Chapter 3 - The Defector
With the police chief in federal custody, panic began to spread through the Blackwood estate. The town was buzzing.
That night, David received a text on the burner phone from Chloe, the seventeen-year-old cousin who had sent the video. Meet me at the old water tower. Midnight.
When David arrived, Chloe was shivering in the Appalachian chill. She handed him a heavy, leather-bound ledger.
"My grandfather keeps physical books of the bribes," she whispered, looking over her shoulder in terror. "He doesn't trust computers. This is the ledger for the mining inspectors, the judges, the county board."
David looked at the young girl. She was risking her life. "Why are you doing this, Chloe? They're your family."
Tears streamed down the teenager's face. "Because I saw what my dad and Caleb did to Maya. I saw my aunt Elena pull those blinds. They aren't family. They're monsters. And if you don't destroy them, I'm going to end up just like them."
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David placed a hand on her shoulder. "Pack a bag, Chloe. My men are going to extract you to a safe house in D.C. tonight. You're never going back to that house."
As David watched her disappear into the back of a tactical extraction vehicle, he opened the ledger. He now had the sword to sever the head of the snake.
