Chapter 2 - Shadows Across the Emerald Lawn
The digital chirp of the encrypted phone call died away, leaving only the heavy, ragged breathing of Richard and Eleanor as they stood trapped between their crumbling suburban facade and the oncoming headlights of the federal sedan idling at the end of their private drive.
"Who was that on the phone, Richard? Was it Miller?" Eleanor hissed, her fingernails digging deep into the soft skin of her own forearms as she cast a frantic glance over her shoulder toward the open French doors of the sunlit study where the laptop was still running its automated data-wiping script.
"It wasn't Miller, it was internal affairs, and they already know about the shell company accounts Marcus set up before they raided the foundation," Richard muttered, wiping a sheen of cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand while keeping his eyes locked on Leo, who was backing away from the iron gate into the shadows of the overgrown boxwood hedge.
"Leo, buddy, listen to me very carefully," Richard called out, adopting a softer, more measured tone as he took a cautious step forward, holding his hands out palms up to show he was unarmed. "That little bear doesn't belong to you anymore, it was just something we kept in the storage room, let's just trade it for your comic books inside."
"You're lying again, Dad, your right eye twitches when you lie, and it's twitching right now," Leo sniffled, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his gray t-shirt while keeping his grip on the teddy bear ironclad. "Uncle Marcus told me before they took him away that if anything ever happened to him, I had to check Mr. Huggins' back because that's where he hid the ledger file."
"Marcus was out of his mind, Leo, he was sick, he hallucinated things that never happened in this house," Eleanor chimed in, stepping closer to the gate with a strained, placating smile that didn't reach her wide, terrified eyes. "He imagined a whole conspiracy about the charity funds just because the board voted him out."
"He didn't hallucinate the men in the black suits who came into his office with guns, I was hiding under the mahogany desk the whole time and I heard them say your names!" Leo shouted back, his voice rising in pitch as a pair of car doors slammed shut down the driveway, followed by the crunch of heavy boots on gravel.
"Mr. Vance! Mrs. Vance! Step away from the perimeter gate with your hands visible!" a deep, authoritative voice commanded through a megaphone from fifty yards away, the harsh glare of a tactical flashlight cutting through the morning mist and blinding the adults on the lawn.
"We are residents here, this is a private family dispute, our son is having a severe psychological episode and we are trying to calm him down!" Richard yelled back, waving his arms frantically toward the blinding light while positioning his tall body to block the federal agents' line of sight to Leo's hands.
"We have a federal warrant for the seizure of unregistered digital storage media connected to the Vance Foundation embezzlement probe, and we see the boy holding the target item," the voice replied instantly over the megaphone, brooking no argument as three armed figures in dark tactical vests began advancing at a rapid tactical jog up the grass.
"Richard, do something, they're going to search the house and find the ledger backups in the wall safe," Eleanor whispered, grabbing her husband's arm with such force that her rings bit into his flesh.
"There's nothing we can do in the open like this, the cameras are recording every second of it," Richard muttered under his breath, his eyes darting frantically toward the side utility door of the garage where an older vehicle was parked with the keys still in the ignition.
"Dad! They're coming to get me too!" Leo screamed, panic overtaking his defiance as one of the agents drew a sidearm from his holster, holding it at a low ready position.
"Agent Miller, hold your fire, the boy is a minor, we can negotiate the handover of the property without escalating the situation!" Richard shouted, stepping directly into the path of the advancing agents.
"Get out of the way, Richard, or you're going down as an accessory to treason," Agent Miller barked, brushing past the older man with a rough shove that sent Richard stumbling onto the damp grass.
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Leo watched his father fall, his eyes widening in a mixture of horror and betrayal, and before anyone could react, the eight-year-old boy ripped the crude white stitching on the back of the worn teddy bear open with his teeth, pulled out the tiny black SD card, and hurled it with all his might straight into the deep drainage ditch on the other side of the iron fence.
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