Chapter 14 - The Federal Dragnet
"Drop the weapon! Drop it now!" the lead agent shouted, his rifle trained directly on Margaret’s raised crowbar.
Margaret let the heavy iron bar slip from her fingers, letting it splash harmlessly into the marsh. She fell to her knees, pulling Lily against her chest, her body shaking so violently she couldn't speak. Beside them, David lay writhing in the mud, clutching his ruined knee and moaning in agony.
"Agents down! Suspect secured!" the second agent yelled into his shoulder radio, keeping his weapon fixed on David. "We have the child. Repeat, we have the child and an elderly female."
From behind the agents, a third figure pushed through the dense reeds, stumbling with exhaustion, wrapped in a bright orange thermal emergency blanket.
"Lily! Margaret!"
It was Chloe.
She was bruised, her face lacerated from the rocks, her cream sweater torn and covered in algae, but she was alive. She collapsed onto her knees in the shallows, throwing her arms around both Margaret and Lily, sobbing uncontrollably. "I caught the sandbar by the old weir," Chloe choked out between heaving breaths. "I hiked to the state highway... I flagged down the federal task force. They were already staging at the ranger station for Evans!"
Special Agent Miller, a stern woman with sharp gray eyes, knelt down beside Margaret, placing a warm canvas jacket over the old woman's trembling shoulders. "Mrs. Vance, we've had Sheriff Evans and the timber syndicate under surveillance for six months. Julian Vance reached out to our Portland field office three days ago before he went dark. Do you have the drive?"
Lily reached into the lining of her soaked leggings. With small, steady fingers, she pulled out the little black-taped parcel and placed it into Agent Miller's open hand.
Miller inspected the waterproof seal, her expression tightening into grim satisfaction. "This is the encryption key for their shell corporations. It's over."
Behind them, David was being roughly hauled to his feet by two federal agents, his shattered leg dragging uselessly in the mud. Handcuffs clicked shut around his wrists with cold finality. He looked at Margaret, his eyes wide with a pathetic, desperate plea. "Mom... please. Don't let them take me. Tell them it was Julian. Mom!"
Margaret slowly stood up, wrapping her arm around Chloe and Lily. She looked at her son—really looked at him—for the very last time.
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"I don't have a son," Margaret said quietly. "My son died a long time ago."
David's face twisted into an ugly, silent mask of despair as the agents dragged him through the reeds toward the distant flashing lights on the main road.
