Chapter 9 - The Interstate Chase
The unmarked police sedan tore down the asphalt of Interstate 95, its siren wailing a piercing warning to the sparse late-night traffic. Detective Miller gripped the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity, his eyes locked on the dark ribbon of highway stretching ahead under the pale glow of the moon. Maya and Drew braced themselves against the backseat doors as the vehicle took a sharp curve at eighty miles per hour.
"There! In the middle lane!" Drew shouted, pointing through the cracked windshield toward a large, white prison transport van weaving recklessly between semi-trucks.
Detective Miller slammed his foot down on the accelerator, the engine roaring in protest as the sedan surged forward, closing the distance between them and the runaway vehicle.
Through the rear window of the transport van, a fleeting silhouette of a woman caught the glare of the police headlights. It was Sarah. She was glancing back at them, her expression eerily calm as she corrected her steering, cutting off a semi-truck that blasted its air horn in furious protest.
"She’s heading for the old abandoned shipping docks near the harbor!" Detective Miller yelled over the howling wind and sirens. "There’s no outlet there. Once she hits the pier, she’s trapped."
Maya leaned forward, gripping the back of the driver's seat. "Detective, watch out! She’s slowing down!"
Instead of braking normally, the transport van suddenly slammed on its emergency brakes in the middle of the fast lane. Detective Miller reacted instantly, spinning the steering wheel hard to the left and skidding across three lanes of wet pavement, narrowly avoiding a catastrophic head-on collision with a concrete highway divider.
The police sedan came to a violent halt, stalled against the guardrail with a crumpled front bumper and shattered headlight.
In front of them, the transport van’s doors flew open. Sarah stepped out onto the asphalt, but she wasn't running. She stood calmly in the middle of the highway, holding a heavy electronic detonator in her right hand, her coat billowing in the rush of passing traffic.
Detective Miller kicked his door open, drawing his weapon and stepping out onto the pavement. "Drop the device, Sarah! It’s over!"
Sarah smiled, her eyes fixing directly on Maya, who had stepped out of the passenger side door behind the detective.
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"It’s never over, Maya," Sarah called out over the roar of the highway traffic. "Because your mother didn't just steal money from your family. She buried a secret about your father that you aren't ready to hear."
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