Chapter 6 - The Iron Net
Red flashing indicators lit up the dashboard display. The tracking signal wasn't coming from outside the truck—it was transmitting from within the very documents Marcus held.
Marcus quickly examined the thick manila folder under the dim cab light. Running his fingers along the reinforced cardboard spine, he felt a minute, rigid bump. Tearing the paper lining away, he revealed a paper-thin RFID tracking strip woven directly into the binding.
“Victoria planned for the possibility of someone finding it,” Marcus said, pinching the micro-transmitter between his fingers and snapping it in half. “She already knows our heading.”
“We’re two miles out from the river bridge,” Frank said, checking his side mirrors. “Highway patrol isn't responding on the police bands. The entire precinct around the Sterling estate has been locked down under a bogus private emergency protocol.”
Ahead, the two-lane rural road crossed an old steel suspension bridge over the swollen river. But as their headlights swept across the span, two dark cruisers swerved into position, blocking both lanes with blinding high beams.
Behind them, heavy headlights materialized from the tree line, closing the gap rapidly.
“They’ve boxed us in,” Frank muttered, easing his foot toward the brake pedal. “We can’t ram through those cruisers without risking Lily in the back.”
Marcus glanced back at Lily, who was still asleep beneath his suit jacket, oblivious to the steel trap snapping shut around them.
“Don’t stop, Frank,” Marcus commanded quietly.
“Marcus, look at the bridge! There’s nowhere to go!”
May you like
“Take the construction detour down toward the old barge canal,” Marcus said, pointing to a narrow opening in the wooden barricades where roadwork had been abandoned. “Now!”
Frank spun the wheel violently. The pickup bucked as it left the paved surface, plunging down the muddy embankment into the darkness beside the river.
