Chapter 7 - The Trap Closes
Before Leah could process the full horror of Nathan’s betrayal, a sharp, piercing sound cut through the quiet farmhouse.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
It wasn't a phone ring. It was the motion sensor alarm wired to the perimeter gate at the end of the long dirt driveway.
Simone stopped typing instantly, her eyes locking onto the laptop screen where a red blinking dot began flashing on the property map interface.
“They’re here,” Simone hissed, slamming the laptop shut and tossing it into her backpack.
“How?” Leah panicked, grabbing her baby from the bassinet. “How could they possibly find this place so fast?”
“The USB drive,” Simone said grimly, pulling a small pocket pistol from her coat. “It has a built-in active radio frequency beacon disguised as a solder point. The moment I plugged it into my laptop, it broadcasted our GPS coordinates back to Doreen’s security servers. They tracked us.”
Outside, the low, rumbling hum of heavy diesel engines echoed through the cornfields. Twin beams of blinding white headlights swept across the front windows of the farmhouse, illuminating the dusty living room in a harsh, glaring flash.
Footsteps crunched heavily on the gravel driveway outside.
“We need to get out the back,” Simone whispered, motioning toward the kitchen utility door. “Now.”
Leah rushed down the hallway, clutching her baby tightly against her chest, her surgical incision screaming in protest with every stride. They burst into the dark kitchen just as a loud, heavy crash echoed from the front of the house.
Crash!
The front door had been kicked open.
“Clear the rooms!” a deep, authoritative voice shouted from the living room.
It wasn't just local police. It was private security operatives—men in tactical gear bearing the insignia of the elite security firm Doreen retained for her private estates.
Leah and Simone slipped out the back utility door into the damp, freezing night air, ducking low beneath the wooden porch railing as the beam of a high-powered tactical flashlight swept across the backyard.
“Over there! By the barn!” a voice yelled from the side of the house.
Heavy boots pounded across the gravel toward them.
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“Run!” Simone whispered, grabbing Leah’s arm and pulling her toward the overgrown cornstalks that bordered the property line.
They plunged into the dark labyrinth of the cornfield, the sharp leaves whipping against their faces as they scrambled blindly through the damp dirt. Behind them, shouts and flashlight beams cut through the darkness, closing the distance with terrifying speed.
