Chapter 5 - The Confrontation
Gideon placed the micro-SD card into an encrypted reader on his desk, plugged it into his secure laptop, and locked the screen with a key code. He turned to Mara, his expression rock-solid.
"Stay up here with Toby and Leo," he instructed calmly. "Keep the door locked from the inside."
"Gideon, please be careful," Mara pleaded, holding his arm. "Victor Sterling owns half the judges in this county. His enforcers don't care about the law."
"Neither do I when it comes to protecting my family," Gideon replied softly. He looked at Toby. "Watch over them, son."
"Got it, Dad," Toby said proudly, standing guard beside Leo's crib with a heavy wooden flashlight in his small hands.
Gideon walked downstairs into the main courtyard. Six heavy-set men from the Iron Guardians had already formed a broad wall of leather and denim across the driveway, blocking the entrance to the workshop.
Standing on the other side of the wrought-iron gate was Richard Vance, a tall, slick attorney in a three-piece suit, flanked by four hulking private security guards in black tactical gear.
"Gideon," Vance sneered, adjusting his silk tie as Gideon approached the gate. "We tracked Mrs. Ellison’s phone location to this address. She is currently in possession of stolen corporate property belonging to Sterling Maritime."
Gideon stopped two feet from the gate, folding his massive arms across his chest. "You're trespassing on private property, Vance. State your business and get off my land."
"Mara Ellison is an insolvent, unstable individual," Vance said in a loud, deliberate voice intended to intimidate. "She owes over forty thousand dollars in back rent and damages to Sterling Maritime. Furthermore, we have reason to believe she is unfit to care for her infant child. We have a emergency custody pickup order being processed by Child Protective Services as we speak."
A collective murmur of disgust ran through the Iron Guardians standing behind Gideon.
"You're going to try to steal a grieving widow's baby?" Gideon’s voice was dangerously low, vibrating like thunder before a strike. "Is that how low Victor Sterling has sunk?"
"We are enforcing the law, Mr. Vance," the attorney sneered, pulling a folded document from his jacket. "Hand over the woman, the child, and her husband's personal effects, or I will have the Sheriff’s Department raid this facility within the hour."
Gideon smiled—a cold, terrifying flash of teeth.
"Call the Sheriff," Gideon said smoothly. "In fact, call the District Attorney, the State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Because five minutes ago, my tech team transmitted the contents of Thomas Ellison’s master file directly to the U.S. Attorney General’s office in Washington."
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Vance’s arrogant smile instantly vanished. The color drained from his face so fast he looked like a corpse in a expensive suit. "What... what did you say?"
"I said, game over, Vance," Gideon stepped up to the iron bars, his eyes burning with absolute triumph. "We have the bank account numbers, the toxic dumping logs, the falsified safety reports, and the audio recording of Victor Sterling ordering the sabotage of Crane Four."
