Chapter 10: Breach at the Cabin
The station wagon crested the final hill overlooking the cabin, and Thomas’s heart slammed into his ribs.
Two unmarked black SUVs were parked haphazardly across the dirt driveway, their doors standing wide open. The front porch screen door hung loosely from a single hinge, splintered wood scattering across the porch boards.
"Leo!" Thomas shouted, killing the engine before the car had even fully stopped.
He vaulted out of the driver's side door, drawing his service pistol and dropping into a tactical crouch as he approached the shattered front entryway. The interior of the cabin was in disarray; books were knocked off shelves, furniture was overturned, and the kitchen pantry doors hung open.
"Leo!" he yelled again, rushing down the hallway toward the back bedroom.
The room was empty. The window was smashed outward, shards of glass glistening on the pine needles outside. On the floor near the window lay Leo’s wooden crutches, abandoned in the rush of abduction.
Thomas felt the world tilt on its axis. Every protective instinct, every ounce of paternal fury, and every skill he had ever learned in the military surged into a blinding, razor-sharp focus. He knelt down and picked up one of the wooden crutches, running his fingers over the smooth handle that his son's hands had polished.
He stood up, walked back out to the station wagon, and opened the glove compartment. Inside, alongside his emergency maps and flashlight, sat a secure tactical radio transmitter he hadn't used since his final tour overseas. He flipped the encryption switch to an open federal emergency frequency and spoke into the handheld mic with absolute, chilling calm.
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"This is Commander Thomas Vance, United States Navy, retired," he transmitted, his voice echoing across every monitoring station in the district. "I am invoking Emergency Protocol Omega. My son has been abducted from a civilian safehouse by corporate mercenaries operating under false government clearance. If my son is not returned unharmed within twelve hours, I will release every encrypted telemetry file, medical log, and internal corporate memo concerning the Apex Biomechanics project directly to the national press and foreign embassies. You know I have the files. You know where to find me."
He tossed the radio onto the passenger seat, slammed the car door, and started the engine. He wasn't waiting for a rescue team. He was going to hunt them down.
