Chapter 5 - THE HIGHWAY SHOWDOWNRoute 36 was a dark, asphalt ribbon cutting through the dense Illinois cornfields, flanked by towering billboards and pitch-black farmland.
The black Ford Explorer driven by Sarah Miller tore through the night at ninety miles per hour, its tail lights burning red streaks against the asphalt. Behind it, three Springfield police cruisers screamed through the dark, their emergency lights painting the cornstalks in flashing bars of crimson and blue.
"Suspect is refusing to yield!" Officer López reported over the tactical channel from the passenger seat of Daniel’s cruiser, her weapon unholstered and resting safely on her thigh. "She’s swerving across both lanes! She’s trying to force us off the road!"
"PIT maneuver is authorized when clear," Daniel commanded, gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. "Do not let her cross the county line into Indiana. Once she’s across, jurisdiction turns into a bureaucratic nightmare."
Ahead, the road curved sharply around a dense patch of oak trees.
Sarah Miller slammed her brakes, attempting a dangerous, high-speed spin to throw the pursuers off, but Daniel anticipated the move. He wrenched his steering wheel to the left, slamming his cruiser's reinforced push-bumper directly into the rear quarter-panel of the Ford Explorer.
SCREEECH—BANG!
Sparks showered across the pavement as metal ground against metal. The Explorer spun out in a violent arc, clipping a wooden guardrail before slamming hard into a drainage ditch, its engine smoking furiously under a crushed hood.
Daniel and María were out of their cruiser before the dust even settled, weapons drawn, shouting commands into the dark.
"Driver, show your hands! Do it now! Hands on the steering wheel!"
Inside the wrecked SUV, the airbag hung like a deflated white lung. Sarah Miller slumped against the steering wheel, coughing violently, her blonde hair matted with blood from a head wound. But she wasn't panicking. Even trapped in the wreckage with a broken axle, she turned her head slowly toward the shattered driver's window and smiled.
"You're too late," Sarah wheezed, blood trickling down her chin. "The servers in the Cayman Islands... they've already downloaded the master archive. The auction already happened."
May you like
María holstered her weapon, ripped the driver's door open with brute force, and hauled Sarah out of the wreckage, slamming her wrists into steel handcuffs with a cold, unforgiving snap.
"You're going away for the rest of your natural life, Sarah," María whispered in her ear. "And the only auction you'll be attending is a federal prison yard."
