Chapter 4 - The Midnight Transfer
At 2:15 AM, heavy boots echoed down the wing. Two unfamiliar guards in tactical rigs unlocked Cell 104 without speaking. Leo slipped the brass drive into the seam of his waistline, hands held up. They cuffed him roughly, zip-tying his ankles with deliberate cruelty before dragging him toward the rear sally port. The transport van had no county insignias, only tinted rear glass and an armored cage partition. Inside, the air was freezing. Through the mesh divider, Leo watched the driver take County Road 9 instead of the highway toward the district facility. When the vehicle rounded the hairpin curve along Black River Ridge, the driver suddenly glanced into the rearview mirror. His eyes were wide, panicked. Behind them, two sets of high beams surged over the hill at breakneck speed. The lead pursuer rammed the rear bumper with tremendous force, sending the van skidding sideways toward the guardrail above the dark, churning water below.
