Chapter 3 - Shadows in the Prep SchoolThe rain began to fall around midnight, slicking the asphalt of the upper-class estate neighborhood known as The Crest.
The Montgomery mansion was a sprawling stone fortress sitting on three acres of land, surrounded by an eight-foot wrought-iron fence and monitored by security cameras every thirty yards. To an untrained civilian, it was an impenetrable fortress. To a Tier-1 Ranger, it was a joke.
I bypassed the perimeter cameras by tracking their rotation blind spots, slipping over the fence near an overgrown oak tree without making a sound. I carried no firearms—firing a gun in this neighborhood would bring the entire police department down on my head within minutes, and I wasn't ready for a full-scale war with the department yet.
Instead, I carried tactical zip-ties, a roll of heavy-duty duct tape, a combat knife, and a small glass vial of concentrated fast-acting sedative.
I mounted the side drainpipe, ascending to the second-floor balcony with ease. The French doors leading into the master suite were locked, but the secondary balcony—belonging to the bedroom with the custom neon sign visible through the glass—was cracked open to let in the night air.
The neon sign read: TYLER VANCE - UNSTOPPABLE.
I slid through the door, stepping lightly onto the thick oriental rug.
The room smelled of expensive cologne, stale beer, and arrogance. On the king-sized bed, a teenage boy lay sprawled out under a silk comforter, snoring softly. On the floor beside his bed lay a pair of limited-edition athletic sneakers, size 11, stained with faint trace marks of dried mud... and blood.
I didn't hesitate.
I moved like a ghost, closing the distance in two strides. I clamped my gloved left hand over Tyler Montgomery’s mouth, pinning his head into the pillow, while my right hand jammed his forearm up behind his back in a hyper-extended joint lock.
Tyler instantly woke up, his eyes bulging in sheer terror as he writhed against my weight. He tried to scream, but my hand was a vise, smothering every sound in his throat.
"If you make a noise," I whispered directly into his ear, my voice so low and dead it sounded like it came from underground, "I will snap your elbow, break your collarbone, and tear your jaw out of its socket before anyone in this house hears a sound. Nod if you understand me."
He nodded frantically, tears streaming down his face.
I dragged him off the bed, slamming him stomach-first onto the carpet. In less than five seconds, I had his hands zip-tied securely behind his back and a strip of duct tape pulled tight across his mouth. I hauled him into his private bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the shower at full blast to drown out any muffled sounds.
I shoved him onto the cold tile floor and sat down on the edge of the marble sink, looking down at him.
"You know who I am, don't you, Tyler?" I asked.
He stared at me, his face pale, shaking his head violently in denial.
I reached down, picked up his right hand, and grabbed his pinky finger. Slowly, deliberately, I bent it backward until the joint reached its absolute threshold of pain.
He let out a muffled, agonizing shriek behind the tape, his eyes pleading.
"Don't lie to me," I said calmly. "You were at my house at 3:42 PM today. You used a PIN code to get in. You stole my encrypted hard drive, and when my daughter Violet walked through that door, you and your friend beat her until you thought she was dead."
Tyler was crying hysterically now, shaking his head, trying to speak through the tape.
I pulled the tape back just enough for him to speak, keeping my grip firm on his hand.
"It wasn't my idea!" Tyler sobbed, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "I swear to God, Mr. Miller! It wasn't my idea! It was my father! And Detective Grant!"
I leaned in closer. "Explain. Now."
"My father... he found out you had records on your hard drive!" Tyler choked out, gasping for air. "Records from your private security work overseas! It had proof that my father's construction company was laundering money through offshore defense contractors! He said if that data got to the federal prosecutors, he’d go to prison for life!"
"So your father sent his seventeen-year-old son to steal it?"
"He told me to get the key from my Uncle Marcus's office!" Tyler cried. "I took the code from Marcus’s notebook when he wasn't looking! I thought the house would be empty! We were just supposed to grab the drive and leave!"
"Who was with you?" I demanded.
"Grant!" Tyler blurted out. "Detective Grant came with me! He was supposed to clear the street! But when Violet walked in, she recognized Grant! She yelled that she was calling her dad! Grant... Grant freaked out! He told me to grab her, and then... then Grant hit her with his heavy flashlight! He hit her over and over, Mr. Miller! I told him to stop! I swear I told him to stop!"
The world stopped spinning.
It wasn't just a spoiled kid. It was Detective Grant. The man who was supposed to protect the city, the man who had stood in the hospital lobby holding a cup of coffee, telling me my daughter was the victim of a random home invasion.
Grant had beaten my sixteen-year-old daughter into a coma with a steel flashlight to protect a local politician's corrupt financial empire.
"Where is the hard drive now?" I asked, my voice dropping into a register that made Tyler shiver.
"My father has it," Tyler wept. "He's at his downtown office right now with Grant and my uncle Marcus... they’re trying to decrypt it before the night is over."
"Does Marcus know what happened to Violet?"
"No!" Tyler shook his head. "My father lied to Marcus! He told Marcus that you were being blackmailed and that we needed to clean the drive to save you! Marcus doesn't know Grant beat Violet!"
I pulled the duct tape back over Tyler’s mouth, securing it tightly. Then I pulled out a set of steel handcuffs, locked his feet to the heavy plumbing pipe under the sink, and stood up.
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"You're going to sit here in the dark, Tyler," I said softly, looking down at the trembling boy. "Pray that my daughter wakes up. Because if she doesn't... there isn't a fence, a father, or a police force on this earth that will keep me from coming back for you."
I turned off the light, exited the bathroom, and walked out into the rain.
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