Chapter 21 Planning And Action
It was early morning when we started planning. Carson spread all the files on the living room table, the laptop was open and the little book from Fred was beside it. There were pages, screenshots, names, photos—all mixed together.
“This is everything we need,” Carson said.
I stared at it all. It looked like a war map. A quiet war, full of secrets and shadows.
“So, how do we do this?” I asked.
“We go public,” he said. “We hit them where it hurts and this is not leaving behind their reputation, their money, all of it,”he added.
I nodded slowly. “Okay. But how do we do that safely?”I asked.
Carson tapped the laptop. “We send it out to the right people including the journalists, investigators, and even social media. Everything at once, so they can’t stop it.”He said .
I swallowed. “And if they find us before that?”I asked.
He looked at me. “Then we go down fighting,”He said.
We didn’t eat much that day because we were too focused and too alert, we just wanted to sort everything out and that's all on our mind . Every sound made us jump. Every car that passed made us pause to check through the window.
By noon, Carson had set up a private server, where we uploaded every file, every video, and every photo.
“I’ve written a summary,” he said. “A short note explaining everything, with links to all the evidence,”he added.
“Are you sure this will work?” I asked.
“If it doesn’t, nothing else will,” he replied.
We scheduled the release for midnight.
“That way,” Carson explained, “they won’t see it coming. By morning, it’ll be everywhere,”he said.
I looked at the time. We had less than 12 hours left.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“We prepare. Just in case,” he said.
We locked the house. We checked every window and door. Carson even put a knife under the couch and a bat by the bed.
That evening, we sat quietly in the living room.
Fred hadn’t called back. Maybe he was running or maybe he was dead, no one knows.
I kept checking the clock. It felt like it wasn’t moving.
“Do you think people will believe it?” I asked.
“They will,” Carson said. “The evidence is too strong.”he added.
I looked down. “What if they still win?”I asked
He touched my hand. “Then at least we didn’t stay silent. We fought back,”He said.
It was almost midnight now.
Carson checked the system. “Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “Let’s do it,”I said.
He clicked a button and boom !! All the files were gone, all sent out.
“There’s no turning back now,” he said.
Suddenly his phone rang, he froze before picking it up.
“Hello?” he said.
He listened for a while and ended the call.
“What is it?” I asked quickly.
“That was one of my old contacts,” he said. “It’s already started spreading , people are sharing the files. News sites are picking it up.”
My eyes widened. “That fast?”I asked in surprise.
“Yes,” he said. “Greg and Victoria won’t sleep tonight.”he said again.
We stayed up all night, watching the reactions online, people were shocked, reactions with different Comments like “Corruption.” “Secrets.” “Justice.” “How could they do this?”
At 5 AM, Carson leaned back in the chair.
“We did it,” he said. “This is going to shake everything.”he said again.
But just as I started to breathe easier… there was a loud sound of a car down slammed outside.
Carson stood quickly and looked out the window.
“They’re here,” he whispered.
And without wasting of time he pulled the bat from the wall.
“Stay behind me,” he said and not long after the door burst open.
Two men bursted in, although I didn’t recognize them, but their faces were looking so hard.
“Get away from her,” Carson shouted.
One of them charged into the fight, but Carson swung the bat, hitting him hard in the arm, the man yelled and fell back.
The second man rushed forward. I grabbed the lamp and threw it at him. He ducked, but it gave Carson enough time to grab him and shove him into the wall.
But they kept coming, then another man appeared and this one had a gun.
“Enough!” he shouted and then he looked at me.
“You should’ve stayed quiet, Annabel,” he said.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “You messed with the wrong people,”he added.
He raised the gun, but just before then, Carson punched him hard which made the gun fall,and then they engaged in a physical fight, throwing punches and breaking furniture.
One of the men grabbed me by the hair, I stabbed him in the arm and he let go. Infact, it was all looking like a horror movie.
Carson was already bleeding from his mouth but still fighting and though we were outnumbered, we refused to give up. Luckily the gun slipped across the door.
“STOP!” I screamed.
Everyone froze.
I took the gun and pointed it at them with my hands shaking.
“Get out,” I said. “Or I’ll shoot,”I said again.
One of them smirked. “You won’t.”
“I will,” I said again.
Carson stood beside me now, breathing hard, blood on his shirt.
“You heard her,” he said.
Slowly, they backed away. One held his bleeding arm, the other was limping and the third man just stared at us with hate in his eyes.
“This isn’t over,” he said.
“It is for you,” Carson replied.
They left.
I locked the door behind them and collapsed on the floor.
My body was shaking and my eyes filled with tears.
Carson knelt beside me and held me close.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You were brave,”he added.
“I was scared,” I said.
“Me too,” he said. “But you didn’t break.”
“I almost did,” I whispered.
“But you didn’t,” he said. “And that’s what matters.”
I looked into his eyes.
“Will they come back?” I asked.
“Maybe,” he said. “But now the world is watching. They can’t hide anymore,”he added.
I leaned into him.
“We did it,” I said softly.
He nodded.
“We did it together,” he said.
Outside, the sky was turning light, which is the first sign of morning.
And at that moment, I knew we had started a storm.
And nothing would ever be the same again.