Chapter 4 - The Highway Ambush
The mercenaries immediately raised their assault rifles and aimed them directly at our chests.
Elias grabbed a heavy brass stanchion from the lobby floor and hurled it through the massive glass window.
The glass shattered into thousands of deadly shards, creating a chaotic distraction that caught the guards off guard.
We dove through the broken window frame and rolled onto the cold concrete of the sidewalk.
Bullets chipped the stone pavement around our feet as we sprinted desperately back to the armored SUV.
I threw Sophie into the back seat and climbed in beside her while Elias took the wheel.
He slammed the vehicle into reverse, crushing the front end of a mercenary's pursuit car before speeding down the street.
The digital scanner on the dashboard let out a sharp, terrifying beep.
The countdown timer had reached exactly three minutes.
Sophie's screams grew louder, echoing painfully in the confined space of the armored vehicle.
I begged Elias to drive faster, my heart pounding violently against my ribs.
He swerved through the midnight traffic, taking a sharp turn onto the northbound highway leading to the mountains.
Two black pursuit vehicles roared up behind us, their headlights blinding me through the rearview mirror.
The mercenaries leaned out of their windows and opened fire with fully automatic weapons.
Heavy bullets pelted the reinforced armor of our SUV, leaving massive dents in the steel frame.
Elias calmly reached down and pressed a red button on the center console of his modified vehicle.
A thick slick of industrial oil sprayed out from the rear bumper, completely covering the highway behind us.
The first pursuit car lost control instantly, spinning wildly before crashing violently into the concrete median.
The second vehicle managed to avoid the oil slick, accelerating aggressively until it was right beside us.
The driver rolled down his window and aimed a high-powered shotgun directly at my daughter's window.
Elias aggressively slammed his steering wheel to the right, forcing our heavy SUV directly into the side of their car.
The impact sent the mercenary vehicle careening off the highway and rolling down a steep embankment into the darkness.
We had successfully eliminated the immediate threat, but the timer was now down to two minutes.
The mountain cabin was still at least ten miles away, and there was no way we could make it in time.
Sophie began to hyperventilate, the intense pain in her spine pushing her into physical shock.
Elias made a split-second decision and slammed the brakes, skidding to a halt on the empty mountain road.
He jumped out of the car, popped the hood, and ripped a thick electrical cable straight from the car's battery.
He ran to the back seat and told me to hold Sophie perfectly still.
He planned to use the raw battery current to completely fry the implant's internal receiver before it could detonate.
I warned him that a direct surge of electricity could easily stop her young heart.
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Elias looked me dead in the eye and said it was the only option we had left.
He pressed the exposed wires directly against the surgical scar on her lower back.
