The kitchen clock ticked with a heavy, metallic resonance, each second dragging like a lead weight.

Jyn was behind the wheel, driving with the chilling, detached precision of a professional rally racer. He didn't brake for turns; he drifted the compact sedan around corners with brutal efficiency, missing a delivery truck by inches.

In the backseat, Nia held Leo tight against her shoulder, shielding his eyes from the strobing neon lights of storefronts blurring past. Thor sat jammed between Nia and Marcus, his massive head resting on the center console, staring straight ahead through the windshield as if calculating wind resistance.

"They're on us!" Marcus yelled, twisting around in the passenger seat. "Two black SUVs just pulled out from under the overbridge! They're gaining, Jyn! They're doing at least ninety!"

Jyn glanced in the rearview mirror. Twin sets of high-beam headlights pierced the rainy night, cutting through the spray like twin blades. The lead SUV swerved violently, attempting to slam its massive steel bumper into the rear quarter-panel of the Civic.

Clang!

Metal shrieked against metal. The Civic fishtailed, tires losing grip for a terrifying second before Jyn counter-steered with a violent jerk of the wheel, stabilizing the car.

"Jyn, they're going to ram us off the road!" Nia shouted over the roaring engine.

"They want the child alive, which means they won't shoot to kill—they'll shoot to disable," Jyn said, his voice terrifyingly calm. He reached down and popped the glove compartment. "Marcus. Take the grenade launcher—no, take the flashbangs."

"What do I do with them?!" Marcus cried, clutching a metal canister like it was a live venomous snake.

"Roll down your window, count to three, pull the pin, and throw it directly under their front tires," Jyn instructed smoothly, as if giving directions to a coffee shop. "Do not look at the flash. It will burn your retinas."

"I am an actuary! I calculate Excel spreadsheets for a living!" Marcus shrieked, tears springing to his eyes.

"Marcus! Do it!" Nia yelled.

With a terrified war cry that sounded more like a dying seagull, Marcus rolled down the passenger window. Rain lashed inside, soaking his hair. He fumbled with the pin, his fingers shaking uncontrollably, pulled it with his teeth, and hurled the canister backward into the spray.

Three seconds later, a blinding, magnesium-white detonation flared behind them, illuminating the entire city block like high noon.

Behind the Civic, the lead SUV slammed hard into a brick retaining wall as the driver was temporarily blinded by the million-lumen flash. The second SUV swerved wildly to avoid the wreck, spinning three sixty-two times before crashing nose-first into a fire hydrant, sending a towering geyser of water twenty feet into the air.