Chapter 16 - The Raid
Julian’s face went dead white. "Shoot him! Shoot him now!"
Before Frank could squeeze the trigger, the entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass behind Julian’s desk erupted in a thunderous explosion of shattering glass, flashbangs, and smoke.
*BANG! FLASH!*
Concussion waves threw me to the floor. The office filled with blinding white light and deafening thunder. Ropes whipped through the shattered window frame as black-clad SWAT operators rappelled from the roof, boots slamming onto the mahogany floor.
"POLICE! DOWN ON THE GROUND! DROP THE WEAPON! DROP IT!"
Frank spun, firing two suppressed rounds into the ceiling before three beanbag rounds slammed into his chest, knocking him flat on his back. His gun skittered across the marble floor.
Julian screamed, diving behind his desk like a rat scrambling for a drainpipe.
"DON'T MOVE! HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!"
Two tactical officers tackled Frank, driving their knees into his spine and zip-tying his wrists behind his back.
Detective Marlow stepped through the shattered glass, his trench coat billowing in the wind roaring thirty stories above the Portland streets. He held his Glock steady, trained directly on the space behind the mahogany desk.
"Come out from behind the desk, Julian," Marlow commanded, his voice booming over the rushing wind. "Or we send the K-9 unit in to drag you out by your throat."
Julian slowly crawled out on his hands and knees.
His five-thousand-dollar suit was torn by glass shards. His silver hair was wild and coated in white drywall dust. Blood trickled down his cheek from a superficial cut.
He looked at Marlow, then looked at me, sitting on the floor with the amber bottle and the cassette tape clutched safely against my chest.
"This is illegal search and seizure!" Julian shrieked, his voice cracking into a high-pitched whine. "You had no warrant for this office!"
Marlow smiled—a cold, terrifying grin. He reached into his coat and held up a signed document bearing the gold seal of the United States District Court.
"Federal search warrant, Vance," Marlow said. "Signed twenty minutes ago by Judge Alvarez. Charge: Wire fraud, interstate racketeering, and attempted murder of Ethan Reed. And thanks to Mr. Hale’s body wire, we just added attempted capital murder, witness tampering, and conspiracy to commit homicide to the docket."
Two officers grabbed Julian by his arms, hauling him to his feet and slamming him face-first against the remaining glass wall.
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The click of the steel handcuffs locking around Julian’s wrists was the sweetest sound I had ever heard in my life.
***
