Chapter 6 - A Ghost on the Grid
""Hold on!"" Thomas yelled, stomping on the accelerator of the dilapidated van.
The vehicle lurched forward down the unpaved back road, tires throwing up rooster tails of mud. Behind them, a sleek black SUV surged through the darkness, its high beams blinding Thomas through the glass. Marianne’s security team had realized the grave was disturbed.
""They have GPS tracking on this van,"" Thomas shouted over the rattling frame. ""It's registered to the estate!""
Elena looked at her shattered phone screen. The Sterling reach was absolute; if they were stopped, neither of them would survive the night. ""Turn into the quarry access road! The bridge is washed out!""
""Are you insane? We'll plunge into the gorge!""
""They won't follow us if they think we're dead!"" Elena gritted her teeth, ignoring the agonizing spasms in her spine. ""Cut the lights completely!""
Thomas slammed the dashboard switch. Darkness engulfed them at sixty miles per hour. Trusting his decades of memory on these rural roads, Thomas cranked the wheel hard to the left, diving down a steep gravel descent. The black SUV roared past the overgrown turnoff, missing them by mere seconds before its brake lights flared in the distance.
Thomas steered the shuddering van behind an abandoned rusted gravel sorter and killed the engine. Both of them sat in suffocating silence, listening to the rain drumming against the metal roof. After three excruciating minutes, the SUV slowly cruised past the quarry entrance and continued down the highway toward town.
""We have an hour, maybe two, before they search every back road,"" Thomas breathed, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
Elena stared at the cracked display of her phone. She needed an ally who Marianne Sterling couldn't buy, intimidate, or bury. Her eyes locked on a private contact number saved under an alias—a man she had promised never to contact unless the Sterling family decided to destroy her completely.
She dialed the unlisted number. It rang three times before clicking open.
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""I told you never to call this line,"" a deep, gravelly voice answered from a distant city.
""Jonathan,"" Elena whispered, her voice trembling with blood and venom. ""Your mother just tried to bury me alive. And she took your son.""
