Chapter 1 - The Dark Route to North ValleyThe headlights of Gabriel’s pickup truck cut through the thick Ohio fog like jagged knives. His knuckles were welded to the steering wheel, turning his skin chalk-white. In the passenger seat, the digital clock blinked a silent, terrifying countdown: 11:15 PM.
He had forty-five minutes to reach the abandoned North Valley Youth Residence before midnight.
If he was late, Candice would make good on her threat. Lucas would share Clara’s fate.
“Dad, she’s not alone,” Lucas whispered, his voice trembling as he clutched the silver christening cup to his chest like a shield. “When she took me from the station... she wasn't talking to herself. She was talking through an earpiece. Someone else is telling her what to do.”
Gabriel didn't answer. His mind raced back to Dr. Samuel Reed, the therapist with the blue-stone ring. Reed was arrested, but the network was deeper than one corrupt psychologist. Candice was a pawn in a much larger, darker syndicate—a cartel of grief traffickers who preyed on vulnerable families, wiping out generations for insurance payouts and hidden trusts.
And now, they had Lucas.
Gabriel slammed his foot harder on the gas pedal. The truck roared, surging past the fifty-mile marker toward the dense, isolated woodlands surrounding the shuttered North Valley facility.
The road narrowed, winding through dense pine trees that swallowed the moonlight. Suddenly, the truck’s dashboard flickered. The radio hissed, cutting through the static with a chillingly familiar voice.
“Tick-tock, Gabriel,” Candice’s voice echoed through the built-in speaker system of the truck.
Gabriel’s eyes snapped to the center console. She was hacking his vehicle’s digital network.
“You think you’re a hero because you found a few files?” Candice laughed, a cold, metallic sound. “You don’t even know who you’re fighting, trucker. Look in your rearview mirror.”
Gabriel glanced up. Two sets of high beams blinded him. A pair of heavy black SUVs had materialized out of the fog, tailgating him so closely he could smell the burning rubber of their tires.
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They were trying to run him off the road—the exact same trap they had set for him on the Phoenix route.
“Hold on, Lucas!” Gabriel roared, yanking the steering wheel hard to the left as a bullet—or a stone—shattered the side window glass with an explosive CRACK.
