Chapter 8 - The Ambush at New Haven
Brilliant white headlights swept across the living room walls as two black SUVs pulled into the narrow driveway.
"They're here!" Maria whispered in terror, rushing to grab sleeping Leo into her arms.
"Get into the basement panic room beneath the kitchen pantry!" Richard commanded, pulling a concealed firearm from a hidden wall safe.
"Mr. Vance, what about you?" Maria pleaded, her eyes wide with fear.
"I'm going to buy you time. Lock the steel door behind you and don't open it for anyone except me!"
Maria sprinted into the pantry, pulling the hidden floor lever that revealed a flight of concrete stairs.
She carried Leo down into the reinforced bunker, locking the heavy steel door just as heavy footsteps kicked open the front entry.
Above, the sound of splintering wood and harsh, shouting male voices echoed through the floorboards.
"Where is the boy, Vance?" a gruff voice demanded, followed by the metallic rack of an assault rifle.
"You're trespassing on federal officer property," Richard's voice boomed back with terrifying composure.
A sudden, violent gunfight erupted directly above the basement ceiling, shaking dust down onto Maria's head.
Leo woke up screaming, wrapping his small arms tightly around Maria's waist.
"Shh, baby, I'm right here. Squeeze your eyes shut," Maria whispered softly, tears dripping onto her uniform dress.
The sound of rapid gunfire lasted for thirty excruciating seconds before falling into dead silence.
Slow, heavy steps approached the pantry floor above.
Maria held her breath, gripping a metal pipe she found on the bunker shelf.
Three distinct knocks rattled the steel basement door.
"Maria, it's safe. Open up," Richard's voice called out, heavy and out of breath.
Maria unlocked the latch and pushed the door open, her heart pounding in relief.
Richard stood in the doorway, his arm bleeding slightly from a grazing bullet wound, but holding a captured satellite radio.
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"We have to move now," Richard said. "The FBI is meeting us in Hartford."
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