Chapter 58
A Race Against Time
The SUV tore down the dirt road, kicking up dust as Mateo gripped the wheel with white-knuckled intensity. The two motorcycles behind them were gaining fast, their headlights glowing like twin demons in the dark.
Elena kept her eyes locked on the side mirror, watching the riders weave between the trees with alarming precision. These weren’t amateurs.
“Jordan, tell me you have eyes on this,” she said into her earpiece.
Jordan’s voice crackled through. “I see them. Two armed riders, semi-automatic weapons. No backup—yet.”
“Yet?” Naomi shot him a sharp look. “That’s not comforting.”
Amira pulled her rifle from beneath her seat and checked the magazine. “We need to deal with them before backup arrives.”
Richard swallowed hard. “And by ‘deal with them,’ you mean…?”
Amira smirked. “Exactly what you think I mean.”
Elena turned back to the bikes. They were getting too close.
One of the riders lifted a weapon—an Uzi.
“Down!” she shouted.
The bullets sprayed across the SUV’s reinforced rear, leaving deep dents but failing to pierce through. Mateo swerved hard to the left, dodging another volley of fire.
Naomi scowled. “They’re persistent.”
Amira rolled down her window, bracing her rifle. “Not for long.”
She took a deep breath, aimed—and fired.
The bullet struck the first rider’s front tire. The bike wobbled violently before flipping sideways, sending the rider tumbling into the dirt in a blur of limbs and shattered metal.
“One down,” Amira muttered.
The second rider, undeterred, sped up and pulled alongside the SUV. Too close.
Elena acted fast, unbuckling her seatbelt and sliding halfway out of the window. The cold wind hit her face like a slap as she extended her arm, knife in hand.
The rider saw her too late.
With a quick, precise slash, Elena’s blade cut through the fuel line. A second later, flames erupted beneath the bike. The rider veered off-course, desperately trying to regain control—before the entire motorcycle exploded in a fiery burst.
Elena ducked back inside. “That takes care of them.”
Mateo chuckled. “Remind me never to piss you off.”
Jordan’s voice cut in, urgent. “Don’t celebrate yet. A blacked-out SUV is coming in hot from the north. That’s Vincent’s men.”
Richard groaned. “Of course it is.”
Amira slammed another magazine into her rifle. “Then we do it again.”
Mateo narrowed his eyes at the road ahead. “Not this time.”
He jerked the wheel hard. The SUV veered off the road, crashing through the underbrush. Branches snapped against the windshield as the tires struggled for traction.
Elena gritted her teeth. “Where the hell are we going?”
Mateo didn’t answer. Because up ahead, hidden in the trees, was a tunnel.
Naomi’s eyes widened. “No way. You planned this?”
Mateo smirked. “More like I prepared for bad luck.”
The SUV roared into the tunnel just as Vincent’s men appeared at the top of the ridge. Their headlights beamed down into the forest, but by then—
Elena and her team had already vanished into the darkness.
