Chapter 78: The Tear Gas Protocol
The southern boundary of Alderwood Manor ran along a steep, rocky ravine where ancient pine trees had once sheltered the private bridle path from the coastal highway. In the pitch blackness of the arctic night, forty figures trudged through four feet of powdery snow, their movements slow, quiet, and ragged with exhaustion. They did not carry torches or lanterns, relying entirely on the faint gray luminescence reflected from the frozen clouds above.
Between them, hoisted across the padded shoulders of twelve shivering men, rested three heavy extension ladders stolen from an abandoned municipal telephone depot.
Montgomery walked at the front of the column, an iron tire iron gripped tightly in his bare right hand, his boots breaking a trench through the dr
