Chapter 10 - The Siege at Pine Creek
"Get down!" Julian yelled, diving across the living room to pull Leo and Clara behind the thick oak dining table.
A second later, the cabin's front windows shattered into a thousand glittering shards as high-caliber bullets punched through the wooden shutters. The deafening sound of automatic gunfire ripped through the peaceful forest outside.
"The guards are down!" Detective Vance shouted from the hallway, crouching low as he maneuvered toward the front door with his weapon drawn. "They tapped our radio frequencies! They tracked the convoy!"
Smoke began to pour into the cabin through the shattered windows as tear gas canisters were kicked through the front doorway. The sweet, burning chemical smoke stung their eyes and throat, making it almost impossible to breathe.
"We have to move to the basement!" Vance yelled over the gunfire. "Now!"
Julian grabbed Leo in his arms, wrapping his jacket over the boy's head to protect him from the gas. Clara followed right behind them as Vance provided covering fire, shooting out the back porch lights to blind the attackers outside.
They scrambled down a flight of narrow wooden steps into the dark, stone-walled cellar beneath the cabin. Vance slammed the heavy oak door shut and slid two thick iron deadbolts into place.
"There are at least five heavily armed men out there," Vance panted, reloading his sidearm with his last spare magazine. "This was a professional hit squad."
Above them, heavy, rhythmic footsteps thudded across the wooden floorboards of the living room. The sound of shattered glass and crushed furniture filled the air as the attackers searched the main floor.
"Julian!" Richard Sterling’s voice echoed down through the floorboards, chilling and metallic. "Give me the boy, and I'll let you and the girl walk away alive! You have five seconds before we blow this door off its hinges!"
Leo buried his face in Julian's chest, terrified into complete silence.
Julian looked around the dark cellar. At the far end of the room was a small, dusty coal chute that led out to a hidden ditch behind the cabin. It was barely wide enough for a person to crawl through.
"Clara," Julian whispered urgently, grabbing her shoulders. "Take Leo and crawl through the chute. Run into the woods and don't look back until you reach the main road."
"No!" Clara said, tears swelling in her eyes. "I'm not leaving you!"
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"You have to," Julian insisted, his voice fierce with desperate love. "He needs you. I'll stay here with Vance and hold them off."
Before Clara could protest, a massive explosion shook the ceiling, blowing the cellar door off its hinges in a blinding flash of fire and smoke.
