Chapter 13
The cold night air burned the back of Thomas’s throat as he sprinted through the dense brush of the cedar grove, his heavy boots crunching loudly over fallen twigs and dry leaves. Behind him, the faint sound of shouting cut through the quiet suburban night, confirming that the security detail was right on his heels.
He didn't slow down. He pushed past low-hanging branches, his dark blue fireman uniform tearing on a sharp briar, until he finally broke through the tree line into the gravel driveway of the old community center two blocks away.
Parked beside the rusted basketball hoops was Elena’s battered sedan, its engine idling quietly with the headlights turned off. Sarah sat in the passenger seat, holding Clara tightly in her lap. The little girl was crying softly now, burying her face in her mother's floral dress, thoroughly frightened by the frantic midnight dash through the woods.
Elena stood by the driver's side door, holding the keys in her hand, scanning the tree line with wide, anxious eyes. When she saw Thomas emerge from the brush, she let out a sharp gasp of relief and ran toward him.
"Thomas! Are you hit?" Elena asked, grabbing his arm as he stumbled out of the woods.
"I'm fine," Thomas wheezed, bending over with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "They're right behind me. We have to move. Now."
He pulled himself up, wrenched open the rear door of the sedan, and climbed inside beside Sarah and Clara. He wrapped his arms around both of them, pulling them close against his chest as Elena slammed her foot down on the gas pedal. The car surged forward, tires spitting gravel across the empty lot as they sped out onto the deserted county road.
Sarah looked down at Clara, stroking the little girl's dark curls and whispering soothing words to calm her down. Then she looked up at Thomas, her eyes meeting his in the dim dashboard light.
"We made it out," Sarah said, her voice trembling but steady. "The files?"
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Elena glanced up into the rearview mirror, tapping the pocket of her grey top where the metallic flash drive rested safely against her chest. "They're right here. Encrypted, backed up, and ready to upload."
Thomas stared out the side window as the dark silhouette of their suburban home disappeared behind a rise in the road. The house looked peaceful from a distance, just another lit-up box in a quiet neighborhood, but he knew the truth of what lived beneath its floors.
