Chapter 5 - The Crash
Panic flared violently in Victoria's chest, but she forced her mind to remain calculating and cold.
She had survived the cutthroat world of corporate takeovers; she absolutely wasn't going to die in the back of a cab.
The driver turned his attention back to the dark, winding road, keeping the gun resting on the center console.
He was driving them toward the abandoned shipyards, a perfectly isolated place to disappear bodies.
Victoria quietly unclasped the heavy diamond necklace from her throat.
The multi-million dollar piece was made of sharp, custom-cut platinum and heavy raw stones.
She wrapped it tightly around her knuckles like a glamorous set of brass knuckles.
"Maya, when I say go, cover your face," Victoria whispered directly into the child's ear.
The little girl squeezed her eyes shut and curled into a tight, trembling ball.
"Go!" Victoria screamed.
She lunged forward, smashing her diamond-wrapped fist directly into the driver’s temple.
The man grunted in intense pain, dropping the gun as his hands flew off the steering wheel.
The taxi swerved wildly, tires screeching loudly against the wet asphalt.
Victoria grabbed the wheel from the backseat, forcing the car toward a heavy chain-link fence.
They crashed through the metal barrier, the airbags deploying with a massive, blinding powder explosion.
The vehicle spun out of control and slammed hard into a stack of empty shipping containers.
The brutal impact shattered the windows and forced the locked doors to spring open.
Victoria grabbed Maya, pulling the dazed child out of the smoking, crumpled wreckage.
They limped away into the dark labyrinth of rusty metal containers just as the cab caught fire.
The pouring rain helped wash away their tracks in the thick, oily mud.
They found a small, rusted maintenance shed and ducked inside to hide from the elements.
Victoria was bleeding from a cut on her forehead, but Maya miraculously seemed unhurt.
Victoria pulled out the burner phone from the envelope, turning it on to use the flashlight.
As the screen lit up, a new text message popped up on the cracked display.
It was a live video feed.
Victoria tapped it, her breath catching as the video buffered and began to play.
It was security footage of a man walking into a secure bank vault, casually holding today's newspaper.
The man looked directly into the camera and smiled broadly.
May you like
Victoria dropped the phone in absolute, paralyzed horror.
It was her husband, Richard, looking completely alive and healthy.
