Chapter 7 - Highway Reckoning
The rear window of the lead chasing sedan shattered as an operative leaned out with a squad automatic weapon. Tracers lit up the rainstorm, tearing into the rear chassis of Julian’s SUV with the deafening force of hailstones on a tin roof.
"Armor’s holding, but tires won't take much more of this!" Marcus shouted, swerving hard to throw off the shooter’s line of sight as they rounded a hairpin curve along the cliffside.
"Drop the speed by twenty miles per hour on the next switchback," Julian ordered calmly, unbuckling his seatbelt and crawling into the cargo area.
"Boss, they'll pit-maneuver us!"
"Do it."
Marcus slammed the brakes as the SUV entered a sharp, blinded corner. The trailing sedan, expecting Vance to accelerate, surged forward recklessly to execute a ramming maneuver. Julian kicked open the hydraulic rear hatch.
Exposed to the rushing storm winds, Julian braced his feet against the interior frame, raised a thermal-scoped tactical shotgun loaded with sabot slugs, and fired through the sedan’s windshield.
The heavy slug pulverized the driver’s chest. The sedan jerked violently to the left, hit the slick embankment, flipped over three times in a spectacular shower of sparks and fuel, and slammed into the second pursuer, violently forcing both vehicles over the guardrail into the ravine below. A fireball illuminated the mountain face before being snuffed out by the pouring rain.
"Clear," Julian said, shutting the rear hatch and sliding back into the passenger seat.
Marcus breathed heavily, wiping rain and sweat from his eyes. "Five miles to Pier 44. But Boss... Ashford isn't working alone. He doesn't have the tactical infrastructure to deploy The Doll or run a military-grade snatch operation."
Julian stared at the diamond dagger brooch resting in his lap. "I know who he’s working for."
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"Who?"
"The one person who knew the cryptographic frequency of this brooch," Julian whispered. "Lily’s grandfather."
