Chapter 13 - The Countdown
The red dot on the photograph burned into Maya’s retinas, paralyzing her with a cold, suffocating terror. Without a second thought, she sprinted up the stairs, throwing open her father’s bedroom door so hard it banged loudly against the drywall.
Mark jumped, spinning around from his desk with a startled expression. "Maya? What on earth is wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Dad, step away from the window!" Maya screamed, darting across the room and grabbing his arm, forcibly dragging him out of the line of sight.
"Have you lost your mind?" Mark demanded, pulling his arm back in frustration. "What is going on with you tonight? You've been jumpy ever since we got back from the federal office."
Maya slammed the wooden blinds shut with trembling hands, locking them securely in place. She pulled her phone from her pocket and thrust the screen into her father’s face, showing him the photograph of the laser dot resting on his chest.
Mark stared at the screen, the color draining from his face so fast he looked like a statue. The reality of the danger they were in finally shattered his lingering denial.
"Who... who sent this?" Mark whispered, his voice cracking entirely.
"Victor’s associates," Maya said rapidly, pacing across the carpeted floor. "Julian was just a small-time operative. The syndicate he worked for doesn't leave loose ends. They know I recovered the physical ledger from the hangar, and they know I have the encrypted drive they left on our porch five minutes ago."
Mark grabbed her by the shoulders, his fingers gripping her tightly. "We need to call the feds right now. Agent Vance gave us an emergency direct line."
"No!" Maya shook her head fiercely. "If we call the feds, it takes them at least twenty minutes to deploy a tactical unit to this neighborhood. By the time they arrive, whoever is sitting across the street in that dark sedan will have already breached the house."
Mark looked toward the locked bedroom door, his breathing turning shallow and rapid. "Then what do we do? We can't just sit here and wait for them to break through the front door."
"We don't," Maya replied, her eyes narrowing with sudden, desperate resolve. She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out the encrypted flash drive and the vintage brass pocket watch. "We use what they want to draw them out into the open, and we finish this ourselves."
May you like
Before Mark could argue, a sharp, metallic sound echoed from the ground floor below—the unmistakable click of the kitchen window latch being forced open from the outside.
---
