Chapter 16 - The Decoy
"She's brave," the man holding the knife chuckled, pressing the cold steel a fraction of an inch closer to Lily's delicate skin, drawing a tiny bead of crimson. "A chip off the old block. Too bad she won't live to see the new world order we're building."
"You want the cipher?" I asked, my voice dangerously steady as I slowly reached into my tactical jacket. "It's on the encrypted drive in my hand. Let her go, and I'll toss it to you."
"Toss it," the man commanded.
I pulled out a small black flash drive and tossed it in a high arc toward the center of the gravel clearing. The man in the suit released Lily's shoulder for a split second, lunging forward to snatch the drive out of the air.
That single split second was all I needed.
Before his fingers could close around the plastic casing, the sky above the rail yard erupted.
It wasn't just federal marshals this time. It was an entire squadron of black-matte tactical assault helicopters dropping out of the clouds, their high-intensity searchlights bathing the entire rail yard in blinding, sun-like brilliance. Simultaneously, heavily armed federal operators fast-roped down from all sides, cutting off every single exit route in a synchronized iron cage.
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"Federal Special Operations! Drop your weapons!" the amplified roar of a tactical commander shook the steel boxcars.
The man in the suit spun around in panic, grabbing Lily by the arm and dragging her backward toward a rusted freight car. "Stay back or she dies right now!"
