Chapter 12 - The Sniper's Warning
The high-velocity round embedded itself deep into the hard-packed gravel pathway with a dull, concussive thwack, kicking up a miniature cloud of gray dust and small stones that grazed Sarah's bare ankles. She froze instantly, a sharp gasp catching in her throat as she stared down at the smoking crater just inches from her feet.
"Get down! Everyone get down on the ground! Sniper in the tree line!" the lead deputy roared, instantly drawing his sidearm and shoving Sarah and the children behind the reinforced engine block of the nearest patrol cruiser.
Leo lunged forward, ignoring the plastic zip-ties biting raw into his wrists, and threw his body over Sarah and the children, shielding them with his broad shoulders as three more rapid-fire rounds cracked through the humid afternoon air. The bullets chewed through the wooden fence post behind them, sending splinters flying in every direction.
"They aren't trying to kill us," Leo breathed heavily, his face pressed against the cool gravel as his eyes scanned the dense canopy of oak and pine trees lining the upper ridge of the estate. "If they wanted us dead, that first shot would have hit her chest. It's a warning."
"A warning for what?" Sarah sobbed quietly, clutching a crying Toby tightly to her chest while pulling Lily's head down into her lap. "Leo, when is this going to end? They attacked our car, they gassed our house, and now they're shooting at us in broad daylight while the police are standing right here!"
"It ends when I hand over the master decryption keys," Leo said coldly, his jaw set in a hard line of absolute resolve. He rolled over onto his side and managed to snap the plastic zip-ties against the sharp edge of the patrol car's front bumper, freeing his swollen, bleeding wrists.
"You can't give them that drive, Leo! You know what will happen if Marcus gets full administrative control of the grid," Sarah argued, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and fierce determination as she grabbed his arm. "He'll have access to every classified database, every defense contractor network, and every private communication channel in the Western hemisphere."
"I'm not going to give it to him," Leo replied, standing up slowly from behind the cover of the cruiser while keeping his body low. "I'm going to use it to draw him out into the open where we can end this permanently."
From the tree line up on the ridge, a directional loudspeaker suddenly crackled to life, its synthetic audio cutting cleanly through the ambient noise of the wind and the idling helicopter rotor above.
“YOU CANNOT HIDE BEHIND THE POLICE, LEO. THEY CANNOT PROTECT YOU FROM WHAT IS COMING. BRING THE DRIVE TO THE ABANDONED OBSERVATORY TOWER AT THE PEAK OF THE RIDGE. YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES, OR THE SMART-HOMES IN A THREE-MILE RADIUS WILL EXPERIENCE A SIMULTANEOUS GAS-VALVE OVERRIDE.”
The loudspeaker clicked off, leaving an ominous, heavy silence in its wake.
Leo looked down at Sarah and the children, his eyes softening for a fraction of a second before hardening once more into an expression of absolute steel. He turned toward the steep, winding mountain trail that led up through the dense forest toward the decaying concrete silhouette of the old Cold War-era observatory tower looming against the darkening evening sky.
"Stay here in the cruiser with the deputies," Leo instructed quietly, pulling the ruggedized hard drive out from beneath the front seat where the deputies had stashed it.
"Leo, no! You're walking right into a trap!" Sarah screamed, trying to stand up, but the lead deputy gently pushed her back down behind the door.
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Leo didn't look back. He broke into a steady, determined jog up the dark, tree-lined mountain path, disappearing into the gathering shadows of the forest.
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