Chapter 12 - The Blackout
Z
The logging road was a treacherous spine of mud, deep ruts, and protruding roots that threatened to tear the undercarriage of the sedan to pieces. I drove purely by memory and the faint ambient light of the storm filtering through the dense canopy of pine trees above. Without headlights, we were practically invisible, a ghost ship navigating a sea of ink.
Lily sat frozen in the passenger seat, her breathing shallow and rapid. The silence between us was heavier than the darkness outside. I had shattered her reality, dismantled the safe, predictable world I had spent twenty years meticulously building for her. There would be a time for apologies, for long conversations about the nature of truth and the sins of the father. But right now, survival was the only currency that mattered.
I checked the rearview mirror. Nothing. The pursuing vehicle had missed the turnoff, likely continuing down the main highway, assuming we had simply outrun them in the storm. But Victor Thorne’s men were professionals; it wouldn't take them long to backtrack, find the tire tracks in the mud, and resume the hunt.
"We have about a ten-minute head start," I said, my voice low and authoritative, the cadence of a commander briefing a soldier. "The cabin is three miles ahead. It’s a reinforced structure. Steel-core doors, ballistic glass, independent power grid, and a secure communications array. Once we're inside, we lock down."
"And then what?" Lily asked, her voice hollow, devoid of its usual fire. "We just hide there forever?"
"No," I replied, the steering wheel kicking violently in my hands as we hit a deep pothole. "We hide there until I figure out how to blind Thorne. He’s using digital surveillance, facial recognition, traffic cameras. He found us too easily in the city. Which means he has access to a network."
I reached blindly for the analog burner phone in the center console. I needed to warn Gabriel. If Thorne was utilizing top-tier cyber warfare assets, Gabriel’s servers were the only thing standing between my past and my present.
I hit the speed dial. The phone rang once, twice, three times.
It was picked up, but there was no voice. Only the sound of static, underscored by a heavy, rhythmic breathing.
"Gabriel," I said sharply.
The breathing continued, wet and labored. Then, a voice spoke. It wasn't Gabriel. It was a voice I hadn't heard in over a decade, a voice that carried the smooth, cultured cadence of a British aristocrat, dripping with venom.
"Hello, Daniel," Victor Thorne said. The sound of his voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "It has been a very long time. I must admit, I missed our chats."
My grip on the steering wheel tightened until my knuckles turned white. "Where is he, Thorne?"
"Your digital guardian angel?" Thorne chuckled, a dry, lifeless sound. "He put up a valiant fight, I'll give him that. He tried to initiate a Jericho protocol, attempting to burn his servers before my team breached his location. He was very loyal to you. It's a shame loyalty is such a fatal flaw."
"If you killed him, Victor, I will spend the rest of my life dismantling you piece by piece," I promised, the ice in my voice absolute.
"Oh, he's not dead," Thorne said, and I heard the sound of someone groaning in pain in the background. "But he is quite badly burned. Phosphorus grenades are so terribly unforgiving in enclosed server rooms. We managed to salvage a few of his hard drives before the fire consumed them. Which means, Daniel, your little digital fortress has fallen. I have everything. I know about the accounts, I know about the safe houses, and I know about the cabin you are currently driving toward."
My stomach plummeted. The cabin was compromised.
"You always were predictable when it came to protecting the things you love," Thorne continued, his voice shifting from amusement to cold malice. "You left me to rot in Prague, Daniel. You took my career, my reputation, my legs. I spent three years in a wheelchair learning how to walk again on titanium prosthetics. You owe me a debt. And I have come to collect."
"Leave my daughter out of this," I demanded, hitting the brakes as the outline of the cabin emerged from the darkness ahead. "This is between you and me."
"It was between you and me twelve years ago," Thorne corrected him gently. "Now, it's about making you understand the true nature of loss. My men are already in the woods, Daniel. They are equipped with thermal optics and heavy ordinance. You have exactly five minutes to say goodbye to Lily before I burn that cabin to the ground with both of you inside."
The line went dead.
I slammed the car into park in front of the cabin. The rain was washing over the windshield in sheets. I looked at Lily. She had heard enough of my side of the conversation to understand the gravity of the situation. Her eyes were wide, terrified, but beneath the fear, I saw a flicker of that stubborn Walker resolve.
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"We aren't staying here, are we?" she asked.
"No," I said, reaching beneath my seat and pulling out a heavy tactical bag I always kept hidden in the car. I threw it onto her lap. "Put on the Kevlar vest inside that bag. We're going into the woods on foot. We have to become ghosts, Lily. And we have to do it right now."
