Chapter 3: Ambush on Route 7**
The armored suburban carved through the midnight rain along Virginia’s back roads. Julian monitored the rear scanner while Rory slept curled in the back seat, clutching a worn teddy bear Miller had found in a safehouse pantry.
Suddenly, headlights flared in the rearview mirror. Three unmarked black SUVs surged from the tree line, closing the gap with terrifying speed.
"Hold on!" Miller barked, spinning the steering wheel as the first heavy bumper slammed into their quarter panel. Sparks illuminated the dark highway.
Gunfire shattered the side mirrors. Julian lunged across the backseat, shielding Rory with his body as armor-piercing rounds cracked against the reinforced glass. The girl gasped, burying her face into his chest, her small hands clutching his lapels with desperate strength.
"They cut our comms!" Miller shouted, wrestling the vehicle around a sharp hairpin curve. "Sterling’s strike team!"
Julian reached under the passenger seat, pulling out a tactical flare gun and a breach charge. "Take the gravel road into the quarry. Cut the lights on three."
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As the SUV drifted across the wet gravel, Julian rolled down his window an inch, firing the high-intensity magnesium flare directly into the windshield of the lead pursuit vehicle. Blinded by the searing white phosphorus, the lead SUV veered sharply off the cliffside, crashing into the rock quarry below.
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