Chapter 2 - The Rearview Mirror
""Can you disable it?"" Elena urged, kneeling up to peer over Arthur’s shoulder.
""Not without putting the vehicle on a lift,"" Arthur muttered, swerving hard onto an unpaved logging trail. Dust billowed behind them, masking their trail momentarily beneath the canopy of towering firs. ""He has an eye on our coordinates every second. In twenty minutes, his private security convoy will form a perimeter.""
Elena grabbed the inside door handle to steady herself as the suspension bucked violently over ruts. Her mind raced back to the gilded manor: the open safe, the dossier marked Project Cerberus, and the body of Julian's own accountant slumped over the mahogany desk. She had witnessed Julian pull the trigger with an empty, cold smile. That was why she had kicked off her heels and sprinted into the blinding sun.
""If he catches us, he won't just lock me in the cellar, Arthur. He will bury us both,"" Elena said.
""Then we abandon the vehicle before they converge,"" Arthur said. He slowed the SUV as an abandoned quarry appeared ahead, surrounded by rusted machinery and mounds of crushed limestone.
He braked near the lip of an excavated pit. Arthur stepped out, opened the trunk, and hauled out a duffel bag containing spare clothes, forged identification, and an untraceable handgun. He reached into the cab, shifted the SUV into drive, and jammed a heavy iron tire iron against the accelerator.
The black vehicle surged forward, plunging over the edge of the pit, crashing into the rock pile forty feet below in a cascade of shattered glass and groaning metal.
Elena stood breathless in the dust. ""Now what?""
May you like
Arthur pointed toward a rusted maintenance shack at the edge of the tree line. ""We walk. Fast.""
As they stepped beneath the tree line, the distinct whirr of helicopter blades echoed across the valley.
