Chapter 8 - The Drone Over Blackwood
The black drone hovered motionless, its high-definition lens spinning and adjusting like the cold eye of an insect. A small, red light pulsed beneath its carbon-fiber chassis, painting a steady beam onto the Bronco’s cracked dashboard.
""Get down on the floorboard, Lily!"" Jax yelled, slamming the gear shifter into reverse.
The drone didn't fire; it was an observer. But Jax knew what followed reconnaissance drones: heavy steel and rapid-response kill teams. He stomped the gas, sending the old truck rocketing backward down the overgrown path, branches whipping violently against the doors. He spun the wheel, executing a clumsy, roaring J-turn in the dirt clearing, and barreled down toward the marshlands of Blackwood Swamp.
Behind them, high above the treeline, the sound of rhythmic, heavy rotor blades began to beat the morning air.
""They have a bird,"" Jax muttered between clenched teeth.
Gabriel Vance wasn't sparing any expense. A private military helicopter had entered the airspace. Jax pushed the old Ford as hard as it would go, the engine temp gauge creeping dangerously into the red. Steam hissed from the edges of the hood.
""Daddy, Barnaby is heavy,"" Lily said from the floorboard, her small voice trembling.
Jax glanced down. Lily had managed to push her small hand inside the bear’s split seam, feeling around where the flash drive had rested.
""Don't play with it right now, sweetie,"" Jax said, wrestling the steering wheel as the truck hydroplaned through six inches of muddy standing water.
""No, look,"" Lily insisted. She pulled out a second object from the depths of the bear’s cotton belly. It wasn't electronics. It was a heavy, tarnished silver locket shaped like a winged crest—the personal seal of Gabriel Vance himself.
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Jax stared at the locket, his breath hitching. Sarah had never mentioned a locket.
Suddenly, the roof of the Bronco buckled inward with a terrifying crash. A burst of heavy-caliber machine-gun fire tore through the cab from the helicopter overhead, blowing out the rear window and sending shards of tempered glass raining down upon them.
