Chapter 15 - The Horizon of Peace
One year to the day after the midnight crawl through the pantry vent, I stood on the sandy shore of Cannon Beach along the rugged Oregon coast.
The magnificent monolithic sea stacks rose from the crashing Pacific surf, bathed in the radiant golden hues of the setting sun.
I wore a warm cream cashmere sweater and comfortable denim jeans, my bare feet sinking into the cool, wet sand as the tide washed over my toes.
There was no pain in my stride, no fear in my heart, and no shadow looming behind my shoulder.
Evelyn and Preston were locked away in windowless federal cells thousands of miles away, spending their days staring at concrete walls, completely forgotten by the world they had tried to rule.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small, scratched steel church-key bottle opener that had saved my life on that freezing winter night.
I looked at the simple piece of metal, remembering the blinding agony, the blood on my sleeve, and the unyielding vow I made to never be broken.
With a smooth, powerful motion of my arm, I hurled the metal opener far out into the roaring Pacific surf.
It flashed once in the golden twilight before disappearing forever beneath the rolling waves of the deep ocean.
The debts of the past were settled in full.
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The empire of cruelty had been dismantled into dust.
And the woman who had crawled through the dark was now walking freely toward the boundless, brilliant dawn of tomorrow
