Chapter 6 - The Unholy Alliance"Get in the truck! NOW!" David Vance yelled, waving us toward an old, dented pickup idling in the mud outside.
I didn't ask questions. I grabbed Ethan by the arm, grabbed the ammo box, and sprinted through the rain, jumping into the passenger seat of the roaring vehicle. David slammed the door, shifted into reverse, and tore down the dirt road, leaving Rayner bleeding on the floor of the greenhouse.
"Who are you?!" I screamed over the roar of the engine. "Why did you shoot him?!"
"Because if he killed you, my last chance at redemption dies with you," David growled, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. "I was your mother’s trial lawyer six years ago. I knew she was innocent. But my own brother, Prosecutor Vance, bought me off. He threatened to revoke my license and destroy my family if I pushed back against the physical evidence."
"You let her take the fall!" I shouted, tears of pure rage burning my eyes. "You let my mother rot for six years!"
"I spent those six years drinking myself to death until your brother made that scene in the visitation room today!" David snapped back, his eyes glued to the dark road. "When Ethan pointed at Marcus, I realized the cartel was falling apart. I followed Rayner from the precinct. I knew he’d track your phone."
"My phone..." I paled. I had left my phone turned on. That’s how Marcus and Rayner had found us.
"Throw it out the window," David ordered.
I rolled down the glass and tossed the phone into the torrential rain, watching its screen flicker and die under the wheels of the truck behind us.
"Where are we going?" Ethan asked, shivering in the back seat.
"To the one place they will never expect us," David said grimly. "The State Governor's Mansion. The execution order was signed by the Governor. Only she has the power to grant immediate executive clemency and issue a federal warrant against the State Prosecutor's office."
"We don't have proof that will hold up against the Governor," I said, holding up the SD card. "We need a computer to read this, and we need someone to decrypt it."
"Your father was a genius, Ava," David said, turning onto the interstate. "He didn't just encrypt the file. He set up a master key. And do you know who holds the second half of that key?"
May you like
I stared at him in horror. "My mother."
"Exactly," David said. "Which means we have four hours to break into the State Maximum Security Penitentiary death row block before my brother realizes Rayner is shot and orders your mother’s immediate 'accidental' termination inside her cell."
