Chapter 16 - Fractured Trust
I turned on my heel and bolted into the master bedroom.
Behind me, automatic gunfire tore through the lower floor, shredding the drywall and shattering family portraits.
I rushed to the French doors leading to the balcony, kicking them open against the chill night air.
The cold wind bit into Emma’s cheeks, and she began to cry.
"Daddy, I’m scared!"
"Hold on to me, Emma!" I shouted.
"Hold onto Daddy as tight as you can!"
I vaulted over the wrought-iron railing, landing hard on the cedar deck below rather than the icy pool.
The impact jarred my ankles, sending a jolt of fire up my spine, but I didn't stop.
I scrambled across the lawn toward the tree line where the dense woods bordered our property.
A red laser dot danced across the grass ahead of me.
A fourth operative stepped out from behind the tool shed, weapon raised directly at my chest.
"Put the girl down, Mr. Miller," the operative commanded, his voice cold and robotic.
"She doesn't belong to you."
"She belongs to the Foundation."
I pulled Emma behind my back, using my own body as a shield.
"You'll have to kill me first," I growled, feeling every ounce of animal fury surge through my veins.
"That was always an approved contingency," the operative replied, tightening his finger on the trigger.
A sharp crack shattered the night air.
The operative's head snapped back, and he collapsed onto the frosted grass.
Julian appeared on the roof of the shed, lowering a rifle he had scavenged from the intruders inside.
His shoulder was soaked in blood, his face pale and smeared with gunpowder soot.
"The woods!" Julian shouted down to me.
"The logging road is a mile east!"
"I parked the backup truck under the tarp near the creek!"
"Julian, you're hit!" I yelled back.
"I’m buying you time, brother!" Julian yelled, dropping down from the roof with an audible groan of agony.
"Go! They have three more teams inbound!"
"If they take her, everything Lily died for was for nothing!"
I looked at him, seeing the undeniable truth in his bloodied, resolute eyes.
He wasn't an anomaly.
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He was my brother.
And he was willing to burn the world to save our little girl.
