Chapter 30: The Open Horizon
The heavy footsteps stopped just twenty feet behind the sedan.
The beam of a high-intensity tactical flashlight pierced the darkness, illuminating the interior of the car.
Stepping out from the shadows of the tunnel wall wasn't Julian—it was Thomas. His left arm was wrapped in a blood-soaked handkerchief, and he was breathing heavily, but in his right hand, he held a heavy iron crowbar.
"Dad!" Rebecca sobbed in relief, pushing the car door open.
"No time for tears, kids," Thomas panted, rushing over to the locked iron maintenance gate and jamming the crowbar into the latch mechanism. With a mighty heave of adrenaline and veteran strength, the rusted lock snapped open with a loud metallic crack, swinging the heavy gate wide to reveal the grey dawn light breaking over the open coastal highway outside.
"The federal task force is waiting three miles down this road," Thomas said, turning back to look at Rebecca and the newborn baby safely tucked in her arms. "Julian's men are pinned back at the depot. We made it."
Rebecca looked down at her baby boy, then up at her father, feeling the first true glimmer of freedom after months of living inside a nightmare.
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Yet, in the distance, the faint, menacing hum of a helicopter rotor began to rise above the sound of the crashing ocean waves—signaling that Julian was not about to let them go without one final war.
TO BE CONTINUED
