Chapter 9 - Smoke in the Living Room
The sharp, acrid smell of chemical smoke rolled instantly down the hallway, mixing with the pine cleaner of the kitchen.
"Get down, Lily!" Jax shouted, dropping the satellite phone into the Pelican case and slamming the lid shut. He grabbed his daughter by the waist, throwing her to the floor beneath the sturdy oak kitchen table just as another canister bounced off the porch and crashed through the kitchen window.
Thick white smoke billowed toward the ceiling, obscuring the glaring overhead light. Through the haze, the heavy front door of the farmhouse splintered inward under the force of a battering ram. Heavy boots thudded against the hardwood floor of the living room.
"Federal agents! Federal marshals! Stay down and show your hands!" a gruff voice commanded through a gas mask from the hallway.
Jax’s mind raced. These weren't corporate mercenaries like Lucas Reed; these were armed federal operatives acting under orders from the very politicians exposed on the satellite phone. If they found the Pelican case and the classified transcripts, Jax and Lily would vanish into a black-site prison before dawn, and the world would be told they had fled the country.
"Lily, listen to me," Jax whispered urgently, pressing his face close to hers beneath the table as she coughed into her sweater. "When I tell you to run, I want you to crawl out the back door and run straight into the woods toward the old deer blind. Do you remember where it is?"
"I don't want to leave you, Dad!" Lily sobbed, tears cutting clean tracks through the soot on her face. "They're going to take you away again!"
"They won't take me if you get the drive to someone who can help," Jax said, pulling the waterproof flash drive out of his pocket and pressing it firmly into her small, cold hand. "Take the flash drive. Keep it safe. Don't trust anyone wearing a badge, Lily. Run!"
Heavy boots pounded closer down the hallway, stopping right at the edge of the kitchen.
"Clear!" a voice shouted from the living room.
"Now, Lily! Go!" Jax yelled, shoving the Pelican case back into the floor cavity and slamming the wooden floorboard shut just as three armed men in tactical gear rounded the kitchen corner, their assault rifles raised and laser sights painting the swirling white smoke with crimson dots.
"Don't move! Hands on your head! Do it now!" the lead agent roared, stepping over the threshold with his weapon leveled directly at Jax’s chest.
Jax raised his hands slowly, stepping away from the kitchen table to shield Lily's escape route toward the back door. As the agents rushed him, tackling him to the linoleum floor and zip-tying his wrists behind his back, Jax caught a fleeting glimpse of the back screen door swinging softly shut in the damp autumn breeze.
She was out. She was in the woods.
"Where is the girl?" the lead agent demanded, yanking Jax to his feet by his collar and shoving him against the kitchen counter. "Where are the files, Miller?"
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Jax spat a drop of blood onto the floor and smiled, his eyes burning with defiance. "You're a little late, boys. The story is already out."
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