Chapter 11 - The Intimidation Attempt
Arthur Vance was a man who had spent his entire life bullying his way out of corners. When his bank accounts were frozen and his daughter was arrested at the airport, his rational judgment completely collapsed. Instead of surrendering to his lawyers, he resorted to the only tactic he knew: raw, physical intimidation.
At 9:00 PM on Sunday night, I was alone in my Seattle safehouse, reviewing the operational briefing for the morning raid, when my perimeter perimeter sensors chimed softly on my laptop. The motion detectors I had set up along the wooded driveway showed an unmarked black SUV pulling up to the security gate with its headlights extinguished.
Four men stepped out of the vehicle. They weren't police officers, and they weren't lawyers. They wore dark utility clothing, carried heavy wooden baseball bats and tactical expandable batons, and moved with the clumsy, aggressive swagger of hired civilian muscle. Arthur had dug into his private safe for emergency cash and hired ex-convicts from a local security firm to teach his daughter-in-law a lesson and retrieve the encrypted evidence drives.
I didn't call the local police. I didn't panic. I calmly closed my laptop, reached under the sofa cushion, and retrieved my Marine Corps-issued Beretta M9 9mm service pistol, alongside a less-lethal tactical X26 Taser.
I tapped my short-range earpiece, connecting directly to Marcus and the two off-duty Force Recon Marines who were stationed in a covert surveillance van parked two hundred yards down the street.
"Marcus, we have four hostiles breaching the perimeter fence," I whispered softly into the mic. "Weapons drawn: blunt force instruments. They’re looking for a hard breach through the rear patio sliding doors."
"Copy that, Major," Marcus’s voice crackled back, calm and professional. "Team Two is moving on their flank now. Do you want us to intercept before entry?"
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"Negative," I replied, racking the slide of the Beretta with a clean, mechanical click. "Let them breach the threshold. I want them charged with home invasion and armed burglary on top of the intimidation of a federal witness. Keep your weapons on non-lethal. Let’s show Arthur’s hired thugs how real professionals clear a room."
I stepped into the shadows of the hallway, controlling my breathing, waiting for the sound of shattering glass.
