Chapter 10 - The Upload
The mountain road grew steeper with every mile.
The old Civic’s engine whined, struggling against the incline.
Seventy percent uploaded.
Claire’s hands were slick with sweat, slipping on the steering wheel.
Silas was closing in again.
He wasn't trying to bump her anymore.
He was trying to force her off the cliff entirely.
He pulled up alongside her left flank.
Claire looked out the shattered driver's side window.
Silas rolled his window down.
He pointed a matte-black handgun directly at Claire’s head.
Time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl.
Claire saw the terrifying emptiness in the killer's eyes.
She slammed on the brakes with both feet.
The Civic skidded backward.
Silas fired.
The bullet shattered the Civic’s windshield, missing Claire’s face by inches.
Glass sprayed over the dashboard.
Lily screamed from the floor.
Silas's sedan shot forward due to his own momentum.
Claire immediately floored the gas again, pulling in right behind him.
She couldn't outrun him.
She had to outsmart him.
Eighty percent.
Up ahead, Claire recognized a familiar landmark.
It was a tight switchback curve known locally as the 'Devil's Elbow'.
Thomas used to warn her about it every time they drove up here.
"You have to take it at twenty, or you go over," Thomas had said.
Silas didn't know the road.
He was a city fixer.
Claire accelerated, tailgating the grey sedan aggressively.
She flashed her high beams, blinding Silas in his mirrors.
She wanted to make him panic.
She wanted to make him think she was trying to ram him.
Silas sped up, falling for the trap.
They approached the Devil's Elbow at sixty miles an hour.
At the very last second, Claire slammed on her brakes and yanked the emergency brake lever.
The Civic spun out in a violent 180-degree turn, screeching to a halt facing down the mountain.
Silas realized his mistake too late.
He hit the brakes, but the heavy sedan hydroplaned on the wet leaves.
The car smashed through the weak wooden guardrail.
It flew off the cliff edge, plunging into the deep ravine below.
A few seconds later, a dull, sickening crash echoed up from the valley.
Silence descended on the mountain road.
The only sound was the hissing of the Civic’s overheated radiator.
Claire dropped her head onto the steering wheel, gasping for air.
Her entire body was shaking violently.
"Mommy?" Lily whispered.
"It's okay," Claire sobbed, unbuckling her seatbelt.
"It's over, baby. You can get up."
Lily slowly climbed into the passenger seat, brushing broken glass off her clothes.
Claire grabbed the burner phone from the console.
The screen lit up.
Ninety-nine percent.
One hundred percent.
A green checkmark appeared on the screen.
'Message Sent.'
Claire stared at the words, a hysterical laugh bubbling up in her chest.
It was done.
The evidence was in the hands of the press.
Evelyn Harrow’s empire was officially on a ticking clock.
Claire pulled Lily into a fierce, bone-crushing hug.
"We did it," Claire whispered into the cold mountain air.
May you like
They were no longer the hunted.
The war had just begun.
