Chapter 6 - The Trestle Bridge
The baying of the hounds cut through the damp morning air like iron shears.
Leo shoved the key into his jeans pocket, snapped the phone shut, and dashed back to the hemlock tree where Elena knelt, holding Mateo against her chest. Mateo’s eyes were wide with terror, but the little boy pressed both hands over his own mouth, mimicking the silence his parents had held.
""We have to run,"" Leo said, lifting Mateo onto his shoulders. ""Your father is alive. He’s at the old mill.""
Elena looked up, her expression a battle between shock and fury. ""Alive? He let us believe he was gone? He brought this danger to our doorstep?""
""We can argue about his sins after we get out of these woods,"" Leo said, taking Elena’s hand. ""Move!""
They sprinted down the deer trail, the ground sloping sharply downward toward Blackwood Creek. The loam was slick with wet needles, threatening to throw them off balance at every stride. Behind them, the barks of the hunting dogs grew louder, more frantic, echoing through the timber like thunder. Julian’s men had found their scent at the bilco doors.
Leo's lungs burned. Mateo clutched his father’s jacket collar with iron fingers, burying his face into Leo's hair. ""Fast, Papa, fast,"" the toddler whimpered.
Ahead, the rusted iron skeleton of the old railway trestle emerged through the pine branches. Below it, parked half-concealed under a corrugated tin shed, sat an ancient wood-paneled station wagon, its dark green paint dusted with pine pollen.
Leo pulled Elena toward the shed. He yanked the brass key from his pocket and thrust it into the driver's side door. It turned with a heavy, satisfying click.
""Get in! Get in the back, stay on the floor!"" Leo barked.
Elena scrambled into the rear footwell, pulling Mateo tight against her ribs. Leo slid behind the wheel, shoved the key into the ignition, and twisted.
The starter sputtered. Chug-chug-chug-chug.
""Come on,"" Leo growled, pumping the gas pedal. ""Come on, you piece of junk.""
Fifty yards up the ridge, two massive black Rottweilers broke through the ferns, their jaws flecked with foam. Right behind them emerged one of Julian's tactical guards, weapon raised.
Chug-chug-VROOOOM!
The V8 engine roared to life in a cloud of blue exhaust. Leo slammed the transmission into reverse just as a round blew out the side mirror, showering the dirt in chrome fragments.
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Tires spinning in the mud, the wagon lunged backward onto the dirt service road. Leo wrenched the wheel, shifted into drive, and floored the accelerator. The car surged forward, spraying wet gravel over the charging dogs.
Through the rearview mirror, Leo saw the guard drop to one knee, raising his rifle for a clean shot at the rear window. Elena screamed as Leo jerked the wheel to the right—just as a thunderous explosion detonated behind them, blowing the old shed into a fireball of flying metal and splintered wood.
