Chapter 12: The Sound of Tires
323 Words
The warmth of the fire was finally reaching my bones when a new sound cut through the crackle of the wood. It was faint—a low, rhythmic thumping that didn't belong in the woods.
Silas heard it too. He was on his feet in a second, the soft look in his eyes vanishing as the soldier returned. He moved to the window, pulling the heavy curtain back just an inch.
"Is it a storm?" I asked, standing up so fast the blanket slipped from my shoulders.
"No," Silas whispered, his jaw tight. "It’s a helicopter. And three black SUVs are coming up the dirt path. Thorne must have had a tracker on the speedboat."
My heart hammered against my ribs. "How? We were so careful!"
"It doesn't matter how. What matters is that we have three minutes before they surround this cabin." Silas turned to me, grabbing a small black bag he’d kept by the door. "Ava, the microchip. Is it still in the locket?"
I reached for my neck, feeling the cool silver. "Yes. I haven't taken it off."
"Good. Because we aren't running this time." He reached into the bag and pulled out a sleek, tablet-like device. "If I can connect this locket to the safe house’s satellite uplink, I can upload the data to the cloud. Once it’s public, Thorne has no reason to kill us. The secret will be out."
"But the upload will take time, won't it?" I asked, hearing the first SUV door slam outside.
"Ten minutes," Silas said, connecting a thin wire from the device to the locket. "I need you to sit at this table and keep the connection steady. No matter what happens outside that door, do not let go of the wire. Do you trust me?"
I looked at the door, then back at Silas. I didn't just trust him with the chip; I trusted him with my life. "I trust you."
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