Chapter 2 - The Redacted Page

"Hold on!" I yelled, swerving the Honda violently to the right as one of the SUVs tried to pit-maneuver us off the slick, rain-soaked highway.

"How did they find us?" Clara screamed over the roar of the engine and the crying baby.

"They must have accessed the city’s traffic cameras!" I yelled back.

I slammed on the brakes, causing the lead SUV to shoot past us, spinning out on the wet asphalt. I jerked the steering wheel, taking a sudden, sharp exit ramp that led into a dense, heavily wooded state park. The remaining SUV was right on our tail, its massive grille filling my rearview mirror.

We tore down the winding, unpaved logging road, mud and gravel kicking up behind us. The Honda wasn't built for this, and the engine whined in protest.

Up ahead, through the dense pines, I saw the outline of an old, abandoned ranger station. It was our only cover.

"Get ready to run!" I shouted.

I skidded the car to a halt behind a thick cluster of oak trees, killing the headlights. I grabbed the encrypted hard drive, helped Clara out, and we sprinted toward the wooden structure just as the black SUV roared down the path and slammed on its brakes near our empty car.

We broke through the rotting door of the ranger station and ducked behind a heavy metal desk in the dark. Outside, car doors slammed. The heavy crunch of combat boots on gravel echoed through the storm.

"Spread out. Find them," a voice commanded. It was Dr. Aris. "The boss wants the baby alive. The parents are expendable."

Clara covered Liam’s mouth, tears streaming down her face, praying he wouldn't cry again. I scanned the dark room. In the corner was an old, rusted flare gun sitting in a glass emergency box. I crawled over, shattered the glass with my elbow, and loaded the single red flare.

"When I say go, you run out the back door and head into the woods," I whispered to Clara.

"I'm not leaving you!" she hissed.

"You have to. Protect Liam."

Footsteps approached the front porch. The door handle rattled.

I stood up, aimed the flare gun directly at the wooden door, and pulled the trigger.

The flare shot forward with a deafening CRACK, bursting right through the rotting wood of the door and striking the man standing on the other side. He screamed in agony as the magnesium ignited his tactical vest.

"Go!" I yelled.

Clara bolted out the back door into the rainy darkness.

Gunfire erupted, bullets tearing through the walls of the cabin. I threw myself out the back door right behind Clara, sprinting into the treeline. The darkness of the forest swallowed us whole. We ran until our lungs burned, until the shouts of the mercenaries faded into the sound of the raging storm, hiding in the hollowed-out roots of a massive fallen tree.