Chapter 10 - The Federal Intervention
At 6:00 AM, the golden hour light returned to Route 9, painting the fog in brilliant shades of yellow and amber.
Three heavy armored vans bearing the yellow lettering of the Federal Bureau of Investigation pulled into the circular driveway, their tires grinding heavily over the wet gravel.
Julian Sterling was pulled from the front passenger seat of the lead vehicle—not wearing his slate-grey suit, but wearing heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists, his face pale, his gold-rimmed glasses crooked on his nose. A senior federal agent in a dark trenchcoat stepped up the porch stairs, showing a silver badge to Eleanor, who stood waiting in her clean beige blazer.
"Colonel Cross," the agent said, tipping his hat. "The Seattle office received your encrypted transfer at 0400. We picked up Sterling at his private airfield twenty minutes ago."
Sterling glared at Eleanor, his lips trembling with rage. "You... you manipulated the county tax records! You set this whole thing up!"
Eleanor looked down at him from the top step, her hands folded neatly over her small leather handbag.
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"I didn't manipulate anything, Julian," she said softly, her voice carrying the gentle, sad cadence of an old woman. "You came here to take a house from a helpless widow. You just forgot to check who was sitting at her table."
Jax and Knox stood behind her, their broad shoulders framing her against the warm morning light, two silent sentinels of iron and leather.
