Chapter 4 - The Safe Harbor
""Stay behind me,"" Arthur commanded in a low rasp, pulling the suppressed pistol from his jacket.
The wooden door rattled. A beam of white light sliced into the interior, illuminating the dust motes. A shadow crossed the threshold—a private mercenary wearing tactical gear bearing the Sterling emblem.
Before the guard could raise his rifle, Arthur lunged forward with devastating efficiency. Two muffled cracks echoed within the tin walls. The mercenary collapsed without a sound. Arthur dragged the body inside, swiftly stripping the man of his sidearm, extra magazines, and a satellite radio.
""More will be close behind,"" Arthur whispered, handing Elena the spare sidearm. ""Safety is off. Pull the trigger only if they corner you.""
They slipped out through the broken rear window, darting into the thick undergrowth. Night fell rapidly, blanketing the mountain ridge in pitch-black cover. They moved in silence for hours, avoiding secondary roads until the dim, sodium-vapor lights of a rail freight yard materialized in the distance.
""There's a junction box near track four,"" Arthur whispered, pausing beside a chain-link fence. ""A freight train heads west to Chicago every night at midnight. If we board an empty container, we vanish from his satellite nets.""
They cut through the chain link and darted between towering stacks of steel shipping containers. Steam hissed from idling locomotives. Ahead, a long freight train began to groan into motion, its steel wheels grinding along the rails.
""Run!"" Arthur urged.
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They sprinted toward an open boxcar. Arthur hoisted Elena upward, and she tumbled onto the rough wooden floorboards. She turned, reaching out her hand to pull Arthur up.
As Arthur gripped her fingers, a laser sight painted a bright red dot directly between his shoulder blades.
