Chapter 6 - The Road to Blackwood Lake
Sarah pressed the gas pedal to the floor as lightning fractured the black sky over the upstate highway.
Rain hammered the windshield like shrapnel, nearly drowning out the rhythmic slapping of the wipers.
Marcus dialed the number that had sent the execution order, putting the call on speakerphone.
The line clicked after only two rings.
“Is the package eliminated?” the voice on the other end demanded without greeting.
Marcus recognized the voice instantly; it was Police Chief Henderson.
“Your career ends tonight, Henderson,” Marcus spoke coldly into the microphone.
There was a heavy, suffocating silence on the line before Henderson spoke again in a flat, ruthless tone.
“You should have walked away, Reed,” Henderson said quietly.
“Victoria Montgomery owns this entire city, including the judges, the district attorney, and me,” the Chief added.
“Where is Clara?” Marcus demanded, his knuckles turning white around the phone casing.
“She is already as good as dead,” Henderson replied calmly.
“And by sunrise, you will be buried in the woods right beside her,” Henderson said before disconnecting the call.
Sarah glanced at Marcus, her jaw set with fierce determination.
“We cannot rely on the local authorities,” Sarah said, reaching into her bag to pull out a compact broadcast transmitter.
“What is that?” Marcus asked, eyeing the device.
“This connects directly to my independent news network’s satellite feed,” Sarah explained.
“When we breach that estate, every second will be streamed live to millions of online viewers,” Sarah said.
“No judge or police chief can bury what the entire country sees with their own eyes,” she continued.
Lily leaned forward between the front seats, pointing through the storm at an unpaved service road branching off the highway.
The rusted signpost at the entrance read: Blackwood Private Preserve — Keep Out.
Sarah killed the car’s headlights and guided the vehicle down the muddy trail beneath the thick canopy of pine trees.
Two miles deep into the forest, the towering stone gates of the Montgomery estate loomed through the rain.
Floodlights swept the perimeter, and two armed guards with German Shepherds patrolled the perimeter fence.
Lily gently tapped Marcus’s shoulder and pointed downward toward a concrete culvert running beneath the iron fence.
It was an overgrown runoff canal half-submerged in muddy rainwater.
Marcus checked his weapon, racked the slide, and looked back at Sarah and Lily.
May you like
“Stay behind me, no matter what happens,” Marcus instructed them quietly.
They slipped out of the car into the freezing storm, crouching low as they crawled into the subterranean culvert.
