Chapter 11 - The Flashbang Fallout
The flashbang detonated with a concussive shockwave that rattled Leo's teeth and filled the small boathouse with an blinding, incandescent wall of white light. A high-pitched, deafening whine instantly drowned out all other sound in his ears as he threw his arms up to shield his face, stumbling backward against the damp wooden wall. Through the blinding afterimages dancing across his eyes, he watched the remaining tactical operative scramble blindly toward the shattered side window, diving out into the reeds just as the heavy thrum of the overhead helicopter grew deafeningly loud.
Leo coughed, wiping the thick layer of acrid gunpowder smoke from his face, and checked his grip on the canvas-wrapped hard drive. Miraculously, the ruggedized metal casing was still intact, clutched tightly in his bleeding, calloused hand.
The wooden doorframe splintered further as two local sheriff deputies, wearing protective tactical vests and carrying riot shields, surged into the smokecooled interior of the boathouse.
"Clear! Room is clear!" one deputy shouted into his shoulder radio, lowering his weapon as he spotted Leo standing against the back wall. "Sir! Drop the package and put your hands on your head! Do it now!"
"I'm unarmed. Look at my hands," Leo said hoarsely, his voice still muffled by the ringing in his ears as he slowly let the canvas wrap slide from his fingers onto the wooden planks. He raised his hands slowly, palms open and empty, showing the raw, torn skin from where he had smashed the car window earlier that afternoon.
The lead deputy stepped forward, his eyes darting suspiciously between Leo and the heavy hard drive resting on the floor before signaling his partner to holster his firearm. "Mr. Vance? Your wife said you were down here pursuing an armed trespasser. Where is the suspect?"
"He went out the window into the lake," Leo replied, blinking rapidly to clear the remaining spots from his vision. "He had a boat waiting in the reeds. You won't catch him on the surface; he's got rebreather gear cached out in the marsh."
"We'll see about that. The coast guard units have the entire basin locked down from the main channel to the estuary," the deputy said firmly, snapping a pair of heavy plastic zip-ties around Leo's wrists despite his cooperation. "Protocol requires us to secure you and the evidence until federal investigators arrive on the scene. Let's move."
As they escorted Leo out of the boathouse and onto the wooden dock, the cool afternoon breeze hit his face, carrying the scent of pine and wet earth. A state police helicopter hovered just fifty feet above the water, its massive searchlight sweeping the dark surface of the lake where bubbles and a trail of disturbed silt marked Marcus's underwater escape route.
Standing near the edge of the shore, wrapped in a heavy thermal blanket, Sarah stood beside Lily and baby Toby, her eyes wide with overwhelming relief as she watched Leo being led up the path by the deputies.
"Leo!" Sarah cried out, breaking away from the deputies and running toward him, her bare feet crunching against the gravel driveway.
"Sarah, stop! Don't come any closer!" Leo warned sharply, straining against the zip-ties on his wrists as he noticed a faint, blinking red laser dot dancing across the collar of Sarah's white blazer from the tree line above them.
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Before Sarah could even register his warning, a high-velocity sniper round hissed through the air and struck the ground directly between her feet with a sharp, violent snap.
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