Chapter 7 - The Counter-Strike
"They’re trying to turn public opinion into our executioner," Elena muttered, her eyes narrowing as she reviewed the incoming data packets. "If we show up at a standard police precinct, you’ll be shot on sight before you can utter a single word of defense."
"Then we don't go to the police," I said, my resolve hardening into diamond. "We go straight to the source. The federal courthouse downtown. Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, Judge Holloway is presiding over the final emergency injunction hearing regarding Vanessa’s temporary custody petition."
Elena stared at me as if I had lost my mind. "Arthur, walking into that courtroom is walking directly into an execution chamber. The building will be swarming with federal marshals and local SWAT."
"Not if we don't use the front door," I replied, a dangerous plan forming in my mind. "Marcus thinks we’re fleeing across state lines by boat. He’s looking for us on the highways and at the state borders. He won't expect us to walk right back into the lion’s den through the municipal maintenance network."
Mason stepped forward, his young face etched with absolute determination. "I can help, Dad. I know the digital layout of the courthouse server room. I saw Vanessa logging into their public Wi-Fi network during her meetings there last month. She cached her security credentials on her old tablet."
I looked at my son, a wave of profound pride and heartbreaking sorrow washing over me. No eight-year-old child should have ever been forced to acquire these survival skills.
"Show me," I said softly.
May you like
For the next six hours, as Captain Higgins’s boat cut silently through the coastal fog, we planned our infiltration down to the second. Mason walked us through the digital backdoor of the county administration network, while Elena decrypted the encrypted audio files proving Vanessa’s conspiracy with Marcus.
By midnight, we had docked at an abandoned private pier three miles downstream from the municipal center. Armed with digital evidence, forged operational badges Elena had whipped up in her mobile lab, and a burning, righteous fury, we prepared to take our lives back.
