Chapter 13: The Ultimatum
The fluorescent lights overhead flickered, casting a sickly greenish glow over the server racks. The tall man in the charcoal suit didn't flinch, even with Tom’s gun barrel pointed inches from his sternum. He casually slipped the small USB drive into his breast pocket, his fingers moving with deliberate slowness.
"You think you're holding all the cards, Sheriff," the man said smoothly, glancing past Tom to meet my gaze. "Elena knows about the boy on the mountain. She knows about the old fire watchtower. It’s a charming little spot, but unfortunately for you, it has only one access road, and our people finished rigging the timber bridge half an hour ago."
My blood ran cold. The image of little Leo, safe and hidden away from the violence, shattered in my mind. "You're lying," I snarled, closing the distance between us and grabbing the man by his lapels, slamming him hard against the metal server casing.
"Ask him yourself," the man wheezed, a thin smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he gestured to a secure encrypted terminal glowing on the desk beside him. "The satellite feed is active. Elena wants to have a little chat with her former associate."
Tom stepped in, grabbing my shoulder to pull me back before I lost control completely. "Don't take the bait, Daniel. It's a distraction."
"Look at the screen, Sheriff," the corporate operative urged, coughing slightly as he straightened his tie. "You can save the boy, or you can save your little county paperwork. You can't do both."
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I stepped over to the desk. On the flat-panel monitor, a live video feed flickered to life. It showed the heavy wooden bridge spanning the deep gorge on the access road to Bald Mountain. A pair of heavy-duty winch trucks were parked on the far side, their cables hooked directly into the primary support beams. As I watched in horror, the winch motors whined, and the entire wooden span groaned before snapping violently, plunging forty feet down into the rocky riverbed below.
Leo and Martha were completely cut off. The mountain was now an inescapable prison.
