Page 55 of Crossfire Creek Siege

Sheriff Chase crouched near the captured men, flashlight beam cutting across their faces. Neither looked conscious enough to talk. She tapped her comm, voice low. “Isla, tell me you’ve still got clear visuals.”

“Affirmative,” Isla replied. “No more heat sources within fifty yards. You might be clean… for now.”

“Good,” the sheriff whispered. “I’ve got deputies and cruisers staged three miles out. Once we clear the interior, call them in for pickup.”

“Copy,” Isla said.

Gage swept his gaze toward the silent hangars ahead. Metal walls gleamed faintly under the moonlight, still and cold, but that only made his pulse climb higher. If these guys were just the outer ring, whatever, or whoever was inside might already know they were here.

The team began to move again. Slow, deliberate, each step measured as they fanned out. Garrett took point, his scanner raised, while Isla’s voice crackled softly through their comms.

“Noah wants a drone sweep,” she whispered. “Low altitude. Loud enough to rattle the walls. Let’s see if it stirs the hornet’s nest.”

A moment later, the faint whine started, growing fast. The drone cut low over the treetops, its rotors slicing the quiet night apart. The noise hit like a pulse, echoing off the metal hangars.

Then came the heavier thump of Noah’s helicopter circling above. Steady, controlled.

Gage kept his weapon trained on the doors, watching for any flicker of movement, any shift in the shadows. He could feel Rena’s breath beside him, steady but tight.

The drone passed again, even closer this time. The hangars stayed dark, silent.

“Nothing?” Cal murmured.

“Negative,” Isla said through the comms. “No heat signatures moving. No sound from inside.”

The quiet that followed was worse than the noise.

Gage’s jaw flexed. “Either they’re gone,” he muttered, “or they’re waiting for us to step right into it.”

“My bet’s on door number two,” Rena responded.

They moved in tight formation, the silence pressing in like a held breath. The first hangar loomed ahead. Massive, metallic, and cold in the moonlight. Garrett crouched at the keypad, pulling a small jammer from his vest. He hooked it to the control box, and after a few tense seconds, the lock gave a quiet click.

Cal eased the door open an inch at a time. No alarms. No movement. He gave a small nod.

Gage went first through the gap, weapon raised, Rena right behind him. The air inside was sharp with metal and disinfectant, too clean as if someone had scrubbed the place of any and everything.

“Clear,” Gage whispered, sweeping his light across the cavernous interior. The beam hit nothing but bare walls and polished concrete. No crates. No weapons. No signs of life.

Cal and Sheriff Chase moved in next, their flashlights cutting through the dark. The beams hit smooth walls, corners, and the empty shell of what should’ve been an operation hub.

Garrett scanned along the baseboards and floor seams. “No panels. No hidden trapdoors,” he muttered. “If they were here, they took everything with them.”

Outside, the steady chop of Noah’s helicopter grew louder as it passed overhead. The searchlight swept the ground around the hangar, long arcs of white cutting through the dark.

Cal’s flashlight cut out suddenly, plunging them into deeper shadow for half a heartbeat before flicking back on.

Noah’s voice came through the comm, low and tight. “Team One, I’m not seeing any exterior movement. Copy?”

Gage’s gaze swept the vast, hollow space. “Copy,” he answered.

They moved in tighter this time, every sense on edge. The second hangar loomed larger, its doors sealed, padlocked, and wired into the same security grid. Garrett knelt again, working faster now, his hands steady despite the tension crackling in the air.

“Security jammed,” he whispered. “We’re in.”

Cal eased the door open. The hinges groaned, a low metallic sound that echoed in the still night. Rena and Gage were the first through, and the smell hit immediately. Oil, metal, gunpowder. Not bleach. Not clean.

Gage swept his light across the space and froze. “Holy hell,” he muttered.