Chapter 6 - HUNTED"Hold on!" Sarah roared, slamming the sedan into reverse.
The tires screeched violently, spitting gravel into the air as the car sped backward. A silenced gunshot cracked through the air, shattering Sarah’s windshield. Sarah swerved hard, crashing through a rusty chain-link fence and careening into the maze of the abandoned warehouse district.
"Out! Everybody out!" Sarah yelled as the sedan slammed to a halt against a row of rusted shipping containers, its radiator smoking heavily.
We scrambled out of the smoking vehicle. Rick barked, taking the lead and guiding us through a narrow gap between two metal containers just as Vance and Mark’s heavy footsteps echoed through the gravel lot behind us.
"Split up!" Sarah whispered urgently, shoving a small flash drive into my hand. "This has all the digital evidence of Vance's offshore accounts! Get to the local TV station in the city—broadcast it live! It's the only way to expose them publicly before they kill you!"
"I'm not leaving you!" I cried out.
"You have to! They want you, Leo!" Sarah shoved me hard into an open warehouse doorway. "Go!"
Before I could argue, Vance’s voice echoed nearby. Sarah ran in the opposite direction, drawing their attention away. I heard shouting, another gunshot, and Sarah's sharp cry of pain, but Rick tugged furiously at my jacket sleeve, pulling me deeper into the shadows of the warehouse.
Tears blinded my eyes, but survival took over. Rick led me through forgotten back alleys, underground drainage tunnels, and dense industrial parks, expertly avoiding police cruisers that were patrolling the streets with sirens blaring. To the public, I was a dangerous, mentally unstable arsonist on the run. To Mark and Vance, I was a loose end that needed to be put in the dirt.
As night fell again, soaking us in relentless cold rain, Rick and I took shelter inside an abandoned train car on the outskirts of the city.
I sat in the dark, shivering, holding the flash drive tightly. Rick laid his head on my lap, his soft eyes looking up at me with unwavering loyalty.
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"We're going to finish this, buddy," I whispered, stroking his wet head. "For Dad. For Sarah. For both of us."
I checked my phone—the battery was at 5%. I needed a way to get the data on that drive onto the news network's main server without getting caught at the front gates. And then, looking at Rick, an insane, brilliant plan began to take shape.
