Chapter 23 - The Iron Trap
The engine of the Ford Raptor roared to life with a deep, guttural growl that shook the floorboards of the old barn. Dante slammed the gear into four-wheel drive, his hands gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity as he watched the rearview mirror.
"Hold on to each other!" Dante yelled over the deafening roar of the engine.
In the back seat, half-buried under moving blankets and emergency gear, Elena held Sophie tightly against her chest, whispering soothing lullabies into the little girl's hair while her own heart threatened to burst from her chest.
With a brutal screech of tearing metal, Dante hit the gas pedal. The heavy truck surged forward, smashing directly through the barn’s massive wooden doors. Shards of timber flew into the air like toothpicks as the vehicle burst out of the structure and into the blinding white fury of the blizzard.
As soon as they cleared the property, the crackle of gunfire erupted from the side of the road. Bullets pinged harmlessly off the reinforced armored plating of the Raptor’s doors, leaving jagged starbursts on the glass.
"Bastards," Dante muttered under his breath, his eyes fixed on the narrow, winding logging road ahead.
The road was completely unplowed, hidden beneath three feet of fresh powder, but Dante drove with reckless, supernatural precision, reading the invisible contours of the earth through instinct and memory. Behind them, two sleek black SUVs emerged from the tree line, their high-beams cutting blinding shafts of light through the snow as they gave chase, closing the distance with terrifying speed.
"They're gaining on us, Dante!" Elena shouted from the back, peering through the rear window as the lead SUV fishtailed around a sharp mountain curve, its bumper inches from the snowbank.
"Let them try," Dante said coldly.
He tapped a hidden toggle switch on the dashboard—a legacy modification from his old life. A heavy steel drop-gate at the rear of the truck bed lowered slightly, releasing a cascade of heavy tire spikes onto the icy road surface.
A second later, a screech of tortured rubber echoed behind them. In the rearview mirror, Dante watched with satisfaction as the lead SUV hit the spikes, its front tires blowing out instantly. The vehicle violently careened off the icy road, plunging headfirst into a deep ravine filled with thick pines and burying itself in a massive drift of snow.
The second SUV slammed on its brakes to avoid a collision, sliding sideways across the narrow road and blocking the path entirely.
May you like
"That buys us ten minutes," Dante said, shifting gears as he pushed the truck down the steep, twisting descent toward the highway. "Ten minutes is all we need to reach the safe zone."
---
