Chapter 17 - The Abduction
"They found us," Liam shouts, slamming his laptops shut and shoving the portable hard drives into his tactical backpack.
"How?" I panic, grabbing my jacket. "You said this place was off the grid!"
"They didn't track our electronics," Liam curses, pulling his firearm from his holster.
"They tracked my car. Vanguard owns the company that manufactures the GPS modules in this model."
We sprint out the back door of the monitoring station just as three black, heavily modified tactical vehicles tear through the desert brush, kicking up massive clouds of blinding dust.
Heavily armed men in unmarked tactical gear pour out of the vehicles before they even come to a complete stop.
"Run for the canyon!" Liam yells, providing cover fire.
His shots ring out loudly in the quiet desert, shattering the windshield of the lead vehicle.
I sprint toward the jagged red rocks, my lungs burning in the dry heat.
Dust and gravel explode around my feet as the mercenaries return fire with suppressed automatic weapons.
I am not a soldier; I am just a teenager in a college sweatshirt.
I trip over a hidden root and slam hard into the dirt, scraping my hands and knees raw.
Liam stops running and turns back to grab me. It is a fatal mistake.
A mercenary flanks us from the right and tackles Liam to the ground with brutal force.
Liam's gun goes flying into the dust.
Another man kicks Liam in the ribs, forcing him down.
I try to crawl away, but a heavy combat boot steps firmly on my back, pinning me to the earth.
A strong hand grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks me upward.
"Do not kill the boy," a cold, authoritative voice echoes through a radio clipped to the mercenary's vest.
"Bring them both to the winery. The girl will not talk if she doesn't have something to lose."
They zip-tie my wrists painfully tight behind my back and throw a heavy canvas bag over my head.
I am shoved violently into the back of a van.
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I hear Liam being thrown in next to me, groaning in pain.
The doors slam shut, plunging us into total darkness, and the van speeds off into the desert.
