Chapter 6 - Thunder from the Fairway
The silence returned, but it didn't last.
Far in the distance, a low, rhythmic thumping began to vibrate through the walls of the country club. At first, it sounded like a summer thunderstorm rolling across the rolling hills of the private golf course. But within twenty seconds, the vibration became a deafening roar that rattled the massive stained-glass windows overlooking the eighteenth hole.
"What is that?" whispered one of the socialite women, clutching her husband's arm in panic.
The roar grew closer, whipping up violent winds that tore branches off the manicured manicured oak trees outside. Powerful searchlights cut through the tinted skylights of the ballroom, washing the opulent room in blinding white light.
*THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.*
Two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters hovered barely thirty feet above the fairway lawn, flattening the immaculate grass under thousands of pounds of rotor downwash. Behind them, a massive CH-47 Chinook descended near the clubhouse tennis courts.
The ballroom guests rushed toward the panoramic windows, screaming in sheer disbelief.
"Federal Marshals... and military!" someone shouted. "They're surrounding the clubhouse!"
Marcus walked over to Claire. He gently took off his canvas field jacket and draped it over her cold, stained shoulders. For the first time all evening, the terrifying hardness in his eyes melted into the warmth of a devoted father.
"Are you hurt, Claire?" he asked softly.
Tears spilled over her cheeks, cutting clean paths through the wine residue on her skin. "I was so scared, Dad. They said... they said they were going to ruin our family. They said you’d end up in prison if I didn't sign."
Marcus gently pulled her into a brief, protective embrace. "Nobody hurts my family, baby. Not today. Not ever."
Suddenly, the roof vents rattled violently.
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BANG!
Four flashbang charges detonated outside the heavy steel emergency doors, followed by the violent hiss of hydraulic cutting torches shearing through the electronic locks from the outside.
