Chapter 6 - The Escape Down Route 9
The heavy metal back door of the hardware store slammed shut behind Arthur and Leo as they burst out into the sun-drenched alleyway, the distant shouts of Officer Higgins and the federal agent fading into a muffled roar. Leo sprinted toward his faded red pickup truck idling near the industrial dumpster, fumbling in his pocket for the keys before remembering he had left them in the ignition. He wrenched the driver's side door open and threw himself behind the wheel, cranking the ignition. The engine sputtered, coughed once, and then roared to life with a satisfying, deep rumble.
Arthur yanked the passenger door open and slid heavily onto the worn vinyl seat, slamming the door shut with a solid thud. He immediately jammed his seatbelt into the buckle, his chest heaving as he caught his breath.
"Step on it, Leo!" Arthur urged, pointing down the narrow alleyway toward the secondary exit that led straight onto Route 9 heading north. "They're already looping around the block. If they cut us off at the overpass, we're finished."
Leo didn't hesitate. He slammed the gearshift into drive and floored the accelerator, the rear tires spinning furiously against the gravel before catching traction and launching the truck out of the alleyway like a missile. They burst onto Route 9 just as the sleek black sedan pulled out from the adjacent side street, its tires squealing in high-pitched protest as it accelerated into pursuit.
"They're on our tail!" Leo shouted, checking the rearview mirror as the black vehicle closed the distance with terrifying speed. The tinted windshield reflected the glare of the afternoon sun, making it impossible to see the drivers inside, but the aggressive way the sedan hugged their bumper left no doubt about their intentions.
"Take the old logging road just past the abandoned mill," Arthur instructed, his voice remarkably steady despite the chaotic momentum of the chase. He pulled the brass key out of his pocket, turning it over in his calloused fingers. "They think this key opens a safety deposit box at the bank. Let them look there. The real vault is fifty feet underground."
Leo swung the steering wheel hard to the left, sending the pickup truck careening onto a bumpy, overgrown dirt path choked with overgrown pine branches and jagged rocks. The truck bounced violently, throwing both men against their seatbelts, but the heavier sedan behind them struggled to maintain traction on the loose gravel, its low-slung chassis scraping loudly against a protruding boulder.
"That bought us thirty seconds," Leo panted, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned pure white. "Art, you need to start talking right now. What vault? What are those men looking for?"
Arthur looked out the passenger window at the dense, darkening forest rushing past them. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a heavy, sealed military envelope stamped with a bright red TOP SECRET - EYES ONLY seal that had begun to flake away with age.
"They aren't looking for documents, Leo," Arthur said quietly. "They're looking for what we buried inside the mountain when the base was shut down in 1973. And my key is the only thing left on earth that can unlock the override."
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Leo slammed on the brakes as the dirt road dead-ended abruptly at a rusted, padlocked chain-link gate covered in warning signs. Behind them, the roar of the black sedan’s engine grew deafeningly loud as it rounded the final bend of the logging road.
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