Chapter 5 - Fire in the Rain
A deafening explosion tore through the garage wing of the mansion, sending a massive fireball rolling into the night sky.
The concussive wave knocked Arthur flat onto the wet grass, covering him in debris and smoke.
Flames quickly consumed the four-car garage, threatening to spread to the main residential wing where the gas lines were located.
Arthur pushed himself up from the mud, coughing violently through the thick black smoke.
Marcus emerged from the rose garden, coughing but holding a tactical medical kit in one hand and two sidearms in the other.
"Take care of Maria, Marcus!" Arthur shouted over the roar of the blaze.
"I am going after my son!"
"You can't catch three armored vehicles on foot, Arthur!" Marcus yelled back, bandaging Maria's bleeding head.
Arthur sprinted toward the burning garage structure, where the flames hadn't yet touched the far corner bay.
Inside that bay sat Arthur’s custom armored utility truck, built specifically for executive transport in high-risk foreign territories.
Arthur smashed the bay's side window with a garden stone, hit the manual door release, and leaped into the driver's seat.
The high-output engine roared to life with a ferocious growl that drowned out the sound of the rain.
Arthur slammed the vehicle into reverse, crashing through the burning wooden garage doors and launching onto the gravel driveway.
He floored the accelerator, the four heavy off-road tires tearing through the mud as the truck rocketed past the shattered front gates.
Up ahead on the dark winding country road, the red taillights of the convoy pierced through the blinding sheets of rain.
Elena was sitting in the rear of the middle SUV, looking back through the tinted window.
She had expected Arthur to burn inside his own house; she hadn't anticipated his immediate, ruthless pursuit.
Arthur pulled up alongside the rear escort vehicle, deliberately slamming his heavy reinforced bumper into the SUV's rear quarter panel.
The impact sent the escort vehicle spinning uncontrollably across the slick asphalt before it crashed into a deep ditch and overturned.
Now only two vehicles remained between Arthur and his son.
The lead SUV, carrying little Leo, accelerated to ninety miles per hour, heading straight toward a private airstrip nestled near the coast.
Arthur gunned his engine, pulling up directly behind Elena's SUV on a narrow two-lane bridge suspended over a roaring river canyon.
Suddenly, the rear hatch of Elena’s vehicle popped open in front of him.
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A masked gunman emerged from the cargo area holding a military grenade launcher aimed directly at Arthur’s windshield.
Before the shooter could squeeze the trigger, a sleek silver sports car came out of nowhere, smashing directly into the gunman's SUV from an intersecting dirt access road.
