger, the voice recorder, and his laptop.
Above them, the front door of the farmhouse was kicked open with a deafening crash.
"Where is she?!" Joel’s voice boomed through the floorboards, laced with absolute fury. "Sam? What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Hey there, big brother," Sam’s deep voice echoed, calm and mocking. "Long time no see. You haven't changed a bit. Still a thief, still a coward."
"Step aside, Sam," Chief Higgins’ authoritative voice cut in. "We have an official court warrant for the arrest of Callie Vance for the kidnapping of Geneva Vance. If you obstruct justice, you’re going to jail along with her."
"Justice?" Sam laughed bitterly. "You wouldn't know justice if it bit you in the ass, Higgins. How much is Joel paying you to keep the EPA away from Sector 4B?"
A violent scuffle broke out upstairs—the heavy thud of bodies slamming against walls, the breaking of furniture, and curses shouted in the dark.
"We need to hurry," Leo whispered urgently, pushing open a heavy, rusted iron door at the back of the root cellar.
The door opened into a narrow, mud-slicked trench that led up into the abandoned apple orchard. The rain was still pouring, turning the earth into an absolute quagmire. Callie pulled Geneva up into the freezing rain. Geneva was shivering violently, her teeth chattering, completely disoriented by the chaos.
"The mud... Callie, we're sinking," Geneva sobbed, her strength completely giving out. She collapsed into the mud, unable to walk any further.
"Grandma, please, just a little further!" Callie begged, trying to lift her, but her own boots were stuck deep in the mire.
Suddenly, a flashlight beam cut through the dark orchard, illuminating them.
"Over here! I found them!" a voice shouted. It wasn't a police officer. It was Dakota, wearing a designer raincoat and heavy mud boots, holding a flashlight in one hand and a taser in the other. Her face was twisted with an almost manic glee.
"You pathetic little bitch," Dakota sneered, stepping through the mud toward Callie. "You thought you could ruin us? You ruined our company stock by millions tonight! Joel is completely wiped out if those papers get out! Hand over the backpack, or I swear to God I’ll use this taser on your precious grandmother and tell the judge she had a sudden seizure!"
Leo stepped in front of Callie, holding his heavy camera bag like a shield. "Get back, Dakota! I'm recording this! Everything you say is being uploaded to our cloud server!"
"I don't give a damn about your server!" Dakota screamed, lunging forward with the taser crackling with blue electrical currents.
Before she could strike Leo, Callie reached down into the mud, scooped up a heavy, rotted wooden fence post that lay nearby, and swung it with all the strength of her baking-hardened arms.
CRACK!
The post struck Dakota squarely across her arms, knocking the taser from her hand into a deep puddle of water, where it short-circuited with a hiss. Dakota fell backward into the mud, her expensive raincoat covered in filth, screaming in pain and fury.
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"Run!" Callie shouted to Leo.
With a sudden surge of adrenaline, Callie scooped her frail grandmother up into her arms, carrying her like a child, and ran through the dark rows of apple trees toward the main highway, Leo leading the way. Behind them, they could hear the shouting of police officers entering the orchard, but the darkness and the torrential rain swallowed them whole.
