Chapter 9 - The Signal Jammer
Agent Miller tossed the tiny magnetic GPS transmitter onto the damp forest floor, raised his boot, and crushed it beneath his heel with a satisfying crunch of plastic and microchips. He then walked briskly back to the driver's side door, pulled it open, and slid back into the vehicle, slamming it shut against the encroaching chill of the rain.
"Found it," Miller said, brushing a few pine needles off his leather jacket. "Tucked right inside the inner lining of the suitcase. Standard military-grade tracker. Vance didn't buy that off the shelf; he had it custom-installed."
Emily let out a long, shuddering breath, staring down at the open suitcase where the torn lining exposed the hollow space where the device had been hidden. "So they were tracking us the entire time we were driving down the highway?"
"Right up until I killed the signal," Miller nodded, turning the ignition key and bringing the SUV's engine back to life with a low, steady purr. "Which means they know we pulled off the main highway somewhere near this sector, but they don't have our exact coordinates anymore. We've got a window of maybe twenty minutes before they start grid-searching these logging roads."
He shifted into four-wheel drive and maneuvered the vehicle back out onto the main road, heading north toward the abandoned quarry.
"What about the people on the burner phone?" Emily asked, wiping a smudge of dirt from Marcus’s cheek with her thumb. "The ones who are supposed to meet us at the water tower?"
"They'll be there," Miller said grimly. "Provided they aren't compromised either. In my line of work, you don't trust a voice on a burner phone until you see their badge face-to-face."
The mood inside the SUV grew heavy. The children had fallen quiet again, exhausted by the sheer terror of the morning and the relentless motion of the escape. Only Leo remained wide awake, staring out the window with an intensity far beyond his eight years.
"Mr. Miller?" Leo asked softly from the back seat.
"Yeah, kid?" Miller replied, glancing in the rearview mirror.
"Is my dad going to go to prison?"
Miller hesitated for a fraction of a second, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "If those papers in Emily's lap are what I think they are, kid... your old man isn't just going to prison. He's going to a place where they throw away the key and forget they ever built the doors."
Leo didn't cry. He simply nodded once, a grim expression settling over his youthful features.
Ten minutes later, the dense pine forest began to thin out, giving way to the jagged, gray limestone cliffs of the abandoned quarry. Through the pouring rain, the rusted skeletal frame of an old water tower loomed against the gray sky like a forgotten giant.
May you like
Miller slowed the SUV to a crawl, turning down the overgrown access road that led directly to the base of the tower. There was no sign of the secure transport team. Just empty gravel, stagnant puddles, and an eerie, deafening silence.
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