Chapter 9
The red laser sight from the assault rifle danced across David’s chest like a tiny, accusing finger. Officer Miller—no relation, despite the shared name that always caused awkward jokes at town meetings—stared down the barrel with a look of absolute, chilling indifference. His uniform was immaculate, contrasting sharply with the chaotic violence of the forest cabin.
"Put the girl down, David," Officer Miller commanded, his voice unnaturally calm. "You're interfering with a federal relocation protocol."
"Relocation protocol?" David barked a harsh, bitter laugh as he tightened his grip on Clara, shielding her small body behind his own. "You call mutilating children and blackmailing journalists a protocol? You're nothing more than a cartel hiding behind a tin badge!"
Officer Miller didn't blink. "The town council does what is necessary to maintain stability, David. Your little investigative pieces were tearing this community apart from the inside out. We offered you a peaceful exit, but you chose the hard path."
Clara whimpered, burying her face deeper into David’s shoulder. Her small frame was shivering violently from the cold and the sheer exhaustion of the night’s trauma. David felt a hot surge of rage burning through his veins, but he knew he was outmatched. The officer held the high ground, and the rifle was loaded with rounds that could pierce the wooden walls of the cabin with ease.
"Where is Mayor Henderson?" David demanded, stalling for time as he scanned the room for an alternate exit.
"He's already heading back to the municipal building," Officer Miller replied smoothly, taking a slow, measured step into the room. "And you and your daughter are going to take a nice, quiet ride with me to the county holding cells where this entire incident will be officially reclassified as a family hiking accident."
David’s mind raced. Holding cells meant total isolation. Once they were locked inside that concrete box, the town council would erase every trace of evidence, and no one would ever know what happened to them in the woods.
May you like
"I don't think so," David whispered.
With a sudden, explosive movement, David grabbed the heavy wooden chair Clara had been tied to and hurled it directly at the officer's face, diving out the shattered window into the mud just as the rifle opened fire in a deafening burst of gunfire.
