Chapter 6 - THE FALL OF SAFEHAVEN
Marcus moved swiftly, kicking the weapons away from the downed guards and securing Richard with heavy zip-ties. "Clear!" he shouted, before tossing Daniel a pair of heavy bolt cutters he had liberated from a nearby tool rack.
Daniel rushed back to Container 04. He clamped the cutters onto the padlock, straining with every ounce of strength he had left. His muscles burned, the metal groaned, and finally, with a sharp crack, the lock shattered.
Daniel threw open the heavy steel doors.
The stench of decay and unwashed confinement rolled out. In the corner, huddled on a filthy mattress, was a woman. She was emaciated, her face bruised, her hands calloused and bleeding. But when she looked up and saw Daniel standing in the light, her eyes burned with the fierce, undying fire of a mother who knew her children were safe.
"Elena?" Daniel asked softly, dropping the bolt cutters and stepping inside.
"My babies," she choked out, trying to stand, but her legs gave way.
Daniel caught her before she hit the floor. He lifted her into his arms, carrying her just as he had carried his wife in her final days. But this time, he wasn't carrying someone toward death. He was carrying her toward life.
By the time they emerged from the warehouse, the wail of sirens was deafening. Marcus had triggered the silent alarm on his encrypted radio. A dozen police cruisers, two SWAT trucks, and a convoy of ambulances swarmed the industrial park.
The FBI had been tipped off by Marcus’s data dump of the charity’s off-the-books ledgers.
Daniel sat on the bumper of an ambulance, watching as Richard Vance and his guards were dragged away in handcuffs, stripped of their power and their pristine public image. The other captive women were being tended to by paramedics, wrapped in thermal blankets, tears of disbelief streaming down their faces. The warehouse of horrors was finally shut down.
A federal agent approached Daniel, holding a notepad. "Mr. Whitmore? We're going to need a full statement. This goes deep. Judges, politicians... SafeHaven had half the state in their pocket."
"You'll get it," Daniel said, his voice raspy but firm. "My lawyers will give you everything. I'm going to fund the prosecution myself. I’m going to bury them."
"Where are you going now, sir?"
May you like
Daniel looked at the ambulance where Elena was being given an IV. "I'm going back to the hospital. I have a promise to keep."
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