Chapter 5: The Intercept
Chapter 5: The Intercept
Just as Eleanor stood up to wipe the freezing rain from her eyes, the sweeping high-beams of an approaching vehicle cut through the darkness. A black SUV with heavily tinted windows rolled to an aggressive stop, boxing her sedan in behind the dumpster. Two men wearing heavy tactical jackets and thick boots stepped out. The rain instantly matted their hair to their foreheads. The way they moved—spread out, hands hovering near their waistbands—told Eleanor everything she needed to know. They weren't local cops. Vargas must have planted a GPS tracker on the Pelican case.
"Step away from the vehicle, lady. Keep your hands where we can see them," the taller one barked, drawing a suppressed 9mm pistol from his jacket.
Eleanor didn't scream. She didn't raise her hands in surrender or beg for mercy. Instead, she let out a weary sigh, dropping her shoulders to appear even more helpless, while her right hand casually slid toward the heavy, rusted steel tire iron resting beside the exposed spare tire well.
"I’m afraid I can't do that," Eleanor said, her voice projecting calmly over the deafening roar of the pouring rain.
As the tall man advanced, holstering his weapon with a smirk and reaching out to violently grab her floral cardigan, Eleanor exploded into motion. She pivoted on her heel with shocking, fluid speed, driving the heavy iron bar in a vicious arc. The metal caught him squarely in the side of the kneecap. A sickening crunch of bone echoed over the rain.
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As he howled in agony and collapsed to the asphalt, the second man scrambled to raise his weapon. Eleanor didn't hesitate. She slammed the heavy steel trunk lid down with all her body weight, catching the second man's gun hand between the latch and the bumper. His wrist shattered instantly. As the gun clattered to the ground, Eleanor scooped it up, fluidly checked the safety mechanism with her thumb, and efficiently shot out the two front tires of their SUV.
Slipping back into the driver's seat of her sedan, she threw it into reverse, peeled out around the crippled vehicle, and merged back into the raging storm, leaving the two heavily armed mercenaries bleeding and groaning in the mud.
