Part 36
I carried Elena through the back door, bursting into the freezing night air just as the clouds parted, allowing the pale moonlight to illuminate the dense forest.
Behind us, the safehouse was suddenly engulfed in a massive explosion, a brilliant orange fireball erupting into the sky, tearing the concrete structure apart.
They were burning the evidence, ensuring that nothing—and no one—remained to connect Vanguard to the facility.
The shockwave slammed into my back, throwing me forward onto the damp earth, but I managed to shield Elena with my body as debris rained down around us.
"Mommy, I'm scared," Elena whimpered, her face buried in my neck, her small hands shaking.
"I know, baby, I know. But we have to run. Can you run for Mommy?" I asked, looking deep into her terrified eyes.
She nodded bravely, wiping her tears with the back of her dirty sleeve.
I took her hand, and together we sprinted into the thick undergrowth of the woods, the thorns tearing at our clothes and skin as we pushed forward.
Behind us, I could hear the distant shout of men shouting coordinates, their flashlights sweeping through the trees like searchlights.
They had tracking dogs. I could hear the faint, terrifying baying of hounds in the distance, gaining ground rapidly.
My lungs burned, and my legs felt like lead, but the primal instinct to protect my child kept me moving, driving me faster than I thought possible.
I knew these woods; I had studied the map of the safehouse surroundings before we arrived, looking for a weakness in the federal security plan.
There was a shallow, fast-flowing river roughly half a mile to the west.
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If we could reach it, the water would mask our scent and throw the hounds off our trail.
But as we broke through a clearing, a bright searchlight suddenly dropped from the sky, blinding us completely as the heavy, deafening roar of a helicopter rotor washed over us.
