Chapter 7 - THE SIEGE OF CARTER FARM"Natalie!" Brandon’s voice boomed through the open barn doors, echoing off the high rafters. "I know you're in there! And I know Henderson came looking for you!"
I crouched behind a heavy steel John Deere tractor, keeping out of sight.
"It's over, Brandon!" I called out, my voice steady. "I’ve already contacted CID! Federal agents are ten minutes away!"
Brandon let out a cold, manic laugh. "Ten minutes is nine minutes too long, sis! Do you really think I care about federal agents now?! My life is over anyway! The moment you opened your mouth in that courtroom, you destroyed everything I had!"
He stepped further into the barn, his hired mercenaries moving in a tactical wedge formation behind him.
"All I have left is making sure you don't live to see me in a jumpsuit," Brandon snarled. "Find her! Burn the barn to the ground if you have to!"
One of the armed men raised a flare gun and fired directly into the dry hay bales stacked near the entrance.
FOOM!
A wall of yellow flame erupted instantly, lighting up the dim interior of the barn. Thick, choking black smoke began billowing toward the ceiling, quickly blocking out the exit.
Heat surged through the building. The dry wooden timbers began to crackle and pop as the fire caught onto the structural beams.
"She's trapped!" one of the mercenaries shouted through the smoke. "The back doors are chained from the outside!"
I was trapped in a burning barn with three armed men who wanted me dead, surrounded by highly explosive military hardware sitting in the cellar beneath my feet.
If the fire reached the cellar, the thermite charges inside the drive hardware would ignite—and the entire barn would blow sky high.
I closed my eyes for one second, taking a deep breath of smoke-tainted air.
Fallujah. 2017.
I had survived an IED explosion in a burning Humvee while under enemy mortar fire. I had dragged two wounded soldiers out of a burning wreck while taking small-arms fire from three directions.
This barn wasn't my grave.
May you like
It was my battlefield.
I slipped my hand into my tactical pouch, pulling out a smoke grenade I had retrieved from the cellar's emergency locker. I pulled the pin with my teeth, tossed it directly into the center aisle, and moved into the shadows.
