Chapter 6 - Ambush in the Pines
Word Count: ~1,500 words
“DOWN!” Leandro roared, tackling Daphne to the floor as a second heavy round splintered the cabin’s front door!
Julian dropped flat behind his oak desk, grabbing his shotgun and racking the slide with practiced ease. “Mercenaries! Maribel must have put a tracker on your car!”
“No,” Daphne realized, lying flat against the wooden floorboards as glass rained down around them. “The perimeter team at the estate—she has a rat inside our security squad!”
Leandro pulled his weapon, crawling low toward the broken window to assess the threat. Outside in the dark, pouring rain, three black SUVs were parked across the narrow dirt driveway, their floodlights blinding the front of the cabin. At least six heavily armed men in tactical gear were advancing through the pine trees.
“They aren't here to negotiate,” Leandro said, his voice dropping to a icy whisper. “Maribel knows we came for Julian. She wants the ledger destroyed and all of us dead in these woods.”
“There’s a cellar door under the kitchen rug!” Julian called out over the sound of incoming gunfire. “Leads to an old root cellar out behind the woodshed! Go! I’ll hold them off!”
“I’m not leaving you here, old man!” Leandro shouted back.
“I’m eighty years old, boy!” Julian barked, raising his shotgun toward the shattered window and firing a thunderous blast into the darkness that sent one of the advancing mercenaries crashing into the mud. “I’ve lived my life! You have a family to save and a throne to take back! NOW MOVE!”
Leandro looked at the fierce old man, knowing there was no time to argue. He grabbed Daphne’s hand, pulling her toward the kitchen.
Daphne kicked aside the braided wool rug, revealing a heavy wooden trapdoor set into the floorboards. She pulled it open, revealing a dark stone stairwell leading into the earth.
“Go first!” Leandro ordered, covering her with his weapon as he fired three precise shots through the kitchen window, forcing two mercenaries to dive behind the pine trees for cover.
Daphne scrambled down the stairs into the damp, cool air of the root cellar, Leandro dropping down right behind her and pulling the heavy wooden trapdoor shut, locking the iron latch from underneath.
Above them, the cabin echoed with the thunderous blasts of Julian’s shotgun, followed by a sudden burst of automatic gunfire... and then silence.
Tears sprang to Daphne’s eyes, but Leandro squeezed her hand tightly in the dark. “We make his sacrifice count,” he whispered fiercely. “Come on!”
They sprinted down the narrow earth-walled tunnel, guided only by the dim light of Leandro’s phone. After fifty yards, the tunnel sloped upward, ending at a small wooden hatch hidden beneath a pile of brush behind the woodshed.
Leandro pushed the hatch open, checking the perimeter. The rain was coming down in sheets, drowning out the sound of their movements. The mercenaries were still focused on the front of the cabin, searching the wreckage for the ledger.
“Our car is blocked by their SUVs,” Daphne whispered, looking through the brush at the driveway.
“We don't need our car,” Leandro said, his eyes narrowing as he spotted one of the mercenary SUVs idling near the trees, its engine running to power the floodlights, the driver sitting alone in the front seat.
“Stay behind me,” Leandro murmured.
Moving like shadows through the storm, they circled around the rear of the vehicle. Leandro stepped up to the driver’s side window, smashing the glass with the butt of his weapon and neutralizing the driver before the man could even reach for his radio.
Leandro opened the door, pulling the unconscious driver onto the mud, and slid into the leather seat. Daphne scrambled into the passenger side, clutching the black leather ledger tightly against her chest.
Leandro slammed the SUV into reverse, flooring the accelerator!
The heavy vehicle roared backward, crashing through the wooden fence and spinning around onto the dirt road!
The mercenaries in the trees turned, shouting and opening fire on the fleeing SUV, but the reinforced armor-plating of their own vehicle deflected the bullets effortlessly as Leandro floored the gas pedal, tearing away into the dark, rainy night!
Daphne looked back through the shattered rear window as the burning cabin faded into the distance. She looked down at the black ledger safely in her lap.
She looked at the clock on the dashboard: 8:30 AM.
“Three and a half hours until the council meeting,” Daphne said, her heart pounding against her ribs. “We can still make it.”
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Leandro gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white, his eyes fixed on the highway leading back to New York.
“Maribel thinks she killed us in those woods,” Leandro said, his voice colder than the storm outside. “She’s going to walk into that council hall thinking she owns the world. And I’m going to personally tear her empire apart.”
