Sherrie ‘Sharp-Shooter’'s Arc

Chapter 11 of 13

The blast tore through the tunnel and the ground shook under her feet. Sherrie felt the rumble in her chest as concrete cracked and steel groaned. She stood behind her truck and watched the entrance collapse inward, dust billowing out in a thick cloud that rolled across the road. The yellow sign tilted further and fell. When the dust settled, the tunnel was gone. Just a wall of broken concrete and twisted rebar where the passage used to be. The Ravens' excavation route was cut off. Six months of their work buried under rubble. She climbed into the truck and started the engine. Her hands were steady on the wheel. She'd fired a shot to clear them out, finished their demo work herself, and brought down the route her father had built decades ago. The northern passage was dead. No more shortcuts through the mountains. No more fast runs to the eastern markets. Every shipment would take the southern pass now, slower and costlier, but the Ravens couldn't touch it. She pulled onto the road and drove back toward Rust Creek. The map was still in her pocket but she didn't need to look at it anymore. She'd made the choice her father had laid out for her. Sacrifice the route to save the business. Cut the Ravens off from what they were digging for and accept the permanent loss. It was the right call. She knew that. But she also knew what it meant. Her father had handed her the solution and she'd executed it exactly as he'd shown her. She hadn't found her own way through. She'd followed his. When she reached the scrap apartment building, the sun was starting to rise. She parked and sat in the truck for a minute, looking at the building where her father had taught her to keep two sets of books, to hide what needed hiding, to protect the operation no matter the cost. She'd protected it tonight. The Ravens were blocked and the excavation was finished. But the route was gone and she'd destroyed it with her own hands. She got out and walked inside to tell her father it was done.