Chapter 14
The Honda’s rear tires spun wildly against the concrete, sending up a cloud of white rubber smoke before catching traction and launching the car backward through the gap beneath the rolling garage door. The heavy metal barrier scraped violently across the roof of the vehicle, leaving a deep, jagged scratch from windshield to trunk as they burst out into the grey afternoon light.
Arthur Vance stepped smartly to the left, his expression remaining entirely unreadable as the car fishtailed onto the wet asphalt of the driveway. In the rearview mirror, Mark saw the two men in charcoal suits sprint toward the second sedan, but their movements suddenly slowed, their limbs jerking awkwardly as if caught in heavy molasses.
"What did you do?" Sarah shouted over the roar of the engine, clutching Leo tight as the car bounced over the curb and onto the overgrown lawn.
Mark didn't answer. He slammed the transmission into drive, cutting the steering wheel hard toward the wooden stockade fence separating their property from the dense, overgrown acreage of the national forest behind the house. "Hold on!" he roared, pressing the accelerator to the floorboards.
The Honda crashed through the weathered wooden fence with a deafening splintering of cedar planks, sending boards flying in all directions as they broke free into the damp, shadowed underbrush of the woods. The engine whined in protest, but the car kept moving, plowing through ferns and low-hanging pine branches until Mark finally cut the ignition in a small, secluded clearing hidden beneath a canopy of ancient oaks.
Silence descended instantly, broken only by the rhythmic dripping of rain starting to fall through the leaves above.
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Leo opened the passenger door himself, hopped down onto the damp soil of the forest floor, and walked purposefully toward a large stone marker half-buried in the moss ten feet ahead. He stopped, pointed a small finger at the carved initials A.V. 1994, and turned around with a quiet, confident smile.
"Grandpa’s box is right here, Daddy," the toddler said, crossing his arms with an air of absolute finality.
