Chapter 9: Breaking the Perimeter
The house remained dead silent except for the faint, rhythmic ticking of the kitchen clock running on its internal battery. David signaled silently with his left hand, motioning for Sarah and Leo to move toward the rear utility room that opened into the dense pine forest behind the property.
""They're bypassing the front door,"" David whispered, his voice barely audible over the hiss of the wind outside. ""They know the layout. Former department tactics.""
Leo gripped the iron skillet tighter, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Twelve years of running had trained him for this exact moment. He knew how to move through the dark without leaving a sound, how to blend into the shadows of the woods, how to disappear when the odds were insurmountable. But this time, he wasn't running alone. He had David and Sarah. He couldn't just vanish into the trees and leave them behind.
A heavy thud echoed from the front hallway, followed by the sound of splintering wood as the front door was forced open with a single, brutal kick. Heavy boots crunched against the hardwood floor in the foyer.
""Clear the downstairs,"" a cold, clipped voice barked from the darkness of the living room.
David pushed Sarah and Leo gently toward the back door. ""Go,"" he whispered fiercely. ""Take the canvas bag. Get to the ridge trail. I'll cover the rear.""
""I'm not leaving you,"" Leo said, his voice hard with a stubborn defiance that surprised even himself.
""You aren't running away this time, Leo—you're carrying the evidence,"" David corrected him, pressing the heavy canvas bag firmly into the teenager's arms. ""Protect the ledgers. That's the only way my father's death means something. Go!""
Without waiting for another word, David slipped around the corner into the hallway, raising his service weapon toward the living room entrance.
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Leo grabbed Sarah by the wrist, pulling her toward the back utility door. She hesitated, looking back toward the hallway with tears streaming down her face, but the urgency of the moment overrode her panic. Leo pushed the door open, stepping out into the freezing night air of the backyard just as a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass echoed from the front of the house.
They didn't hesitate. Ducking low beneath the protective cover of the wraparound porch, Leo and Sarah plunged into the dense, dark thicket of pine trees that bordered the backyard, vanishing into the shadows just as a flashlight beam swept across the back deck.
