Chapter 9 - The Clearing Storm
I stood in the doorway of the pantry, panting heavily, my arms shaking so violently I could barely hold onto the skillet. It slipped from my fingers and fell to the floor with a loud, clattering bang.
"Claire?"
I looked up. Sarah was standing in the living room doorway, clutching her shoulder, which was bleeding from a grazing bullet wound. She looked at Leonard’s limp body on the floor, then up at me, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
"My god," she whispered. "You took him down."
"Marcus!" I gasped, remembering the shots. "Where's Marcus?"
"I'm here," a weak voice called out from the living room.
I rushed past Sarah. Marcus was sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the stone fireplace. He was holding his leg, where dark blood was soaking through his jeans, but he was conscious and trying to smile.
"Nice shot, sister-in-law," he wheezed, his face pale but relieved. "I heard that clang from here."
"Oh my god, Marcus," I cried, kneeling beside him and tearing off a strip of my sweater to use as a tourniquet. "You're bleeding."
"I’ve had worse," he lied, grimacing as I tied the cloth tightly around his thigh. "Is Lily okay?"
"I'm here, Uncle Marcus," Lily’s small voice called out. She stepped out of the pantry, her eyes wide as she looked at the scene, but she didn't cry. She walked over and knelt beside me, taking Marcus’s hand. "You were a very good ninja."
Marcus let out a weak laugh, tears shining in his eyes. "Thanks, Lil-bug."
Suddenly, the blue lights of police cruisers began to flash through the cracked windows of the cabin, casting dancing shadows across the walls. The sound of distant sirens grew louder, finally arriving at the end of the dirt driveway.
Within minutes, the cabin was flooded with federal agents and paramedics.
Special Agent Vance, a tall, stern-looking man with a kind face, walked into the living room. He looked at Leonard, who was being cuffed by two agents while a paramedic examined his head injury, and then at me.
"Mrs. Miller?" Vance asked.
"Yes," I said, holding Lily tightly in my arms.
"It’s over," Vance said, kneeling down so he was at eye level with Lily and me. "Your husband was arrested twenty minutes ago at Hagerstown Airport. He was on board the plane, waiting for the takeoff clearance, when our tactical team breached the hangar. We have the ledger, we have the transfer logs, and we have his full confession."
I let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding for years.
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"He's never coming back, Claire," Marcus said from the stretcher as the paramedics prepared to carry him out. "He’s going away for a very, very long time."
I looked out the window. The heavy rain had finally stopped, and the dark, bruised clouds were beginning to break apart, revealing the first pale, golden rays of the afternoon sun reflecting off the calm waters of the lake.
