Chapter 24 - A Message in the Dark | The drive home was quiet, the silence heavy inside the reinforced walls of the armored SUV. Marcus sat in the passenger seat, his eyes darting continuously between the side mirrors and the dashboard monitors.
"We have a tail," Marcus said suddenly, his tone entirely calm.
My pulse spiked, but I kept my breathing steady. "How many?"
"One black sedan, three cars back. They’ve been matching our speed since we left the financial district," Marcus replied, tapping a command into his tactical comms unit. "Team B is closing in behind them."
"Do we pull over?" I asked.
"No. We lead them away from your residential building," Marcus said, signaling the driver to take a sharp right onto a quieter avenue. "Let's see how bold they are."
Suddenly, a loud metallic thud echoed through the cabin. The SUV lurched violently to the left as the rear tire blew out.
"Spike strip!" the driver yelled, wrestling with the steering wheel to keep us from crashing into the concrete divider.
"Hold on!" Marcus shouted, drawing his sidearm.
The SUV ground to a screeching halt near an abandoned construction site. The black sedan pulled up directly in front of us, blocking our path. Four men in tactical gear stepped out, but they didn't draw weapons. Instead, one of them walked up to my window and placed a plain black envelope against the glass before melting back into the shadows.
"Don't open it!" Mara yelled from the back seat, her voice tight with panic.
Marcus stepped out cautiously, inspected the envelope with a portable scanner, and handed it to me through the partition.
"It's clean," Marcus confirmed. "Just paper."
May you like
I tore the seal open with trembling fingers. Inside was a single sentence typed in bold font:
‘The debt must be settled in blood or cash. You have 48 hours to return Vance Global to its rightful heir.’
Related Stories
