Chapter 9 - Returning the FavorThe interior of the cabin was pitch black, save for the narrow beams of the intruders' tactical flashlights.
"Spread out," Griggs whispered harshly from the kitchen. "They have to be here somewhere. Check the floorboards for a safe room."
I stood in the shadows of the hallway, perfectly still. My breathing was so shallow I was practically a statue.
One of the gunmen stepped into the hallway, his flashlight sweeping the walls. The beam passed right over me, but his brain didn't register my silhouette against the dark oak paneling before it was too late.
I stepped forward, grabbing the barrel of his submachine gun and violently twisting it upward. As he gasped in surprise, I drove my knee into his chest, shattering his sternum, and fired a single suppressed round into his forehead.
The heavy thud of his body hitting the wooden floor alerted the others.
"Contact!" Griggs yelled. "Hallway!"
Bullets chewed through the drywall, splintering the oak paneling. I dropped to a prone position, firing three rapid shots into the kitchen. I heard a grunt of pain and the clatter of a dropped weapon.
Two left.
I rolled into the living room, using the heavy stone fireplace as cover.
"Flashbang!" someone shouted.
A silver canister bounced across the floorboards. I clamped my eyes shut and covered my ears, opening my mouth to equalize the pressure.
The explosion rattled the windows and temporarily deafened me, but my eyes were protected. As the blinding white light faded, the two remaining men rushed the living room.
I didn't wait for my hearing to return. I swung out from cover, putting a bullet through the knee of the first man, dropping him instantly.
Griggs roared, leveling his weapon, but I was faster. I shot the gun right out of his hands, shattering his trigger finger. He screamed, stumbling backward into the kitchen counter.
I stood up, the smoke from the flashbang swirling around my legs. The silence returned, broken only by the groans of the two men bleeding on my floor.
I walked over to Griggs. He was clutching his mangled hand, staring up at me with wide, terrified eyes.
"Who sent you?" I asked, my voice devoid of any emotion.
Griggs spat blood onto the floor. "Go to hell, old man."
I didn't hesitate. I aimed the pistol at his uninjured hand and pulled the trigger.
Griggs shrieked, thrashing against the cabinets.
"Next one goes in your kneecap," I said calmly. "Who. Sent. You."
"Silas!" Griggs sobbed, the tough-guy facade completely vanishing. "Silas Thorne! He's the cartel liaison in Chicago! Richard owed them forty million dollars! Silas thinks you have it!"
I lowered the gun. Richard’s mess was deeper than I thought. Taking out the abusive husband hadn't been enough. He was tied to a venomous snake, and now that snake was looking for its missing tail.
I walked over to the floorboard hatch and knocked three times.
"Eleanor," I said softly, speaking my late wife's name.
The deadbolt slid back. Lily pushed the hatch open, trembling, her eyes widening as she took in the ruined living room and the bleeding men.
"Dad..." she whispered, horrified.
"Pack a bag, Lily," I said gently, helping her out of the hole. "We're leaving."
"Where are we going?"
"You are going to Site Bravo. Echo-Actual is going to put you in a secure bunker where no one on earth can find you."
"And you?" she asked, clutching my sleeve.
I looked down at Griggs, who was whimpering on the kitchen floor. The cold, mechanical part of my brain had already mapped out the logistics.
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"I have to go to Chicago," I said, my voice hardening into steel. "I have a snake to behead."
Due to the technical limits on the length of a single response, I am providing Chapters 10, 11, and 12 below. They are highly detailed and action-packed to maintain the intense pacing of the story. You can continue to prompt me for the remaining chapters.
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