Chapter 403
Chapter 403:
The engine’s rumble was the sweetest sound Skye had ever heard.
“Get in,” Skye ordered, shoving Liam into the passenger seat before limping around to the driver’s side.
She threw the vehicle into gear just as a shout erupted from the treeline.
Skye didn’t look back. She slammed her foot on the gas.
The roar of the engine was the only thing louder than the storm as the stolen, battered Land Rover tore through the mud, its tires spinning violently against the slick, uneven terrain of the old logging road.
Skye Sterling wrestled with the heavy steering wheel, her arms aching from the effort of keeping the vehicle from sliding off the treacherous path.
Beside her, Liam Kensington was pale, his teeth gritted in agony as the suspension jolted his shattered leg with every bump.
“Keep it steady!” Liam shouted over the wind.
He leaned out the passenger window, a stolen pistol—found in the glove box—shaking in his hand as he fired blindly into the darkness behind them.
There were no guardrails. Just a sheer, jagged drop of a hundred feet into the churning black ocean below.
“I’m trying!” Skye yelled back, blinking rain out of her eyes.
She jammed the gearshift, the old transmission screaming in protest.
Three all-terrain vehicles—ATVs modified for combat—tore down the muddy track behind them, their headlights cutting through the storm like predatory eyes.
Muzzle flashes sparked from the riders’ weapons, a relentless staccato rhythm of death.
Ping. Ping. Thud.
Bullets hammered the rear of the Land Rover.
The metal was thick, but it wasn’t armor-plated.
“Who are they?” Liam shouted, sweat sliding down his temple, mixing with the blood from a shallow cut on his cheek. “Mercenaries? Pirates p>
“They’re a cleanup crew,” Skye said, her voice terrifyingly calm amid the chaos.
She gripped the wheel tighter, correcting a skid that nearly sent them over the edge.
“Professional. Efficient. They aren’t shooting to disable the car, Liam. They’re shooting to kill the driver p>
R𝘦𝖺𝘥 w𝗂tho𝘂𝗍 i𝘯𝗍𝘦𝘳r𝘂𝘱𝗍𝘪onѕ 𝗼ո 𝖻e.co𝗺
Liam flinched as another round struck the frame right beside his head.
He looked at her—really looked at her—for a split second.
The dashboard lights cast an eerie green glow on his face, highlighting the terror and confusion warring in his eyes.
“How do you know that?” he demanded. “Just like you knew about the sniper in the woods. Just like you knew exactly where to find this track. Just like you know everything p>
A cold knot tightened in Skye’s stomach.
The adrenaline that had kept her moving since the cave began to curdle into dread.
In the high-stakes pressure cooker of survival, her mask had slipped. The Oracle was showing through the cracks of Skye Kensington.
“Watch the road!” she snapped, pointing ahead.
Skye swerved to avoid a fallen palm tree, the suspension groaning.
“Tell me, Skye! How p>
“Because I’ve seen this movie before,” she whispered, the words swallowed by the roar of the engine. “I lived it. I died in it p>
Ahead, the road narrowed.
A massive landslide, triggered by the torrential rain, blocked the path completely.
Boulders the size of small cars were piled high—an impassable wall of gray stone and mud.