After eight months of military service, I returned home to find my newborn son burning with fever and my wife collapsed beside his crib, bruises covering her arms. My mother sneered, “She needed discipline,” while my sister added, “And the baby is her problem.” I said nothing—until military police, child services, and my lawyer entered behind me. By sunrise, they were arrested, disinherited, and locked out of the house they thought they owned. The first thing I heard when I stepped inside my house was my newborn son crying like he was running out of strength. The second was my mother saying, “Ignore him. He’ll learn.”

The gravity of the situation crashed down on me like an avalanche.

My family wasn't hiding in a sanctuary.

We were sitting directly on top of the ultimate target.

"How long do we have?" James asked, his tactical mindset instantly taking over.

Vance checked his silver wristwatch.

"My team intercepted their communications twenty minutes ago."

"Charles's extraction team is moving in by water."

"They have two high-speed tactical boats coming across the lake."

"They'll be here in less than fifteen minutes."

"They are heavily armed, deniable mercenaries."

"If they find you here, they will eliminate everyone to ensure zero witnesses."

Claire stood up from behind the couch, her face fierce despite the fear in her eyes.

"We have to leave," she said, her voice shaking but determined.

"We take Ethan and we run into the woods right now."

"You won't make it a mile, Mrs. Brooks," Vance said coldly, turning his gaze to her.

"The woods are steep, it’s freezing, and they have thermal imaging drones in the air."

"The moment you step out into the open, you’ll be highlighted like a neon sign."

"The only place that is completely shielded from thermal scanning is the bunker below."

I looked at Vance, my eyes narrowing.

"You want me to open it for you."

"That's why you came here tonight."

"You didn't come to save us. You came because you need me to unlock the door before Charles's men get here."

Vance didn't deny it. He stood up, leaning heavily on his cane, his eyes locking onto mine with ruthless honesty.

"Yes, Daniel. I need that network."

"But opening that door is also the only way your wife and son survive the next ten minutes."

"We go down into the dark, or you die up here in the light."

"The choice is yours."

I looked at James. He gave me a grim, reluctant nod.

"He’s right about the thermal drones, Daniel," James said quietly.

"If they have air assets, we're sitting ducks in the woods."

"Our best tactical advantage is a bottleneck defense."

"We go under."

I turned to my grandfather's letter, flipping to the final page.

Beneath the sentence Every soldier deserves a place where war cannot follow him home, there was a small, hand-drawn map of the cabin's floor plan.

Right in the center of the master bedroom closet was a tiny, faded crosshair symbol.

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"The bedroom," I said, grabbing the flashlight.

"Let's move."

Chapter 17