Marcus spoke quietly into the radio.
“Unknown vehicle at junction. Maintain spacing.”
The security team acknowledged.
Elias studied the position.
Something felt wrong.
Not because a car was parked there.
Because of where.
Its nose pointed toward the road the convoy planned to use.
Not blocking it.
Shaping it.
“What?”
Marcus asked.
“Don't make the turn.”
Marcus stared at him.
“That is the route.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“The car.”
“What about it?”
“It's positioned to force you wide.”
Marcus looked.
Then saw the muddy shoulder beyond the intersection.
Rain had softened the ground.
A large SUV taking the turn while avoiding the parked car could lose traction.
One compromised vehicle.
Then the next.
Then the entire protective formation disrupted.
Marcus's voice went cold.
“Funnel.”
Elias nodded.
Victoria understood.
“The traps aren't meant only for my vehicle.”
“No.”
“They're trying to create a multi-car event.”
“Looks that way.”
Marcus searched ahead.
“We can't stop.”
“Don't.”
“We can't make the turn.”
“Don't.”
“So where?”
Elias pointed.
A narrow maintenance access road continued roughly straight beyond the intersection.
Barely visible between trees.
Marcus stared.
“That isn't on the route.”
“Exactly.”
“Condition unknown.”
“Better than known compromise.”
The parked vehicle moved.
Its engine revved.
Marcus decided.
“Everyone straight through. Maintenance access.”
The convoy accelerated modestly.
The dark vehicle began moving across the planned turn.
Too late.
Marcus passed the intersection and entered the narrow road.
Branches scraped against the SUV.
Victoria grabbed the seat.
Behind them, the convoy followed.
One vehicle fishtailed slightly in wet gravel, recovered, and continued.
The dark car could not reposition fast enough.
Within seconds, trees blocked it from view.
Marcus breathed out.
“You saw that in five seconds.”
Elias stared forward.
“I saw a car parked wrong.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
“It really isn't.”
Victoria laughed once.
It startled all three of them.
Not because anything was funny.
Because after hours of fear, the argument between the two men had become absurdly normal.
Marcus looked back.
“You good?”
“No.”
“Fair.”
The access road twisted for two miles before reconnecting with a larger county highway.
When the convoy emerged, every vehicle was accounted for.
Marcus checked twice.
Nobody followed.
Dawn had begun to gray the horizon.
The storm was breaking.
Victoria sat back.
For the first time since the shoulder, exhaustion showed.
Elias recognized it.
Adrenaline only rented energy.
Eventually it collected payment.
“You should drink something.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Water.”
“I am fine.”
“That's not what I said.”
Marcus handed a bottle backward without comment.
Victoria took it.
“You two are becoming intolerable.”
Marcus smiled.
“Team building.”
She drank.
Several miles later, blue lights appeared ahead.
Not threatening.
Expected.
Two marked patrol vehicles waited at a designated checkpoint.
Marcus slowed.
The convoy moved into the protected area.
Law-enforcement officers approached.
This time Elias watched a different kind of tension.