Chapter 11 - The Badge of Lies
Clara stared at the silver badge glinting in the pale moonlight, her mind racing to connect the pieces of an impossible puzzle. The men in tactical suits, the black pickup trucks, and now federal agents in unmarked white vans—all converging on two terrified children over a battered leather suitcase.
"You're lying," Clara said, her voice steadying with a cold, desperate courage. "If you were really federal oversight, you would have called local law enforcement instead of blowing up a residential intersection."
The man in the trench coat stopped walking. A faint, humorless smile touched the corners of his mouth. "Local law enforcement operates on jurisdiction, Ms. Henderson. Our jurisdiction is classified above the constitutional threshold. Now, I am going to ask you one last time: hand over the case."
Leo reached behind Clara, his small fingers wrapping tightly around the hem of her cardigan. "Don't do it, Clara," he whispered fiercely. "That's not a real badge. Dad showed me pictures of what the real ones look like. That symbol is missing the Department seal."
Clara glanced down at the badge and noticed the glaring discrepancy. The metallic emblem lacked the foundational eagle stamp entirely. They weren't federal agents at all. They were corporate enforcers wearing stolen authority.
"Get behind the park bench!" Clara yelled, shoving Leo and Toby toward a heavy concrete structure a few yards away.
She grabbed the heavy leather suitcase by its brass handle, swung it with all her strength, and hurled it directly at the agent's chest. The man grunted as the heavy luggage struck him square-on, stumbling backward into the brush.
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"Run!" Clara screamed, grabbing both boys by the hands as they bolted deeper into the sprawling municipal park, plunging headfirst into the safety of the dark woods.
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