Chapter 14 - Into the Fire
The Vance family home—a sprawling two-story house nestled against the edge of the pine woods—was engulfed in flames on the east wing. A battered pickup truck sat idling in the driveway, its headlights illuminating the shattered front door.
Marcus didn't wait for his truck to come to a complete halt. He slammed it into park, grabbed a heavy 12-gauge shotgun from beneath his seat, and kicked open his door.
"Stay in the truck!" Marcus ordered.
"No!" Tyler shouted, jumping out into the rain right behind him. "That’s my mom!"
Marcus didn't have time to argue. From the smoking doorway of the house, Jesse Miller stumbled out, carrying a metal strongbox beneath one arm and dragging a woman by the hair with the other. Sarah Vance was covered in soot, blood streaming from a cut on her forehead, but she was kicking and fighting with every ounce of strength she had left.
"Get off me, you animal!" she screamed.
"Jesse!" Marcus roared, raising the shotgun.
Jesse spun around, using Sarah as a human shield, pressing the barrel of a snub-nosed revolver against her temple. "Back off, Vance! Or I blow her head off right here in the driveway!"
Wade Miller appeared from behind the pickup, leveling a rifle at Marcus. "End of the line, big guy. We got what we came for. The records, the cash, and your little family."
Marcus stood in the open driveway, rain plastering his hair to his skull, the shotgun leveled but unusable without risking Sarah's life. Tyler froze beside him, paralyzed by the sight of his mother with a gun to her head.
Suddenly, a loud crash shattered the standoff.
From Marcus's truck, Toby had managed to reach across the driver’s console. With all the upper-body strength he had built from months of wheeling himself through rehabilitation, he pulled the heavy gear shift into drive and wedged Marcus's heavy tire iron against the accelerator pedal.
The massive pickup truck lunged forward on its own, roaring directly toward Wade Miller.
"Look out!" Jesse screamed.
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Wade dove sideways into the mud as the three-ton truck smashed into the side of the Miller pickup with an apocalyptic screech of tearing metal and shattering glass.
The momentary distraction was all Marcus needed.
