Chapter 5 - The Ambush on Marsh LaneThe rain came down in blinding sheets, turning the dirt tracks of Marsh Lane into a treacherous slip-and-slide of mud and marsh grass. Norah gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, her eyes glued to the twin beams of her dim headlights as they bounced wildly across the road.
“Faster,” Julian warned, scanning the rearview mirror where the shadowy silhouettes of the SUVs trailed closely behind. “Sterling’s scouts know these shortcuts. If they cut us off at the old timber bridge, we’re finished.”
“This car doesn't have a ‘faster’ setting!” Norah shouted over the roar of the engine and the deafening clatter of rain on the roof. “If I push it any harder, the transmission is going to drop out into the swamp!”
As if in answer to her prayers—or curses—a blinding flash of lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the road ahead.
Blocking the narrow timber bridge fifty yards away stood a massive, black utility truck, its high beams glaring blindingly into Norah’s eyes. Two men in tactical rain gear stepped out from behind its open doors, holding heavy-duty automatic rifles pointed straight at the windshield.
“Hit the deck!” Julian roared, shoving Norah’s head down against the steering wheel just as a volley of suppressed gunfire ripped through the hood of the sedan.
The sound was deafening—a terrifying, rhythmic thwack-thwack-thwack of bullets tearing through metal, shattering the radiator, and blowing out the front tires. The sedan fishtailed violently, sliding sideways across the slick mud before crashing hard against a rotting wooden guardrail with a sickening crunch.
“Are you hit?” Julian asked instantly, grabbing her shoulders and checking her over in the dark, cramped space of the wrecked car.
“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Norah gasped, coughing on the thick smoke pouring from the ruined engine bay. She looked up through the shattered windshield. The men from the utility truck were jogging toward them through the pouring rain, their weapons raised.
“Stay inside,” Julian commanded coldly.
Before Norah could protest, he kicked his door open, rolled into the knee-deep mud of the ditch, and returned fire with terrifying precision. Two sharp cracks echoed through the storm. In the flash of lightning, Norah saw both men stumble and hit the ground, their weapons skidding away into the tall marsh grass.
Julian didn't hesitate. He scrambled back to the sedan, wrenched Norah’s door open, and hauled her out into the freezing rain.
“Come on! Move!” he shouted, grabbing her hand.
“My car—”
“It’s dead, Norah! Just like Sterling wants us to be!”
Just then, one of Julian’s armored SUVs roared past the blocked bridge, smashing directly into the side of the utility truck and shoving it off the wooden span and down into the murky swamp water below. The rear door of the SUV swung open.
“Get in!” a bodyguard yelled over the storm.
May you like
Norah and Julian scrambled into the back seat, slamming the heavy armored doors just as another burst of automatic gunfire pinged harmlessly off the bulletproof glass.
“To the gas station,” Julian ordered, wiping rain from his face, his gray eyes burning with cold fury. “We’re out of time.”
