Chapter 16 - The Ambush in the Rain
"Run, Claire!" Victoria shouted, lunging forward to tackle Raymond Vance.
Before she could close the distance, two armed operatives grabbed Victoria by her arms, pinning her against the hood of our sedan.
"Victoria!" I screamed, turning to sprint toward the tree line where the rocky cliffs dropped down toward the ocean.
"Do not damage the subject’s eyes or hands!" Raymond Vance shouted behind me. "Taser only! Non-lethal compliance!"
The heavy rain made the manicured lawn treacherous and slick. My boots skidded across the muddy grass as I bolted past the rose garden where Richard had once pinned me against the stone fountain. Behind me, the sharp *snap-hiss* of pneumatic dart guns cracked through the downpour. A projectile slammed into an ancient oak tree inches from my cheek, splintering the bark into flying shards.
I didn't head for the main gates—they were blocked. I plunged into the dense coastal thicket that bordered the estate's private funicular railway. It was an old motorized cable car my father had installed years ago to haul maintenance equipment down to the private boathouse at the base of the sea cliffs.
Branches tore at my clothes and whipped across my face, stinging my skin. Footsteps pounded heavily behind me—heavy combat boots crushing the brush.
"She’s heading for the cliff edge!" a radio squawked from thirty yards back. "Cut off the lower switchback!"
I reached the rusted steel gate of the funicular platform. The small, enclosed metal cage was chained to the concrete footing. I grabbed the master bypass key hidden inside the weathered electrical conduit box—a secret Dad had shown me when I was twelve years old.
I jammed the key into the rusted lock, turned it with all my strength, and threw the breaker switch.
The ancient motor groaned, grinding through years of salt air and disuse. The metal cable snapped taut with a terrifying groan. I threw myself inside the metal carriage, slammed the heavy iron mesh door, and shoved the brass descent lever forward.
A tactical operative burst through the bushes, raising a stun weapon. "Halt!"
May you like
The carriage jerked violently and plummeted down the sixty-degree cliff track into the blinding rain and sea spray just as a taser dart ricocheted off the steel roof with a shower of blue sparks.
As the car descended into the darkness of the coastal fog, the lights of the Vance-Bennett Foundation disappeared above me. Below, the roaring Atlantic waves crashed furiously against the sharp, black rocks of the cove.
