Chapter 9 - The Siege at the Edge of the Woods
Outside the cottage, the crunch of heavy boots on gravel shattered the rural silence. A powerful spotlight suddenly beam-flickered through the front windows, casting long, writhing shadows across the wooden walls of Dr. Holloway’s study.
"They found us," Dr. Holloway whispered fiercely, moving with surprising speed to lock the heavy front door and draw the thick iron deadbolts. "Get away from the windows! They don't mess around when their corporate masters are exposed."
Arthur pulled Clara off the velvet armchair, shielding her body with his own as he dropped low to the floor behind a heavy oak bookshelf filled with law books and medical encyclopedias.
"How did they track us so fast?" Arthur muttered, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket to check the screen. The battery icon was flashing red, and the signal bars were completely dead—jammed by a localized radio frequency transmitter.
"They didn't track your phone," Dr. Holloway said, crouching behind the desk as she pulled an old steel-barreled shotgun from a hidden wall compartment. "They put a passive RFID tracker in Clara’s school uniform collar when she was fitted for the semester."
Clara gasped, reaching up with trembling fingers to touch the light blue collar of her shirt, feeling a hard, flat button stitched invisibly into the interior seam.
"Dad, get it off me!" she whimpered quietly.
"Stay still, sweetie," Arthur whispered, using his car keys to carefully slice open the fabric stitching of the collar. He pried out a tiny, silver electronic disc no larger than a shirt button, tossing it onto the wooden floorboards.
Outside, a heavy fist pounded against the wooden front door, splintering the frame around the deadbolt lock.
"Dr. Holloway! Open up!" Principal Vance’s cold, authoritative voice boomed through the reinforced timber. "You are harboring trespassers and stolen corporate property. Open the door immediately, and no one else needs to get hurt."
Dr. Holloway cocked the shotgun with a sharp, metallic clack that echoed clearly through the tense room. She looked down at Arthur, her eyes burning with fierce defiance.
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"They forgot one thing," Dr. Holloway said softly. "I built this house to withstand a siege. But we need to get those files out to the federal prosecutor's office before they breach the back door."
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