Chapter 7 - Pursuit Through the Estate Woods
The sun was beginning to dip below the jagged peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, casting long, bloody shadows across the manicured lawns of the Sterling estate.
We had secured the main house, but intelligence reports from Elena’s tactical team indicated that a black SUV registered to a state senator—one of my mother’s primary political allies—had been spotted lingering near the perimeter gates five minutes before our arrival.
"If the senator's fixer was here, they were here to destroy the secondary server bunker down by the old boathouse," I said, grabbing my tactical jacket and sliding my combat knife into its sheath.
"We have a perimeter team moving in," Elena said, tapping her radio headset. "Patrol units are sweeping the access road. But those woods are dense, Daniel. If someone is trying to run off with the financial backups, they can slip through the ridge trails in minutes."
"Not if they don't know the trails," I said. "I grew up running those woods. I know every deer path and drainage culvert on this property."
"Take two tactical operatives with you," Elena ordered. "Do not engage alone if it's armed muscle. Secure the server and bring back whatever data is on those hard drives."
"Understood."
I stepped out into the crisp mountain evening air, the scent of pine and damp earth filling my lungs. Two CID operatives—Miller and Vance (different Vance)—jogged up beside me, their rifles held at the ready, night-vision monoculars flipped down over their eyes.
"Move out," I murmured.
We cut across the sprawling back lawns, ducking beneath the heavy canopy of ancient oak trees as we descended the steep, rocky slope toward the private lake. The estate’s old boathouse sat at the water’s edge, half-swallowed by weeping willows and kudzu vines.
As we approached, the faint beam of a flashlight flickered through the slatted wooden walls of the boathouse.
Someone was inside.
I raised a hand, signaling the two operatives to fan out and take positions on either side of the heavy oak double doors. I crept forward silently, my boots making no sound against the thick bed of pine needles.
The door was unlocked, hanging slightly ajar.
I slipped through the gap, melting into the shadows of the rusted boat lifts and old fishing gear. Inside, a man in a tailored dark suit was frantically pulling hard drives out of a metal server rack, dumping them into a heavy duffel bag.
It wasn't a local thug. It was Harrison Cole—the state attorney general’s chief of staff, and my mother’s primary legal fixer.
"Going somewhere, Cole?" I asked, my voice cutting through the damp air like a razor blade.
Cole froze, dropping a hard drive onto the concrete floor with a heavy clatter. He spun around, his hand instinctively diving inside his jacket toward a concealed shoulder holster.
"Don't do it," I said, closing the distance between us in three rapid strides. "I'm not in the mood to negotiate."
Cole yanked a compact Glock 19 from his holster, leveling it right at my chest. "Stay back, Sterling! You have no idea what you're interfering with! This goes all the way to the governor's office!"
Before Cole could squeeze the trigger, I ducked low, driving my shoulder straight into his midsection, tackling him hard against the metal server rack. Sparks flew as the rack buckled under the impact. The Glock went skidding across the concrete floor into the dark shadows.
Cole swung wildly, catching me with a glancing blow to the jaw, but my combat training took over. I swept his legs out from under him, pinned him face-down to the floor, and pressed my knee firmly into the small of his back, locking his arms behind him.
"Clear!" I barked over my shoulder as the two CID operatives rushed into the boathouse with their weapons drawn.
Agent Miller stepped forward, slapping cuffs onto Cole’s wrists. "Nice catch, Ghost. Looks like we just caught the mastermind's administrative assistant."
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I stood up, wiping a streak of dirt from my cheek, and looked down at the duffel bag filled with hard drives. I reached down, pulled out the primary master drive, and smiled grimly.
"Let's take this back to the house," I said. "It's time to decrypt the whole damn empire."
